What’s New In Ultimate Blocks 3.5.8: Image Hotspots, Rounded Accordions, And Fixed Video Previews

Ultimate Blocks 3.5.8 is out. The headline is the Image Hotspots Block, a new Pro block that places interactive hotspots on top of any image. Each hotspot opens a tooltip, and that tooltip accepts any block you want inside it

The rest of the release is smaller but practical. Accordion panels and square social icons now ship with rounded corners by default. The Video (UB) Block previews YouTube, Vimeo, and Dailymotion correctly in the editor again. The Icon Block padding control finally does what its name says.

Below is what changed, with live demos of the new blocks running on this page.

What’s New In Ultimate Blocks 3.5.8

Image Hotspots Block: Any Block Inside Any Hotspot

The Image Hotspots Block lets you drop markers anywhere on an image. A reader hovers or taps a marker, and a tooltip opens with your content inside it.

Most hotspot plugins limit that tooltip to a title and a line of text. This one does not. The tooltip is a block container, so you can insert a Button, an Image, a Tableberg table, a Star Rating, a List, or a full stack of blocks.

That single detail changes what the block is for. It is not only an annotation tool. It is a way to build shoppable images, labelled diagrams, interactive maps, and product feature tours inside a post.

Beaker

Used to hold, mix, heat, and roughly measure liquids.

Microscope

Magnifies tiny objects so they can be examined in greater detail.

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Test Tubes

Used to contain, mix, or heat small amounts of substances during experiments.

Digital Scale

Measures the mass of substances and laboratory materials accurately.

Safety Goggles

Protect the eyes from chemical splashes, particles, and other laboratory hazards.

How To Add Interactive Hotspots To An Image

1. Add the Image Hotspots block to your post or page.
2. Upload or select the image you want to annotate.
3. Click Add Hotspot in the block toolbar
4. Drag the marker to position it exactly where you want it.
5. Select the hotspot, then build the tooltip with any blocks you need.
6. Repeat for every point you want to highlight.

Accordion Panels Now Have An 8px Radius By Default

Small change, visible result. Accordion panels used to render with hard square corners. They now use an 8px border radius by default.

Square corners looked dated next to most modern themes. Rounded panels sit better inside cards, sidebars, and FAQ sections. If you prefer the old look, set the radius control back to 0.

Social Share Block Gets A Radius Control

Square social icons now have their own Radius option, set to 8px by default. Circle and rounded icon shapes are unaffected.

Use it to match your share row to the rest of your buttons. Drop it to 0 for hard squares, or push it up for pill-shaped icons.

Video (UB) Block: YouTube, Vimeo, And Dailymotion Previews Work Again

This is the most important fix in 3.5.8. The Video (UB) Block covers YouTube, Vimeo, and Dailymotion. Until now, editor previews for those embeds could fail to load.

Some users saw a blank preview area. Others hit a YouTube “Error 153” message inside the editor. The front end was fine, but the editing experience was not. Previews now load correctly for all three providers.

A second fix removes an unwanted scrollbar that appeared on the video preview in the editor.

Icon Block Padding Now Applies To The Icon

Padding on the Icon Block used to apply to the block wrapper. That made it behave almost exactly like Margin, which confused people who expected space around the icon itself.

Padding now applies to the icon. Margin still moves the block. Two controls, two distinct jobs.

Countdown Block Is Now Countdown Timer

The Countdown Block has been renamed to Countdown Timer. Nothing about the block changed. The name simply reads more clearly in the inserter, especially when you are scanning block titles quickly.

Other Changes In This Release

• Setup Wizard: the OpinionCamp description was updated. The ConvertForce and OpinionCamp badges changed from “Optional” to “Free”, which is what they actually are.
• Social Share Block (Pro): fixed the block becoming unselectable in the editor while Pro was active.
• Admin Notices (Pro): fixed notices printing raw HTML tags instead of rendering them. Bold text in the “requires Ultimate Blocks” and license activation notices now displays properly.

How To Update To 3.5.8

Go to Dashboard > Updates or Plugins and update Ultimate Blocks. Pro users should update both the free plugin and the Pro add-on, in that order.

Clear any page cache afterwards. The new accordion and social icon defaults are style changes, so cached CSS can hide them.

What’s Next

Image Hotspots is the first of several interactive Pro blocks on our roadmap. We are also working through design defaults across older blocks, the way we did with accordions and social icons in this release.

Requests and bug reports shape these releases directly. Several fixes in 3.5.8 came straight from support threads.

Frequently Asked Questions

Full 3.5.8 Changelog

• PRO NEW: Image Hotspots Block. A new Pro block for placing interactive hotspots with rich tooltips on top of any image.
• NEW: Accordions Block. Panels now have an 8px border radius by default.
• NEW: Social Share Block. Added a Radius option for square-shaped icons, with an 8px default.
• UPDATE: Countdown Block. Renamed to “Countdown Timer” for clarity.
• UPDATE: Setup Wizard. Updated the OpinionCamp description and changed the ConvertForce and OpinionCamp badges from “Optional” to “Free”.
• FIX: Icon Block. Padding now applies to the icon itself instead of the block wrapper, so it no longer looks identical to Margin.
• FIX: Video (UB) Block. Fixed the editor preview failing to load for YouTube, Vimeo, and Dailymotion embeds.
• FIX: Video (UB) Block. Fixed an unwanted scrollbar appearing on the video preview in the editor.
• PRO FIX: Social Share Block. Fixed the block becoming unselectable in the editor when Pro is active.
• PRO FIX: Admin Notices. Fixed messages showing raw HTML tags instead of rendering them.

The complete version history is on the Ultimate Blocks changelog at WordPress.org.