Status
Report

August 3, 2020

Hello Everyone,

A lot of progress was made in July, and I'd like to give you a bit of an overview. Much of this month was refining backend improvements both on a code level and with regards to the user interface.

And while we can't show you some of the many backend improvements, there is still a good bit to show on the front end so let's get started!

New Code Editors

Code editing is getting a major upgrade with these new "floaters" that can be resized. In addition, you'll be able to switch from page level CSS / JS to global CSS / JS in one click in the same editor.

New Code Editors

Customizable UI

See if this sounds familiar. You want to move different parts of the interface to different parts of your screen based on your preferences, workflow, or even screen size. You haven't really had any options to do that (until now). Our new customizable UI will allow you tailor the experience to your perfect canvas, and there is even a resizing functionality we'll share with you soon!

New Workspace 1 New Workspace 2 New Workspace 3 New Workspace 4

Streamlined Menu

The navigation menu brings all the important items to the top - in one place - for quick and easy access. Most of those arrows will be replaced with Keyboard shortcut keys so you can quickly get to different parts of the builder (in the image they are all showing arrows for now). There are a few things we are still dialing in and look forward to discussing with our beta testers.

Streamlined Menu

Revamped Colors

A small but helpful adjustment, the Color Manager has been redesigned to use tooltips to show off labels. In addition, you'll see how the palette matches exactly what you see in the color picker, and leans into these helpful "floater" screens that don't require you to leave or refresh the app.

Revamped Colors

New Index Screens

The Layout Builder necessitated updates to the index screens, and we're really excited with how they came together. You'll be able to preview and edit all from within the same page and never leave the interface. You can even create a new page right from the view without having to switch contexts!

New Index 1 New Index 2

General UI Updates

We spent a lot of time thinking through the tool both from a historical perspective and with respect to new features in order to bring a cohesive feel to the many different parts. The first image shows the new toggle functionality for things like box shadow, margin, padding, border radius, and other custom controls. Now you can turn them off with the click of a button to streamline what you see. The second images is a more comprehensive overview of the new control styling.

New Toggle Functionality New Control Styles

There are some small adjustments to the navigation bar, updated control navigation, and new breadcrumb styling. These styles are shared throughout the app providing a predictable and consistent experience.

Navigation Bar

Undo/Redo

We've had undo/redo as part of our action history, but it was a bit of a pain to use. Now it is right in the bar and just one click either direction. A major priority for this update is to surface more common editing actions making them easier to get to, decreasing unncessary clicks, and saving time.

Navigation Bar

What's Next

From a feature perspective, we are almost exclusively focused on the Layout Builder. You may have caught the Layouts menu item above :) We are also planning for our first beta around the end of August. Some features may not be 100% complete, but it will be a good time to start getting feedback as we have the official release planned for September.

I hope you are enjoying the final days of summer! Fall may look a little different this year, but one thing we are learning is the importance of the web and how valuable it is (to everyone). It remains our mission to create the best tools for site building, and we look forward to getting this incredible update into your hands soon. Thank-you for the continued partnership!

Until the task is done,
Kyle