The only place I ever heard anyone called a blockhead was a fictional one: the world of Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the Peanuts kids. Did anyone ever really call people blockheads outside of a comic strip?
Anyway…
Here’s the second video of my little Headway 3.0 Beta tour. If you can’t see it (you may be reading this in your email or a reader) then head directly to the blog to watch it!
Playing with Blocks
As you can see, the main content “unit” of Headway is now called a block. It used to be called a leaf, which lead to all kinds of fun explanations and discussions, like this:
Me: You add leafs.
Other Person: A what?
Me: A leaf. You know, like a table leaf.
Other Person: Shouldn’t that be leaves?
Me: (Forcing a smile) No, the kind that go into tables are called “leafs” not “leaves.”
Other Person: Oh… (you can tell they’re not sure about this and I resist the urge to tell them to look it up)
So… yeah. Now they’re called blocks and everybody’s happy: confusion eliminated!
If you’ve ever played with Legos or other snap-together style of blocks, you immediately get the idea.
The Headway 3.0 Layout Grid in the Visual Editor is like having one of those big flat “land” bases upon which you would build your block houses, space stations or castles (I loved the moon ones that had craters in them). Only you’re building with website blocks. It’s ridiculously easy.
You just click and drag to draw a block and then a menu thingy pops up (we get real technical around here) so you can choose what kind of block it’s going to be. Then you enter your settings… and that’s it.
Later you go into the Design tab and make it look all pretty.
Beta Status
While there is enough work done on the beta for me to make a video like this for you, obviously it hasn’t been released yet. Rest assured that Grant, Clay and AJ aren’t just sitting around sipping merlot from the hollowed-out skulls of their former competition. Why not? Because Clay’s not old enough to drink.
Oh, yeah… they’re also BUSTING THEIR BUTTS to get the 3.0 ready for beta release.
More like what’s probably happening is that Clay and AJ are busting their butts and Grant is yelling at them to bust ’em a little harder. š
So it will be ready when it’s ready, and not before. Yes, I know we said “Monday.” That was silly of us, now, wasn’t it? Thanks for your patience and to tide you over, do please watch, share and comment on this video! I’m trying to sate your appetite for beta information and string you along mercilessly at the same time (insert evil laugh here).
Let me know if it’s working. š
Hey, I’ve been working with WP for almost a year now and I’ve used several themes. Just want to thank you for the great work you’re doing. This is a groundbreaking product! The next release looks really impressive. My only misgiving for headway is that it is a bit laggy, even on the fastest internet connections. So I’m wondering if any work is going into addressing that?
I have never experienced the laggy you are talking about. However, 3.0 is getting a huge speed boost.
Well, there is the speed at which Headway operates as you work in the visual editor. That’s one thing. If you watch the video above you’ll notice none of the shots of loading screens have been edited in any way. I have a decently fast computer on a decently fast connection. Average, basically. Nothing bad, nothing brag-worthy.
Then there’s the speed at which the blog pages load for visitors. The technical description of this speed is “wicked fast.”
Hey Guys I’m cool with whenever you release it. It can be this minute the next or next week. And you should be sipping Merlot (except Clay). I have some in the office: 2-Buck Chuck from Trader Joes I keep for my WordPress Meetup attendees so if you want a glass let me know š
Cheers on the upcoming Beta or the net blog post about it’s “Coming Soon!”
Dante, thanks so much for the kind words, patience and offer of cheap vino!
So stoked about this new release. Looks amazing. Thanks so much for all of your hard work on 3.0. Can’t wait to get my hands on a Beta and take this baby for a spin. Well done, guys!
We appreciate your enthusiasm, it’s a big part of what motivates us.
“It will be ready when its ready” is the way to go. You cant rush art!
Good luck, this is really cool stuff.
Thanks! At least it WILL ship.
WOW! This is really looking great – well done as always!
Clay is outdoing himself in epic fashion with 3.0.
Very nice. Two questions:
1) Can you set blocks within blocks?
2) Can you adjust dimensions of blocks in pixels?
Cheers.
David –
1. Not that I am aware of.
2. Dimensions are adjusted with the new grid system and it is amazing.
You will have some control over the grid itself, which will translate into control over how finely blocks snap to the grid lines.
