There are two major reasons why future versions of Phoca Gallery will change significantly:
1) Joomla! 4
2) Output modernization
Joomla! 4
All Phoca extensions are written directly for Joomla! CMS and if the Joomla! CMS changes, the extensions must also change. Therefore, Phoca Gallery is gradually being rewritten so that it would work in Joomla! 4.
Output modernization
Unfortunately, it is not possible to do design output changes in minor versions because of backward compatibility and override features. Such changes must be made in major versions. Therefore, it sometimes takes longer to implement a modern look. Such a change is now planned.
So now there will be three directions instead of two directions, if we are talking about the development of Phoca gallery:
1) Phoca Gallery 4.4.0 - it includes minimum design changes. This version is intended for existing users and the existing Joomla! 3.9 version.
2) Phoca Gallery 4.5.0 - in this version, support for responsive display will be extended. This means that most non-responsive popup libraries and all that are built on the Mootools library will be removed. Parameters which can be moved to CSS will be also removed. Float box based output will be changed to Flexbox based output. HTML output will be simplified. This version of Phoca Gallery will be designed primarily for Joomla! 4.
3) Phoca Photo 4.0.0 - Phoca Photo is a Bootstrap responsive alternative for Phoca Gallery. Just like in Joomla! 3, Phoca Photo will add the ability to view Phoca Gallery output using the Bootstrap library in Joomla! 4.
Phoca Gallery version 4.4.0 Beta can be tested now. Be aware, it is a development version and should be used for testing only. Download it on Phoca Gallery download page.