Product changes

We're excited to announce the release of Widgets, a powerful new feature inspired by feedback from our community. Widgets are designed to simplify and speed up the page-building process, making it easier than ever to create pages.

Key Benefits

• Simplified page building: Widgets allow users to build pages quickly without the need for in-depth knowledge of individual components or how to combine them. Each widget comes with a limited set of options, reducing the number of clicks and decisions required to create a page.
• Consistency is key: Want your apps to look sharp and on-brand every time? Widgets can be pre-styled to match your brand’s look and feel. This means you can maintain a consistent design across all your apps without breaking a sweat.
• Faster development and increased efficiency: Widgets are designed to help you build apps faster and more efficiently. By offering larger, pre-configured blocks with fewer options, you can quickly put together pages with greater confidence and consistency. No more starting from scratch—just drag, drop, and let widgets do the heavy lifting.

New Functionalities

Blockstore

• Widget set: We've got you covered with a set of widgets right out of the betty-box. You can find the widgets here.
• Widget category: The block store now features a dedicated widget category for easy access.
• Widget installation: Easily install widget blocks into your app, just like other block items. 

Building Widgets

• Make your own: While we offer a widget set to use, we encourage you to create your very own. Use our Empty widget component to build widgets in your own style and how you like it. You can easily share your creations in the BlockStore or just simply save it within your application only —whatever works best for you.
• Empty widget component: Use the empty widget component to build widgets. When this component is empty, it will be unlocked and provides guidance on how to use it.
• Dropzones: Mark layout components within a widget as dropzones to define where additional content can be added. You find this option under the advanced settings of layout a component.
• Saving, sharing and updating widgets: Once configured, save as a widget for reuse. You can also update and delete widgets so you it’s easy to maintain your own set.

Using Widgets

• Drag and drop: Widgets can be dragged and dropped from the sidebar onto the canvas, and even nested within other widgets via dropzones.
• New sidebar category: A new 'Widgets' category has been added to the pages sidebar, alongside 'Components' and 'Partials'. In this category a preview of the widget will be visible on hover.

Documentation

For detailed guidance on using widgets, visit our documentation where you can learn:

• How to create your own widgets
• How to build a page using widgets

Webinar

Want to learn more? Sign up for our Feature Focus Webinar about widget on January 28 2025, at 3:00 PM CET / 9:00 AM ET. The webinar will take up to 30 minutes and there will be an insightful Q&A session afterward.

We believe that widgets will significantly enhance your experience by simplifying the process of creating beautiful, functional pages. We can’t wait to see what you build with them!