Two builders. One core builder engine.

One core for two builders

In an exciting evolution of our development strategy, we are now powering both Oxygen and Breakdance with a single core builder engine. This significantly streamlines our engineering processes and enhances the robustness and efficiency of both builders. By harmonizing the underlying technology, we will be able to accelerate feature development, apply bug fixes universally, and boost compatibility across the ecosystem—ensuring that under-the-hood improvements in one builder benefit the other.

About 80% of this integration already complete, and if you look under the hood in Oxygen right now, you’ll see a lot of overlap in the code, which is a testament to the efficiency gains we’re achieving through this process. Handling this integration was a huge task—it required a deep dive into both platforms’ core functionalities and a careful blend to ensure we could maintain what users love about each tool while bringing them into a more unified framework. We will probably never hit a full 100% shared codebase due to the unique elements each platform needs, but the benefits of even the current level of integration are already making a big impact. Below are some key benefits that our users can enjoy thanks to this architectural change.

• 3rd Party Add-On Compatibility: Many 3rd party Breakdance add-ons will require minimal, if any, changes to be compatible with Oxygen, significantly expanding the toolset available to Oxygen users.
• Universal Bug Fixes: Many bug fixes can be applied universally, improving stability and functionality across both platforms without redundant efforts.
• Plugin Compatibility & Integrations: 3rd party plugin developers can now use the same or very similar APIs to work with both Oxygen and Breakdance.
• WooCommerce Functionality: The sophisticated WooCommerce integration originally developed for Breakdance is now also available for Oxygen as the Breakdance WooCommerce Integration for Oxygen. This integration includes advanced global styling options and other WooCommerce-specific features that surpass what was previously available in Oxygen Classic. This optional add-on ensures that Oxygen users can enjoy the most advanced visual WooCommerce styling capabilities on the market.
• Faster Release Cycles For Both Builders: Universal aspects like performance optimization options, templating logic and management, the dynamic data chooser and data points, the visual WP_Query builder, and much more are shared between both builders. This ensures improvements in one builder translate directly to the other.
• Element Studio Integration: Element Studio, the visual IDE for custom element development in Breakdance, will soon be available to Oxygen users. Elements already created with Element Studio will require minimal, if any, changes to be compatible with Oxygen. At Breakdance, Element Studio has revolutionized how third-party developers can create and distribute their own element packs. With both Oxygen and Breakdance now running on the same core builder engine, Element Studio will enable developers to craft custom elements that are compatible across both platforms. This seamless integration means that a single development effort can cater to the entire user base of both builders, maximizing reach and efficiency for developers, and maximizing the number of 3rd party elements available to both Oxygen and Breakdance users.
• A Form Builder For Oxygen: The form builder from Breakdance will soon be available as Breakdance Forms for Oxygen, an optional add-on. Breakdance Forms set a new standard for forms in the visual builder space, offering features like conditional display of form fields, multi-step forms, and webhook integration. Oxygen users will soon be able to enhance their sites with these powerful form-building tools.
• Breakdance Elements for Oxygen: Oxygen users can now access many of Breakdance’s extensive library of over 140 high-quality elements in Breakdance Elements for Oxygen. Breakdance’s elements are known for their ease of use and powerful functionality, and are now available as an optional Oxygen add-on. Whether you need a complex mega menu, a responsive gallery, or interactive accordions, these elements are now just a few clicks away, ready to be integrated into your Oxygen projects.

Our Vision for Oxygen & Breakdance

Rest assured, our vision for both Oxygen and Breakdance has not changed.

Oxygen will continue to remain true to its roots as a developer-first platform, prioritizing a fundamentals-first approach to website building. It remains class-based, embracing direct code manipulation in a visual interface and offering 1:1 abstractions that align closely with the underlying HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP.

Conversely, Breakdance is designed to be exceptionally user-friendly, catering even to non-technical users who seek powerful functionality without delving into code. It continues to offer a streamlined, element-based interface that simplifies the web design process without sacrificing capability. While advanced functionality and coding options are available, they are not the primary focus and are not required to achieve professional results. Indeed, the functionality within Breakdance allows non-technical users to achieve in minutes using visual tools what might take a coder days to create manually.

To better understand how these platforms differ and to determine which one is the best fit for your needs, read more about the differences between Oxygen and Breakdance here.