There are page builders, and then there is Spectra. It’s like separating the men from the boys.
With our latest release, we’ve taken the website page-building experience to a whole new level.
Introducing Spectra 2.0. 🎉
With Spectra, you can build ultra-high performance and professional websites, even if you are a complete beginner.
The team at Brainstorm Force has been working on Spectra for more than a year.
Earlier in 2022, we announced the first beta release of Spectra. We were overwhelmed with the number of sign-ups from fellow WordPress enthusiasts wanting to test it out.
If you are one of them, here’s a HUGE thank you for your feedback and suggestions.
It’s what helped us deliver a world-class product with truly unmatched performance and web design capabilities.
And today… (drumrolls, please) 🥁
We are super excited to release Spectra 2.0. 🎉
Watch the video walkthrough to dive in to discover everything you need to know.
For the sake of brevity, let’s begin with the absolute basics.
What is Spectra?
Spectra is a page builder based on the native block editor of WordPress.
Our mission with Spectra is to help you build ultra-high performance websites without compromising on design freedom or aesthetics.
Page builders are not new to the WordPress community.
Typically, there are two types of page builder.
On the one hand, you have page builders that are easy to use. However, the code output can be unoptimized and can hamper website performance.
On the other hand, you have page builders that output great code. But, they can make it difficult for beginners or non-techies to use.
In addition to performance issues, we’ve seen page builders have compatibility and stability issues with other third-party WordPress plugins and themes.
Not to mention, there’s a considerable learning curve associated with most page builders!
So we built Spectra to give you the best of both worlds. Build blazing fast and lightweight WordPress websites with the most intuitive page builder that works with any WordPress theme.
Something that we love using ourselves! 🙂
How we built Spectra
Spectra is a complete web creation platform with a superior visual editor, vast powerful options and features that makes designing with the native WordPress editor a joyful experience.
It also had features that are missing in other leading page builders. Features that take the entire website design process to a whole new level.
Here’s a sneak peek into what we’ve done.
A new container layout system powered by Flexbox
Containers are the backbone of any website. You may use overlays, offsets, and other design elements to create impressive and fantastic web pages. But, the foundation of just about any website is containers. And these containers, in turn, are made up of rows and columns.
The traditional page builders implement the <div> tag nested together. It’s like one <div> tag inside another <div> tag, and so on.
The result is bloated code — something which doesn’t help website performance.
So we needed to get this fixed first.
We went with Flexbox CSS. Not only is it very flexible and easy to understand, but it also outputs very lean code.
Go ahead and get creative with your designs. Build any kind of layout you wish to without having to compromise on code quality or performance.
Spectra 2.0 introduces container presets. Something that has been missing in the Gutenberg editor.
Simply select a predefined layout and start your website design immediately.
Focus on 4 core blocks:
On any given website, a significant portion of the content can be created using some core elements, such as:
- Headings
- Images
- Buttons
- Info boxes (also known as icon boxes)
We’ve added more flexibility for these essential blocks. They are fully customizable, and you have complete control over how they appear on various devices.
25+ powerful blocks to spice up your designs
In addition to the blocks mentioned above, we’ve included 25+ blocks to help you quickly build interactive websites without writing a single line of code.
Some of blocks include:
- Contact Form
- Google Maps
- Blog Posts
- Social Sharing
- Icon List
- Price List
- Timeline
- Tabs
- FAQ (Accordion)
- Lottie Animation
any many more.
Want to improve your website SEO?
We’ve got you covered with blocks, such as:
- FAQ Schema
- Table of Contents
We’ve ensured you don’t need to install additional plugins and addons for extra functionality.
We’ve bundled it all into Spectra, making it a complete page building package.
By not installing additional plugins and addons, your site is faster and lighter, which is the ultimate goal for any website.
Spectra is modular
Does having so many built-in features and functionality impact website performance? While making Spectra feature-rich, we’ve ensured it remains lightweight and delivers high performance.
Don’t want a particular feature? Simply turn it off.
Want the feature back on? Well, turn it on!
You can easily enable or disable any particular feature or block based on your needs.
