Introducing GenerateBlocks 2.1

The GenerateBlocks team is excited to announce the release of GenerateBlocks 2.1, a significant update that brings several new features, enhancements, and fixes to both the free and Pro versions. 

This update, released on April 15, 2025, empowers WordPress users with greater control, accessibility, and performance in their block-based designs. 

Whether you’re a casual user or a seasoned developer, GenerateBlocks 2.1 elevates the experience of working in the WordPress block editor. 

New Features in GenerateBlocks 2.1

Enhanced Styles Builder Indicator System

In the past, determining where values have been set and inherited has been a challenge. As such, GenerateBlocks 2.1 now makes determining what values are governing layouts easier. With both colored dots and placeholder values, designing for desktop, mobile, and tablet display is intuitive and easy. 

Both the free and Pro versions now feature an improved indicator dot system in the styles builder. This improved feature makes it easier than ever to identify where your style properties come from, giving you greater control and flexibility in your design process.

If you’ve set a local style to max-width 85%, you’ll see an indicator with a red dot for all viewports, and you can easily select mobile, for example, and change that value of 85% to any other value (for example 75%) by overriding the placeholder value. A new style will be set where you override that placeholder, and clicking the colored dot will expose the underlying CSS that can be edited as well. And if you remove the override, the placeholder value will return.

The enhanced Styles Indicator feature simplifies the process of tracking the origins of your style properties, offering greater control and flexibility in your design workflow. Now, color-coded dots appear alongside selectors, responsive settings, style panels, and individual properties, providing an instant visual guide to whether a control has styles and their source:

• Local (Orange Dot): Styles applied directly to the block or the global style class.
• Inherited (Yellow Dot): Styles cascading from a parent or linked element.
• Global (Purple Dot): Styles set within a global style class.

These indicators allow you to effortlessly see whether a block or global style class contains property values and pinpoint their origins, whether you’re tweaking selectors or adjusting responsive views. You’ll see a key at the bottom of the right sidebar as a reminder of what each colored dot means.

Plus, clicking a dot next to any property reveals its CSS rule, complete with a handy shortcut to edit the values on the spot. 

We’ve overhauled the system for greater flexibility and a noticeable leap in editor performance, making your design experience smoother than ever.

Device Visibility Controls in Pro

GenerateBlocks Pro users can now take responsiveness to the next level with device visibility controls. Show or hide blocks based on the user’s device, perfect for tailoring experiences across desktops, tablets, and phones. 

This is a shortcut to set the “Display: None” CSS for the user on the relevant device size. When viewing the device visibility in the block settings, you’ll see that the display: none is set to custom. 

iFrame Editor Support

A new iFrame editor provides a smoother and more integrated workflow when designing your pages with blocks. In the past, viewing changes as you made modifications to block settings was not smooth and did not provide adequate synchronization between different views. Now, using an iFrame, the editor will provide a more accurate visual representation of the final design. 

New Static Position Control Value

The “Position” control now includes a static value, offering more flexibility when positioning elements within your layouts. This is a small but powerful addition for fine-tuning your designs.

Accessibility Boost with ARIA-label Fields

Accessibility makes the web better for everyone, and GenerateBlocks 2.1 reflects that commitment. All blocks in both GenerateBlocks free and Pro now include an ARIA-label field, allowing you to add descriptive labels that improve screen reader compatibility and user experience.

Expanded Layout Options with inline-grid

The new inline-grid option joins the lineup of layout choices, giving you more creative freedom when arranging content within your blocks.

Tag Name Options for Tabs and Accordions in Pro

Pro users can now customize tag names in tab and accordion blocks, offering greater semantic control and flexibility for advanced layouts.

Performance and Usability Tweaks

This update also brings a variety of tweaks to streamline your workflow:

• Editor Performance Boost. Both Free and Pro versions benefit from improved editor performance, so you can work faster and more efficiently.
• Smarter Styles Builder. Default selectors and shortcuts are enhanced, and a new searching notice is available while browsing options.
• User Meta Fields. Popular user meta fields are now always visible in dropdowns, saving you time when working with dynamic data.
• Pro Device Visibility Support. The free version now lays the groundwork for this Pro feature, ensuring seamless integration for upgraders.
• Developer-Friendly Additions. New filters like generateblocks_use_v1_blocks and early-loaded permissions give developers more control.

Key Fixes for a Smoother Experience

GenerateBlocks 2.1 also offers a few bug fixes to make things easier. These include:

• Improved Query Parameters. The “current parent” query parameter is no longer missing, ensuring dynamic content behaves as expected.
• Color Picker Enhancements. Fallback preview support in the color picker is fixed, making it easier to visualize your choices.
• UnitControl Usability. You can now type all units without hiccups, including values starting with a dash.
• Block and Pattern Previews. Preview styles are now consistent and reliable across the board.
• Dynamic Tag Parsing. Issues with parsing all blocks in a Container at once have been resolved, improving performance and accuracy.
• WordPress 6.8 Compatibility. A fix was added for image block selection in preparation for WordPress 6.8. 

For Pro users, additional fixes include resolving nested accordion issues and adding the missing tablist role for better accessibility.

Updates to the GeneratePress Theme

Alongside the updates to GenerateBlocks Free and Pro plugins, we’ve released an update to the GeneratePress theme. Updates include one bug fix for the font manager, and some tweaks for better support of the iFramed editor and the navigation search modal. We also added a passive event listener for accessibility script and an improvement to use `wp_add_inline_script()` for inline script variables.

We recommend updating the GeneratePress theme to version 3.6.0 for seamless integration with the improvements to GenerateBlocks 2.1. 

Upgrading to GenerateBlocks 2.1 is Easy

GenerateBlocks 2.1 is all about giving you more power, precision, and performance. From accessibility improvements to layout flexibility and Pro-exclusive features like device visibility, this update makes it easier than ever to create stunning, user-friendly WordPress sites. Whether you’re building a simple blog or a complex client project, these enhancements will help make building fast and effective sites easy.

For all additions to GenerateBlocks 2.1 Free and Pro, check out the changelog.