Have you ever designed a block of theater-style seats and had to guess what it would look like on the frontend? You draw a simple box in the admin panel and hope for the best. We believe there’s a better way. That’s why we’ve completely overhauled our seat block tool to create a true WYSIWYG seating chart builder. “What You See Is What You Get” is now a reality for your event layouts.
The simple grey placeholder box is gone. Now, when you add or edit a block of seats, you see every single seat circle rendered in real-time. This is a massive upgrade to the design experience, making it faster, more accurate, and much more intuitive.
See Every Seat, Instantly
The core of this upgrade is our new visual rendering engine inside the builder. When you create a “Seat Block” for your rows of seats, you are no longer working with an abstract shape. You are working with a visual representation of the final product.
This new interface offers:
- Real-Time Seat Rendering: The builder now draws a grid of individual circles, representing every seat in the block.
- Instant Visual Feedback: Change the number of “Rows” or “Seats per Row” in the inspector, and the grid on your canvas updates instantly.
- Dynamic Resizing: Drag to change the “Width” or “Height” of the block, and watch the spacing between the seats adjust in real-time.
This direct visual feedback is a game-changer. It eliminates the need to save your changes and preview the page just to see if your layout is correct. As a result, you can design complex seating arrangements with incredible speed and confidence.
The Benefits of a True WYSIWYG Editor
A WYSIWYG seating chart builder is more than just a convenience; it’s a powerful tool that leads to better results. When your builder accurately reflects the final output, you can make smarter design decisions.
The key benefits include:
- Increased Accuracy: You can visually confirm spacing and alignment, preventing mistakes before they happen.
- Faster Workflow: Stop switching between the editor and the preview tab. Design and finalize your layout in one seamless process.
- Greater Confidence: Build with the assurance that what you see in the admin panel is exactly what your customers will see on the frontend.
This intuitive approach makes designing complex theater-style layouts a pleasure, not a chore. For more on the importance of WYSIWYG in modern web design, see this insightful article on web design principles.
How It Works
The new builder is active by default. Simply edit an event and select your “Seat Block” element (or add a new one). You will immediately see the grid of seats instead of the old placeholder box. All the familiar controls for rows, seats, and dimensions are still in the inspector, but now they provide instant visual feedback on the canvas.
This is a huge step forward in making our plugin the most user-friendly and powerful WYSIWYG seating chart builder for WordPress. Update your plugin today and experience the difference for yourself!