We made sure our blocks are customizable
Want to customize the blocks to get that perfect design? Spectra has you covered.
Each block offers extensive customization options to help you craft the perfect website design.
Customize just about any block from the colors and typography to alignment and spacing.
Workflow features
Spectra also helps you optimize your workflow to get more done faster.
Presets
Want to get a jump start on your website design? Want to use one of the pre-designed layouts to design your website? Switch to Spectra and use presets!
Presets are provided for most of our blocks.
Simply click on a preset of your choice and place it anywhere on the page.
You can then customize the design or tweak the content to suit your needs.
Makes the website development process simple, doesn’t it?
Copy Paste Styles
Our team of designers has spent countless hours creating unique websites for our clients, for our own needs, and for our ever-growing library of Starter Templates.
We’re well aware of the most time-consuming activities while creating websites.
With Spectra 2.0, we’ve tried to eliminate most of these obstacles. One such enhancement is the copy paste style option.
Let’s say you add an info box to a page and customize it until it’s perfect. You now want to add another info box and replicate the same customization on another page.
Instead of making those customizations from scratch, you can simply copy the style from the first info box and paste it into the second. The style will be applied just like that!
Huge time saver, this is, isn’t it? We definitely think so!
We’ve taken care of responsive design options
Data indicates that more than 50% of the website traffic comes from mobile devices.
Ensuring your website is responsive to mobile devices is no longer an option. Instead, it is a must-have feature. In addition to making your website look good, it’s also a key ranking factor.
The good news is that, with Spectra, you can easily make a pixel-perfect website across all devices.
Each Spectra block offers responsive alignment and spacing options that help you craft an amazing-looking website that looks amazing on any device.
Website templates, page templates, block patterns, and wireframes with Spectra!
Whether you are a freelancer, entrepreneur, website designer, or agency building websites for clients, we believe in making the entire designing process easy.
To help you on your journey, our fantastic team of designers has created an excellent library of website and page templates that can be imported in just a few clicks.
Import, customize, and launch your online presence just like that. All this without writing a line of code.
Website templates
Want completely readymade website templates? Ones that include templates for the homepage, about us, services, products, and contact us, among other pages.
That’s precisely what you get when you select a template from the Spectra library.
Spectra offers several great templates that can be imported quickly and easily. Once you’ve imported a template, you can easily customize it anyway way you want.
Page templates
Instead of an entire website, do you want to import an individual page template?
Page templates are beneficial when you only need a single page to go along with your existing website.
Instead of designing one from scratch, you can simply import an individual page template from the library and customize it to suit your website requirements.
Block patterns (Section Templates)
Block patterns are a huge time saver. They are professionally-designed premade section templates that you can easily import onto your page.
You can even save these block patterns as templates and re-use them later!
Wireframes
Wouldn’t it be great if you could create a mockup of a website to test your ideas from within your page builder? Spectra can help!
Create quick website mockups you can share with your clients before kickstarting the development process.
Once the design is approved, you can easily convert it into a functional website by adding the correct elements and blocks.
All this and more are available with Spectra! You don’t need any other plugin. ;)
Site under maintenance? Enable coming soon mode!
Ongoing updates, maintenance, and development are a part and parcel of any website. While it can be pretty straightforward, some maintenance involves a fair amount of work.
And it’s best not to show your users those broken pages, just in case an update goes wrong!
Want to continue working on your site without letting users see a page being updated?
Spectra has you covered!
Create an elegant-looking coming soon page using the Spectra blocks and enable it. Work in peace knowing your visitors are seeing an informative notice rather than an HTTP error!.
Similarly, you can create a maintenance alert page and use it with the coming soon mode. This way, you can redo your site or make changes without impacting the user experience.
The ultimate goal is performance with attractive design
We tested Spectra 2.0 and compared the code it generates to the leading page builders on the market.
We created the same page using these page builders and Spectra 2.0.
The result? Spectra generates the least amount of code! 😎
Meaning you get a super fast website that looks amazing on all devices!
And we didn’t stop there.
Our development team continues to find ways to enhance website performance further.