Wouldn’t it be like nesting divs?
If you are talking about blocks within blocks, I suppose. But this will not be a built in feature with Headway. You would have to do that with code.
Anthony, if you were hand-coding you could nest whatever you wanted, but in a system that has to be flexible and usable by everyone, there have to be some restrictions or things would just break all over the place, ripping a hole in the fabric of the space-time continuum. And you know how it is when that happens… things get kinda dicey.
The content area of a block pulls its content automatically from the WordPress database. When you modify the settings of the block, you’re essentially modifying a WordPress database query. It’s a single type only kind of situation. By keeping the query reasonably simple and single-minded we avoid problems.
Custom CSS allows you to play with the arrangement of the blocks after the fact of the queries. So if you wanted to try and, say, get the navigation bar to appear to float inside the header, you might be able to do that.
A block which lets you write your own code however means that whatever content you decide to put in there is what gets fetched by the database query. It’s still single type situation under the hood but if you use nested divs in that code, then to the site visitor it looks like a box within a box.
It’s going to be the best, and you guys are going to make it happen! Sure we all want it now, cause this is a NOW generation, not like when I was on the younger side of life. You just had to wait, & oh, there was NO internet! Patience is a virtue that has many faces. My face is a smiling face as I wait for 3.0.
Hi There!
I’ve been playing around with Headway over the past few weeks since I bought the developers version and its fantastic! (migrated over from thesis).
The only things that I’m really struggling with at the moment (being that I’m not a coder) is that there is no way to input a background image/gradient onto the page background (not browser background) through the visual control panel.
You can change the color but not add an image. It would be awesome if in the area where you can select a page color, you could also upload a custom designed page background ready to lay your text, banners and headers on top of.
The second thing is that your stuck with the same background, header, layout etc for each page. It would be good to change it up and have a different hero image, header image and page background on each page.
Finally it would be fantastic if there was the option to use more fonts, maybe allowing more custom/designer fonts.
A function that created graphic dividers/visual content boxes would also be awesome.
If you could let me know if there are plans to develop these areas in the forceable future, that would be appreciated.
Thank you for whats already the best theme to date, it can only get better!
John
You can do this now in the visual editor
Coming in 3.0
You can do this now by adding Google Fonts
Coming in 3.0
Hey thanks alot for the reply Grant.
That’s great that those new features are coming in 3.0.
In regards to background image, any chance you could clarify these questions?
“The only things that Iām really struggling with at the moment (being that Iām not a coder) is that there is no way to input a background image/gradient onto the page background (not browser background) through the visual control panel.
“You can do this now in the visual editor
How is this done? I’ve had a thorough search around but couldn’t find a way, (changing browser background is easy but couldnt do image-page background). I asked a coder that I know and he said that I’d probably have to amend the code somewhere but not really sure where to begin there.
Also will it be possible in 3.0 to have a different background image on each page without having to code?
Any idea roughly when it will be released?
Thanks!!! ; )
Headway 3.0 beta 1 is coming out ASAP
Do you have any ideas in regards to the tech questions I had? Thanks (those 2 are the only questions I have… Promise!)
Johnny you can add a background image by going to Style & Design > Background. Here’s a screenshot: http://yfrog.com/j226x8j
Hi Michael, I was talking about adding an image to the page background not the browser background. Is there a way to do that?
There will be a way to do this without code in Headway 3.0
Hi
Would you be able to add a different background to each page without code or will you have to stick with the same background for the whole site.
Thank you
Different for each page. Even different for each Block on a page.
I can’t wait for HT 3.0 release!
I have to do a page for my parents and my portfolio page so I’m waiting for H.T 3 because I suppose it will make job easier. I’m only worried about uptading my current site to new HT version but I hope it will go smoothly:)
Take your time For me also it doesn’t matter if beta will come today or next week. I even bought developer licence to try it:)
Thanks!
Atria
Looking great guys. Fired up about this!
3.0 looks like a game changer. Will H 2.+ port over with relative ease to the new version. Will a leaf now just be called a block?
Thanks,
John
Those sites which rely a lot on css will take some work to be converted over to Headway 3.0 Those which don’t, will be easier to move over.
