Spectra Hits 700,000 Active Installs and Adds New Features

April 2024 has been a big month for Spectra.

Not only have we hit a significant milestone, we also released a couple of awesome features you’ll love.

There’s also other news to share, so read on to find out what’s been happening!

Spectra Hits 700,000 Users

The big news is that the Spectra website builder has exceeded 700,000 active installs!

That’s an amazing achievement!

Spectra is the only block plugin in the list of top 100 plugins, which is another achievement!

We want to thank each and every one of you who have downloaded Spectra and are using it to create amazing websites.

We wouldn’t be here today without your support and we want you to know we appreciate each and every one of you.

If you haven’t tried Spectra yet, now is the perfect time.

Save up to 50% in our Spring Sale!

New Features Added – CSS Grid and Movable Title Bar

We are also pleased to announce two new features have been added to Spectra, CSS Grid and Movable Title Bar.

CSS Grid

Building using grids is a useful way to create unique page structures that don’t use the normal layout formula.

Picture a bento box—except not for snacks, but for web design!

CSS Grid introduces the ability to create seemingly impossible page layouts with ease. You’ll be amazed at what you can create!

Here’s a quick walkthrough of how CSS Grid works.

Create a new page and add a parent container block.

The single container works well as we’ll specify how many columns and rows we want in a second.

Select the container and set the Layout Type to Grid rather than Flex in the right menu.

Select the blue + button by Columns and Rows to add more structure to your page.

Add as many columns and rows as you want within the parent container.

Add separate containers to each column and row or style a single container and duplicate it, depending on how you’re building the page.

Select a container and the General tab in the right menu.

Select the Grid Item Settings menu on the right and set the Column Width and Row Height.

Set row height to 2 units for a double height container. Set column width to 3 units to make your container wider.

Finally, select the Advance tab within the Grid Item Settings menu item on the right to position each container.

Use the Column Start, Column End, Row Start and Row End controls to fine tune your layout until it’s perfect.

Once configured, add content, images or other blocks to each container as you see fit.

The CSS Grid feature in Spectra is a powerful new way to build unique pages. It’s fluid, intuitive and makes us wonder why we haven’t always built like this!

Learn how to use CSS Grid in this walkthrough video:

Check it out in the latest version of Spectra!

Movable Title Bar

Another, update to this version of Spectra is the movable title bar. It’s a quality of life addition that enables you to move the page title to the top of any page.

It’s a useful tweak for editors, content creators, template builders and anyone that prefers a simpler page to work on or to design.

You can enable the option within the Spectra Settings menu.

Select the Editor Enhancements tab and toggle Move Title to Top to on.

Open a page and you’ll see the title has shifted to the top of the page, providing a leaner, cleaner page for you to work on or your visitors to enjoy.

As you can see, we made all the right improvements in all the right places. We can’t wait to see what you create with it!

Other Achievements From the Spectra Team

As well as announcing that download figure and new features, we also have a couple of other milestones to celebrate.

100+ Starter Templates

Spectra now has 100+ high quality, readymade site templates you can import and use.

Select the Block Editor as your option and you’ll see some amazing designs covering everything from eCommerce to online learning and everything in between.

Simply select a template, upload a logo, choose a font and a style and import.

All you need to do is add your content and images and you’re ready to launch.

Thanks to AI integration, you can now create an entire website in minutes using the power of artificial intelligence to help generate site copy!

Talking of AI…

ZipWP Custom Website Builder

Fans of ZipWP have been able to use the power of AI to build websites for a while now. It’s an amazing tool, but we knew it could do more.

Introducing the ZipWP Custom Website Builder!

It’s the fastest, easiest way to create truly custom websites and anyone can do it!

Anyone, with any level of experience can create a first draft website in less than 10 minutes!

Here’s how it works:

Log into ZipWP and select Custom Site with AI from the left menu.

You should see a new page with two tabs at the top, Sitemap and Wireframe.

It defaults to Sitemap first so you should see a home box and a menu on the right.

Enter your business name and description in that right menu to create a wireframe outline of your site.

Write your own business description or use ZipWP’s AI to help.

Click Generate sitemap when you’re ready.

You should now see a sitemap including common pages for the type of business you described.

Select a page within the sitemap and you’ll see boxes containing elements within that page.

You can add, more or replace every box on every page. You can also add and remove pages to create a truly unique website.

All using the canvas builder.

Cool right?

Well, we’re not done yet!

Select the Wireframe tab at the top of the screen.

You should now see a canvas showing outlines of every page in your sitemap.

Zoom in, zoom out, select a page, select a block and manipulate each page as you see fit. If you have used Figma, the principle is exactly the same.

It’s an awesome prototyping tool!

Check out this explainer video that shares everything you need to know about the ZipWP Custom Website Builder!

If you build websites as a business, the AI Website Builder helps you do more, faster, leaving you to perform the tasks only you can do.

What Else Is in Development?

We have lots of plans for new features and improvements but most of them aren’t ready to share just yet.

One improvement that is definitely on the horizon is a new and improved Global Block Styles.

Global Block Styles v2

The current version of Global Block Styles enables you to set a style for a block and have that same style reflected in every block of that type across your site.

It’s a simple but very effective way to ensure consistency across pages and saves a lot of copy and pasting.

Despite how well Global Block Styles works, we’re planning to make it even better.

We can’t share any details just yet, but we think you’re going to love it!

A Big Shout Out to the Community

Finally, we would like to give a big shout out to Karl and other members of the Spectra community who have been providing invaluable feedback and assistance.

We genuinely value your commitment to making Spectra better for everyone and it wouldn’t be as good as it is without your help.

We consider Karl and everyone who contributes to Spectra and anyone who leaves feedback, makes suggestions and interacts with the team, part of the family.

We really couldn’t do it without you!

To celebrate hitting the 700,000 download milestone, we’re offering a special, limited-time discount on Spectra plans.

With such recently released massive updates – why wait for Black Friday?