Adding blocks
Adding to a page in Studio v2 is clearer. Add opens a large directory beside the page where nith's own blocks and sections are kept apart from the ones you saved, each with a real preview. Pick one, then add it where you are working, or choose Place on the page and click exactly where it should go.
The old Add panel with its many categories and small pictures is gone. Everything it offered is in the directory. The Saved panel is unchanged.
The + buttons in Layers now open the short block menu right where you clicked, so you choose what to add instead of getting a box or text you did not ask for. The add slot simply reads "Add" (or "Add a section"). On a phone, the add menu no longer darkens the page behind it.
The + between two rows sits on a line at the row's own indent and no longer covers the drag handle.
In Studio v2's Add, click any block to try a working demo of it in your site's colours and fonts before you add it. Open the questions, swipe the slides, open the pop-up, switch to phone or dark mode. When it looks right, press Add to page and click where it should go.
A press on a card now opens its demo instead of selecting it; the demo holds the add buttons. Links and forms in a demo stay put and send nothing.
Each block now comes with its choices: a button's Primary, Accent, Outline, Ghost and Danger styles, a slideshow's Classic, Minimal or Cinematic look, a fold-out list's cards or editorial look, ready-made versions of a section. Pick one in the demo and that is the one that is added. Buttons and cards stay linked to your saved styles, so changing the style later changes them too.
You can now make variants of your own saved blocks and components. Open one in Add, choose Make a variant and give it a name such as Dark or Short. It is listed with the original as one of its styles. When saving a block for reuse you can also save it as a variant of one you already have.
A saved block or component with variants shows "N styles" on its card in Add.
Add now opens on Start here, with what you added lately and ideas for the page you are on, such as a form on a contact page. Blocks are grouped by what you want to do, like Show photos or Get leads, with plain names (Slideshow, Photo, Fold-out list) and one line about each. Searching for the technical name still finds them.
The Blocks, Sections, Records and Business areas are replaced by these groups. Your own saved blocks, components and look keep their own areas.
Trying a block in Add now shows it on a soft moving background made from your site's colours, larger and with a gentle shadow, so it reads like a preview of the real thing. On a phone or tablet view the block grows to use the space.
The background stays still if your device asks for less motion, with a pause button in the stage's corner while it moves.
A button you add now uses your site's Primary button style straight away, so it matches your other buttons and changes with them when you edit Primary. In Add, the first style shown and selected is Primary.
Buttons already on your pages, and buttons that already follow a style or were made Custom, are unchanged.
The moving background behind a block preview in Add, and behind the screen shown when a dashboard page fails to load, is smooth again instead of looking speckled on dark sites, and a dark site's preview background shows more of its own colour.
Canvas
Pages built from an imported design, and headers with an uploaded logo, now look the same in Studio v2 as on your live site, instead of showing stacked menus, squeezed buttons, missing grids and placeholder boxes.
On pages built from an imported design, changing a box's direction, wrapping, alignment, spacing or gap in Studio v2 now changes the live page too, on the device you edited, instead of only the editor.
Sections and groups set to show only when a list has items (for example your therapies or locations) now appear in Studio v2 exactly when they appear on your live site.
Captions and small groups centred inside a box (such as a video card's caption) now sit centred in Studio v2 as they do on your live site.
Scrolling text bands look like your live site in Studio v2 — one line that moves in Preview — instead of a still list wrapping onto two lines.
On the phone preview in Studio v2, your header logo is now the same size as on a real phone.
On the phone and tablet previews in Studio v2, your header now looks as it does on a real phone or tablet: buttons that move into the menu on a small screen move there in the preview too, and the Menu button and logo stay inside the screen.
On Sound Ways' phone preview, "Activate Patient Portal" now sits in the menu (as it does on a phone) instead of pushing the Menu button off the edge. An announcement strip set to show below the header now shows below it in Studio v2.
When you select something in Studio v2, the thin guide lines that show the page's structure now include your header and footer, including a see-through header over the opening picture, so you can see where they sit.
The small dots that mark blocks changed on tablet or phone no longer sit all over the page. They appear where you point or select, or all at once when you open the "blocks changed" menu or turn on Show device changes. Point at a dot to see what changed, for example "Changed on tablet: padding, alignment", and click it to select the block and see its tablet or phone changes.
The "Show change dots" switch is now "Show device changes", off by default, in the editor settings and the device strip's menu.
Comments
Notes no longer cover the page while you edit. Open Comments, or turn on comment mode, to see their pins; the Comment button shows how many notes are still open.
Inspector
The words in the Studio's text fields sit in the middle of the box again. With the browser's text size set smaller or larger than usual, fields such as a page's Title showed their words pressed against the bottom or top edge.
Placeholder hints line up exactly with what you type, and colour names in Design no longer squeeze into a short box.
Saving and publishing
Studio v2 can only change the parts of a page you edited; the server refuses a save that would change anything else.
If Studio v2 ever tries to change something you did not edit, it says nothing was saved and asks you to reload, instead of saving it.
Studio v2 can only change the parts of a dialog or drawer you edited, and it no longer overwrites a dialog someone else saved since you opened it.
If a dialog or drawer was changed elsewhere while you were editing it, Studio v2 stops saving it and asks you to reload instead of replacing their version.
Workspace
In Layers, each section, box or other container now has a + that adds the usual next block right there (a box in a section, text in a box) and a small menu button with a short list of blocks, your saved blocks, and a way into the full directory. The same short menu opens from the page's "Add a section here" pills and the toolbar's +. Each kind of block now has its own icon and colour everywhere.
The toolbar's + opens the short menu instead of the Add panel. Tabs, Page opening, Picture and points and some other blocks have new icons of their own.
In Layers you can now replace or remove any block straight from its row. Click its ⋯ button or right-click it: Replace with… lets you pick another block that takes its place and keeps its words, picture, link and styles where they fit; Remove takes it out. The header and footer rows can swap to another design, change their layout, be made your own, or be hidden on just this page.
Press Delete on a selected row to remove it, or Shift+F10 to open its actions. A hidden header or footer stays in Layers, greyed, with Show again beside it. The toolbar's More menu has Replace with… too.
The menus in Studio's Layers (and every dashboard menu) now line up properly: icons and words start the same distance from the edge as the highlight ends on the other side, and the highlight no longer stops short on the right.
General
The new Studio's Add panel, its header and footer switches, and the page shown when a dashboard screen fails to load now say EasyAsPie and show the EasyAsPie logo, and the blocks you added recently are kept through the change.