It will only get better! ;)
Spectra 2.0 is completely free!
With so many features and addons, we were tempted to offer Spectra 2.0 as a premium product. After all, no other free page builder offers as much.
Instead, we decided to let the WordPress community access a fantastic page builder for free.
We feel it genuinely changes how you develop websites using WordPress and want everyone to be able to take advantage of it.
Hence, Spectra 2.0 is completely free!
Get started in three easy and simple steps:
- Download the zip from the link at the bottom of this page
- Upload it on your WordPress website
- Install and activate Spectra 2.0
That’s it. You’re good to go!
Start building your website and use our amazing 25 Spectra blocks!
Spectra 2.0 is released. What’s coming next?
Spectra is eventually going to have two versions.
Spectra Core Version
Spectra’s free version has been released and is now available for all users. It’s fully loaded with 25 amazing blocks that help you develop a fantastic website for yourself or your clients.
Then this is what’s in progress right now…👇
Spectra Pro
With Spectra Pro, we’ve pushed the limits to what you can accomplish on your WordPress website. We’ve ensured that you can do much more with your blocks.
Here are a few enhancements you’ll see in the pro version:
- Instagram feed block (Business and Personal)
- Dynamic content functionality
- Countdown timer block
- Comparison slider block
- Popup builder
- And a theme builder
That’s not all.
We’ve got a few more surprises for you in the pro version. Stay tuned for this.
If you have the Astra’s Business Toolkit, you will get Spectra Pro at no extra cost.
Don’t have the Astra Business Toolkit? Now is an excellent time to get one.
Try Spectra 2.0 now!
Go ahead and download Spectra 2.0 using this link: Spectra 2.0
How to install/update?
- Download the zip file
- Upload it to your WordPress website
- Install and update and activate Spectra 2.0
Once you’ve successfully activated and updated Spectra 2.0, you’ll be able to see Spectra blocks while creating your web pages.
We’d like to hear from you now.
Try Spectra 2.0 and let us know what you like the most about it. Or is there a particular feature you’d like to see in Spectra?
Let us know in the comments below or mail us your feedback at [email protected].
Also, spread the word and share your thoughts in our Facebook community: Spectra | Facebook
Last but not least, a huge thank you to all our beta testers for sharing their valuable thoughts. ❤️
We at Brainstorm Force continue to build amazing products that help you succeed and scale your online business. Watch this space for more amazing releases!
Disclosure: This blog may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through one of these links, we may receive a small commission. Read disclosure. Rest assured that we only recommend products that we have personally used and believe will add value to our readers. Thanks for your support!
Great job guys! We’re so excited to add this to our web design agency tool kit.
Very good news! When Spectra Pro?
Very soon!
Do you have real speed comparisons with other page builders like Beaver Builder, Divi, Elementor?
Not yet! We will surely get this aligned with our team of writers and content team.
Hi, Sujay. You and the team have done fantastic work here. Will it be possible to add custom blocks to Spectra 2.0, i.e. will it be possible for web designers and developers to be able to offer clients using Spectra 2.0 a library of custom widget blocks to their clients or will these blocks only be available from Astra?
Hello Jonathan,
Sorry, we do not have the option to add custom blocks to Spectra yet. We will surely, see if it can be considered.
Totally awesome! Can’t wait to try Spectra 2.0 and can’t wait for Spectra Pro to come out soon. Boom 💥
Glad to hear that, Anil!
Hi,
What are the minimum wp theme requirements for spectra? I’d like to use a theme with as little as possible included.
Hello Paul, the basic requirements for the Spectra are listed on the Plugins page on the WordPress plugins repository. We will get a brief System Requirements document created as well for better understanding.
Is Spectra responsive (mobile optimized)?
Yes!
So I have kind of fallen in love with Spectra. They work incredibly well, and have great options for customization. I have found one block type that I would LOVE to see which would be a “Post List”. Do you have a place where we can request new ideas? Thanks!
Hello Danny, we have taken your request and shared it with our team. You can reach out to us through our Support Portal for any requests or suggestions.