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Natasha Andreeva Verified userVerified user

Product Manager, UI building

Appsmith

Anvil Unveiled: Forging the Future of UI Building

One of the things that excites us about Appsmith is how easy it is to whip up a UI. You throw a few widgets into the mix, and you're off building a working app in no time. But let's be real, what happens when you need to add a field?

Trying to insert a Rating widget into an existing layout makes the latter jump all over the place

Inserting a new widget makes existing ones jump all over the place

 

Make sure your app stays on-brand?

Selecting and changing background and border colours on widgets one by one is very tedious

You'll have to change every colour on every widget in your app, figuring out the correct hues and colour pairs

 

Handle a complex app with tons of data that still needs to be used on any screen?

An Appsmith app that looks fine on a wide desktop will be scrambled and unusable on a smaller viewport

A reasonably complex app that looks fine on a desktop resolution will be scrambled and unusable on a smaller viewport

 

With these challenges in mind, we built and beta tested a solution that we called auto-layout last year. Now it’s time to reveal what is our next step in making UI building more efficient, intuitive, and robust than ever before.

Meet Anvil, the future of UI building

Anvil isn't just a facelift; it's a whole new layout and widget system. We cherry-picked the best ideas from our existing UI builder and modern design software and went all out to support features and experiences that were just out of reach before.

We're just getting started, but we're itching to give you a sneak peek. In this post, we're dropping screencasts from our super early preview. Sure, there's a ton more development, polishing, and bug-fixing to do, but we couldn't wait to share.

Here’s what Anvil brings to the table

Iterate faster: organize your UI logically and rearrange it in one go

Changing order of big and small blocks in one drag and drop action rather than moving all widgets one by one

Create multicolumn layouts: a simple form, a master-detail layout, or a complex dashboard will be equally easy to bring to life

Creating a new column with a button click, changing it's width and then adding a couple of inputs that automatically fit the column width

Keep your app tidy and consistent using semantic, globally managed styles

Creating a new heading, changing its style to 'subheading', and then switching a Delete button colour from 'accent' to 'negative'

Change every colour of the app with just one click to match your company brand

Changing the colour scheme, density, and sizing of the entire app in the app settings

(And yes, Dark Mode is in the mix!)

Responsiveness? Sit back and relax: Anvil will rearrange the UI blocks to fit into any viewport. Say goodbye to media queries and breakpoint headaches.

Demonstrating how an Anvil app looks flawless on any viewport

 

Focus on what matters

At Appsmith, we want you to spend time creating things that matter, not wrestling with UI. You need a tool that lets you iterate fast and get professional-looking results every step of the way.

But now we need to hear from you. What real-world scenarios should Anvil tackle? Sign up for the Anvil beta (coming soon!), jump into user testing, and have a direct line to our dev team. Your experiences will shape the future of UI building in Appsmith—because, honestly, we can't do it without you.

Sujoy Verified userVerified user staff View sujoychaudhary's profile
Tue, 01/16/2024 - 09:42

Can't wait to see this live!

Joseph Petty Verified userVerified user staff View joseph_appsmith's profile
Wed, 01/17/2024 - 08:59

Just tried out the demo. This is 🔥!

ricardofernandez public View ricardofernandez's profile
Thu, 04/11/2024 - 20:00

Hi, how are you?

What's the status of this feature?

I tried to sign up for the beta and it didn't allow me.

Thank you!

Natasha Andreeva Verified userVerified user staff View natashaandreeva's profile
Mon, 04/22/2024 - 06:24

In reply to by ricardofernandez

Hey Ricardo, 

thank you for your interest! Anvil is in development and we do accept beta testing sign ups. Could you please try signing up again using this link

umeshdiwekar public View umeshdiwekar's profile
Tue, 05/28/2024 - 06:54

Hi, how are you?

When we are planning to release this feature?

Thank you!

Ron Northcutt Verified userVerified user staff View ron's profile
Tue, 06/11/2024 - 16:09

In reply to by umeshdiwekar

This will most likely be out in the latter half of this year!

dll public View dll's profile
Thu, 07/04/2024 - 02:16

hi!what's the difference between auto-layout before?

Ron Northcutt Verified userVerified user staff View ron's profile
Mon, 07/29/2024 - 10:28

In reply to by dll

In the current version, the items will shrink on smaller screens, and if the container is set to "auto-height", then that will adjust as well. However, this sometimes doesn't scale well.

The NEW system (codename Anvil) is much "smarter" - it will also allow containers to flow and adapt to fit better. The results are much more impressive and produce more reliable results across all device sizes.

rodrigotorres public View rodrigotorres's profile
Mon, 09/23/2024 - 13:31

Hello, any news for the launch of this feature?

Ron Northcutt Verified userVerified user staff View ron's profile
Mon, 09/30/2024 - 09:44

In reply to by rodrigotorres

We are in alpha testing and we haven't announced a launch date yet

ZeroCodez HQ public Open to work View zerocodez's profile
Tue, 10/01/2024 - 01:40

Awesome! :)