Important steps before updating from beta1, otherwise broken slick.

Thanks for the report. I am sorry about the problem you have with the latest change.

There are 3 major changes from beta1 to the latest dev as mentioned in the project home page:
#2497079: Move some sub-modules into separate projects
#2496005: Refactor slick_image_lazy to merge slick_image_formatter_lazy with it
#2494421: Decouple export UI from the main module

For this change, I did my best to provide relevant notices at 5 places:

• Project home page notice.
• slick.install doc comment which should be visible when you run the update.php.
• Relevant solutions with the above mentioned issues.
• Troubleshooting at the README.txt
• Commit messages.

I doubted if you missed them all?
Please let me know so we can improve the notices to avoid the problem like this.

However if you did, the solutions should be pretty easy.
I tested myself at several sites before committing them.
And updated the relevant issues when I found things I missed.

Basically the needed actions, _only if you update from beta1:

1. clearing cache, perhaps twice if needed at all, or druch cc all
2. running update.php as dev contains 2 hook_update()

For more detailed steps, applicable to dev update as well, quoted from #2497079: Move some sub-modules into separate projects:

1. Prior to updating and placing the new slick_views outside slick, be sure to open cache clearing admin page:
   - admin/config/development/performance
2. Start extracting the new slick, and place the new slick_views module outside slick directory.
   Deleting entire old slick directory and placing new is recommended.
   However if the update is replacing old directory, be sure to delete old slick_views as the new one outside.
3. Hit "Clear all caches" button. It should be safe now. A hook_update() is also provided for beta2 users when doing updates via Drupal UI.

If you installed beta1, and did not switch to dev without proper measures, you should have had no problem.

Dev releases are for dev purposes.
You should be ready for surprises for any dev release, as it is just not good for anything but developing/testing.
To avoid surprises, I recommend installing the proper release.
Once you are informed with the changes, you can test updating.

Please let me know if we can improve the instructions based on your experience. Or anything else I can do to help you with the issue.

I believe it not a bug, if the issue is all about different contents between proper and dev releases. Feel free to change the status if you think it is a bug.

It is because the registry is not cleared yet. Please run update.php with slick_update_7006() which contains registry rebuild, or if you have admin_menu:
Flush all caches > Class registry

slick_optionset_ui.inc is now inside slick_ui sub-module named slick_ui.inc #2494421: Decouple export UI from the main module.

I've been attempting unsuccessfully to even get the beta to work properly,...

Perhaps if you could provide more info on the exact problem, I may be able to help you pinpoint the issue, and have it running.

It is common if anyone fails to make a module work.
Unless the module is totally broken, it is more often about the lack of doc, or the user missed the provided doc.

The Slick module is not broken. It is changing.
However with the latest 3 mentioned changes, without reading proper steps, or running update.php, it can cause broken things.

I have it running okay at production even before the first day of dev release.

But changing from beta1 to dev without reading the provided solutions does break things.

If the first issue is the concern, to make it work, I recommend installing slick example to get you up running.
Be sure to always read any module README.txt, since it normally contains useful info, including troubleshootings.

If you need to see if the module really works, perhaps these dummy sites will help:
This is the first Drupal site using Slick module 2.x, with 6 slides at home page.

This one is using the new design specs.

Please let me know if anything solved with provided info?
Your more info to help improve the doc would be very much appreciated. This should help anyone else having the same problem like you.

Updated summary for quick reference.

Glad it is sorted out now ;)
Thanks for the update and additional info. Much appreciated.
I will add your info to troubleshooting section to avoid headaches, perhaps this:
If switching from beta1 to the latest via Drush fails, try the good old UI. Be sure to clear cache first, then run /update.php, if WSOD, or broken slick.

There were some inline styles being added somewhere, which become difficult to override.

Sorry, not sure what you meant. The module doesn't add inline styles in the markups. The fullscreen skin and individual slide color do add inline CSS in the <head>, not inline styles within the markups. It is also only if you consciously choose so ;)

It is the core library add inline styles, since it is the only way the library manages its layout. It is pretty common to any JS library to do inline styles.

Regarding skins, you can choose None to DIY, thanks to @bjmiller121 #2369129: Option for no skin to be loaded.
And nothing is loaded, except the very basic core library CSS which is required by the library to work.

The skins are provided because I realized not so many people like you guys are savvy about CSS.
That is why commercial plugin is still pretty much popular, only most of them do it in JS -- JS-does-CSS-jobs things -- while the module does it all via pure CSS, no JS involved to build layouts.
Simply disable skins for advanced works. Please have a mercy on this, just think about other non-CSS people ;)

Please use the provided hook_slick_attach_load_info_alter(), hook_slick_attach_info_alter(), or hook_slick_skins_info_alter(), as seen at slick.api.php or slick_example.module to override/remove anything, or the UI for the easy skins removal.

Added a temporary fix to avoid WSOD. No more scary WSOD.