Back in September we all nerd‑gasmed over the Bricks 2.0 roadmap and played a rousing game of feature bingo while we waited. Well, the waiting party is officially over (finally).
The very first alpha build of Bricks 2.0 has dropped, and it’s sitting in your account like a brand‑new arcade cabinet begging for quarters. I spent a long weekend kicking the tires, stress‑testing the shiny parts, and seeing how badly I could break things. Grab a mug of whatever fuels your late‑night builds and let’s unpack everything you need to know.
Thomas from Bricks Builder recently sent out an email with the announcements. The email contained a lot more information, including a HUGE thank you shout out to the entire community. Here’s a snippet of the email:
Two‑Click Download (and a Giant “Use a Staging Site” Neon Sign)
You’ll find the alpha in Account ▸ Downloads ▸ Manual Downloads or you can go straight to https://my.bricksbuilder.io/?alpha=2.0
The file arrives as a good old‑fashioned ZIP, so you’ll upload it just like any other theme. Important: this is not an automatic updater, which means you can’t blame the Bricks team if you blind‑install it on Grandma’s live e‑commerce store and the cart melts. Do yourself a favor—clone your site on LocalWP, SpinupWP, InstaWP, or whatever flavor of staging you fancy, then go wild.
Pro move: Keep a quick‑rollback plugin (WPvivid, Duplicator, Updraft) activated so you can jump back if the alpha eats your header.
(Screenshot idea: Bricks account page with the 2.0‑alpha badge and an arrow pointing to “Download.”)
The Headliner Features You Already Heard About, But With Real‑World Flavor
Thomas’s launch email rattled off the greatest hits, but let’s translate them into what they feel like in daily workflows.
Nested Components Graduate From Experimental
Components were cool in 1.x, but the inability to nest them made complex layouts messy. In the alpha you can now slide a Pricing Card component inside a Feature Grid component, swap the plan count, and everything inherits without a hiccup. It’s LEGO Technic compared with the basic DUPLO blocks we had before.
Builder Capabilities Bring Client‑Safe Editing
Capabilities live under Settings ▸ Capabilities and let you toggle every panel and action per role. I created a “Content‑Only” role in three clicks: turned off Structure, turned off CSS, left Typography and Media on. My pretend client could edit copy, swap images, and, crucially, could not drag the header into oblivion.
In‑Builder Managers: Elements, Fonts, Icons
No more hopping back to WordPress settings. The Font Manager pops out as a side panel, complete with live preview and subset selector. The Icon Manager does the same, and you can now rename icon sets on the fly. It sounds small but cuts minutes off every back‑and‑forth.
Visual CSS Grid Builder
Click the grid icon, draw rows and columns right on the canvas, drag edges to resize, then watch the grid‑template CSS update live. I rebuilt a magazine‑style layout without referencing MDN once, which felt like cheating, glorious, productive cheating.
Bulk‑Edit Elements
Select any mishmash of elements, tweak one property in the right panel, and everything updates. Need to bump twenty blog titles from 32 px to 36 px? Highlight them, type once, sip coffee. Done.
Five Hidden‑Gem Features You’ll Miss If You Only Skim the Email
The changelog weighs in at 100‑plus items, so I dug for the treasures you probably haven’t seen touted on Twitter yet.
Assign Global Classes in Bulk
Utility‑class devotees rejoice. Drag a lasso around a section, type u‑shadow‑lg, and every selected element now carries that class. No more click‑class → paste → repeat.
Multi‑Element Duplicate, Delete, and Wrap
Spring‑cleaning a cluttered Structure panel used to be click‑drag‑click pain. Now you can tag a stack of stray divs and delete them in one keystroke, or wrap them inside a new Section for instant layout sanity.
Copy and Paste Styles 2.0
You could always copy styles, but now the clipboard persists across pages and even across separate browser tabs. Build a hero block on Page A, paste its typography on Page B, never touch a design system doc.
Query Results Summary Element
Drop the new Summary element at the top of a Query Loop and it auto‑renders “Showing 1‑12 of 34 Results.” No shortcode, no PHP snippet, no tears.
On‑Demand Asset Loading
Hidden deep in the performance notes is a gem: Bricks only prints CSS and JS when an element is present. Build a landing page without a form? The form’s assets stay home, slimming every kilobyte counts waterfall.
Bonus Mic Drop: The new Inherited Setting Indicator tells you exactly which breakpoint or parent class is bossing your margin around. Goodbye, random detective work.
Upgrade‑Prep Checklist (Alpha to Live)
A safe migration later this year starts with groundwork today.
- Convert Global Elements to Components. The old system is officially on a retirement cruise. Use the one‑click converter under Structure.
- Layer Audit. Cascade layers default to “on,” so refactor any high‑specificity selectors before they start a turf war.
- CSS‑Variable Spring Clean. With the new Selector UI you can surface every variable in seconds; ditch redundant ones.
- Plugin Survey. Check Discord or changelogs for every Bricks add‑on you depend on. Flag anything without a 2.0 roadmap.
- Full Backup and Staging. Boring but mandatory, take a snapshot before each test drive.
Print that list, tape it to your monitor, thank me later.
Agency Workflow Gold: Turning Capabilities and Components Into Cash
Freelancers and agencies stand to gain the most from 2.0.
Client‑Proof Editing
Build the page, duplicate the Editor role, strip anything scarier than Typography and Content, rename the role to “Safe Editor,” and sleep at night. No more emergency Slacks that start with “I deleted the header row, can you fix it?”
Component‑Driven Design Systems
Package every reusable block, pricing tables, testimonials, FAQ accordions, into a branded Components library. Import the library into a fresh client project, flip colors via CSS variables, and launch weeks faster. Add a line item on the invoice called “PixelDrip Design Framework” and watch it pay for itself.
Team Onboarding
New junior dev joins? Hand them a sandbox with Capabilities limited to Content and Spacing, plus a library of prefabs. They learn safely without torpedoing a live layout.
How to Give Feedback That Actually Helps
The Bricks team values tight bug reports over hype tweets.
- Repro steps first: Describe exactly how you triggered the bug. “Open grid ➝ draw three cells ➝ drag diagonal at 1280 px ➝ mis‑align.”
- Environment info: Paste System Info and browser version. Saves a back‑and‑forth.
- Visual proof: Loom or a GIF beats a wall of text.
Polished feedback means faster fixes and a quicker beta.
Timeline Watch: Crystal‑Ball Edition
Alpha dropped on 23 April 2025. If history holds, Bricks aims for a six-week alpha cycle, followed by beta by early June. A single‑digit beta series could push an RC by August, leaving a late‑Q3 one‑click updater. Remember, community bug volume can compress or expand that schedule. Keep an eye on the official Trello board and their Twitter for micro‑updates.
Closing Thoughts and Your Next Steps
Bricks has scooped “Best WordPress Builder” awards multiple years running for a reason: they ship ambitious features without turning the UI into a cockpit. Version 2.0 cranks that philosophy to eleven. Components nest, Capabilities civilize clients, and the grid builder makes CSS look like a party trick.
Whether you’re the lone ranger managing three passion sites or an agency wrangling hundreds of pages a month, the alpha is your invitation to shape the final product. So clone a staging site, push the new grid to its limits, and tell Thomas’s crew what squeaks.Missed our original feature preview? Catch up here → Bricks Website Builder 2.0: What’s Coming & When.