I believe you may mean custom CSS specifically.
Exactly. I was just trying to save my fingers from typing so much. š
I’m 2 days into first WordPress and Headway installations, and as a novice level developer- I have to say I’m ecstatic. But I also have to say that the first video I saw that turned me on to Headway was one with images of the Block designer…. so I’m extra-eager to get into the Beta. I’ll be glad to be the Beta to the Beta if you’re looking for any guinea pigs!
Thanks for making these incredible tools. I’ll be sitting here at my computer 24/7 until the Beta pops up.
Is it limited to 960px or theres a workaround if you want a much larger than 960? like a 1000px site?
It is not limited. You can make it wider. See – http://d.pr/XtmC
Hi,
I have a question regarding the block positioning. From looking at your videos it seems that the position of blocks will be set using absolute css positioning. If this is correct each block will surely have to be a set height for the site design to display correctly.
So I was wondering if I was to create a content block which displayed, say, 4 post from my blog, how would this work?
Each of the posts will be a different length which will mean the block will have to have varying height to fit the content. If not surely the block content would be cut off early, or there would be a huge gap between the end of the content and the block positioned below?
Thanks
Gary
Nope, we’ve got you covered :).
The blocks in the visual editor use absolute positioning like you said, but on the actual front-end of you’re website, it’s processed into columns and rows (table-less, of course).
Wow, Thanks Clay. I was thinking that was going to be a big limitation for me š
The visual editor has always been sooooooooo sloooooooow. This is not only annoying, it makes Headway unusable for me. Why is this so (I’ve seen others report this same problem), and will it be addressed in the new version? Thanks.
Very few report this as a problem. And those who do usually change host and it resolves the issue. However, Headway 3 will be even faster than 2.0.13 already is.
I’ve seen many comments in the user forums about the slowness of the visual editor, and I’ve certainly experienced this problem firsthand. When I hit the button to make a change permanent, the little circle scrolls indefinitely, sometimes I just give up. Like I said, this renders Headway unusable for me. I use Hostgator, I’m really satisfied and don’t want to have to change my host. Thanks anyway.
The visual editor environment of Headway is really pushing the envelope of what web-based applications can do. As such, it is not as fast as a native desktop application. If you use other intensive web applications you will notice the same thing.
If Headway appears to be running extremely slow for you, the problem can be anything from your hosting to your connection speeds to the speed of your own computer or the browser version you’re using.
The fact that most people do not experience any slowness with the visual editor means that if problems exist they are because of something other than Headway.
If it’s fast for me but slow for you, you look at what things are different between our situations… not what is the same, because there is just no way the identical factors would be the cause of wildly different problems. The exact same lines of code are running for me as they are for you.
When issues with browsers or hosting arise, a new version of Headway is quickly released that fixes it. Or as in the case of troublesome hosts, workarounds are created and made known to all (such as issues with 1&1 Hosting, for example).
Since the entire code base has been rewritten from scratch in Headway 3, the visual editor environment will be significantly faster. If you give 3 a try and it STILL seems too slow for you, then you may want to investigate the other factors.
Hi – The potential of Blocks is simply amazing and I suspect will just require a couple of non-standard examples ie some examples away from the basic header-maincontent-sidebar-footer to get even the most ardent code purist interested. Is there a resource, or will there be a resource where I can see people pushing the envelope with Headway as far as plugin integration, image carousels etc?
You bet. We’ll be showing off all kinds of things like how to do sales pages, magazine-style layouts and just off-the-wall stuff. As our community of Headway users starts to tear into 3.0, we’ll also be highlighting their efforts.
Hey Michael, can you overlap blocks?
I’ve just bought Headway and will be messing about with it before I put anything out live.
Would you recommend that I ignore version 2 and start looking at version 3 straight away?
Like I said, I won’t be going live for some time.
BTW – great vid as usual.
Hello there,
Thanks for the amazing upgrad3 to HW 3.0. It’s the easiest way to develop websites, I have been using HW for a long time now.
Question:
How can I add a HW Image Slider, HTTP leaf, Excerpt and Gallery + leafs to the new Blocks system?
Thank you,
Henry
Leafs will be converted to the new Block system.