The huge update for DebugPress is ready, and version 3.0 is a very important milestone that adds tons of new features for the usability of the debugger, various refinements in the debugger panels, visual tweaks, and more.
The main goal of this release is to improve the usability of the plugin, enhance the debugger popup, and make it easier to get the information you need. This release also addresses several complaints about the plugin interface, and I hope that changes here will make DebugPress much more versatile to use and overall useful.
The main change is that the plugin has a Layout panel where you can change the position of the popup and configure the size, modality, and mode of activation. Now, a debugger can auto-activate on page load; it can be non-modal, allowing you to interact with the page’s content. Most importantly, you can stick the debugger to the left, right, top, or bottom and adjust the size ratio. All these settings are saved in cookies (independent for admin and frontend sides) and will improve the debugger’s usability.
Now, you can activate the debugger popup using the keyboard shortcut (default: CTRL+SHIFT+U, which can be changed in the plugin settings), and the integrated admin-bar button for the DebugPress has a dropdown menu showing quick stats for page loading.
A new, interesting, and very useful feature is the DebugPress popup visibility control via the URL access key. In many instances, even on live websites, you need to test things from the perspective of the visitors, and it is not a good idea to have a debugger accessible to everyone. This new access key feature allows you to disable the debugger but activate it only if the URL has the access key in the URL. You can load the debugger in any situation if you know the access key.
Many smaller updates and improvements exist, so check out the changelog for more information.
The next version of the plugin will focus on improving the SQL Queries panel, and there are some very interesting things coming on that front, but there is no release timeline yet, most likely the Summer.
To see the list of all the changes in this version, please check out the changelog. If you find any issues with the new version, please, report them in the support forums.
