Editor Product Roadmap

Last updated: 2026-03-19 Owner: generator + Nowtype integration

Goal

Make the editor feel closer to SquareSpace/Figma while keeping the current architecture:

Hugo remains the render authority
markdown remains the source of truth
Nowtype remains the fast text/PDF editing engine
page WYSIWYG, single-page PDF, and double-page spread PDF stay three surfaces over one shared content/token model

What Is Already In Place

live-page in-place editing on the real rendered <main>
replace-main fallback/editor shell
single-page PDF editing
spread PDF editing baseline
first live section inspector slice for family / width / spacing / padding / surface / alignment
structured blocks for team, gallery, contact, and testimonials
shared token scopes beginning to replace ad hoc theme knobs
page scopes:
- homepage
- list
- landing
- detail

That means the foundation is no longer the main blocker. The remaining gap is product smoothness.

Product Gaps

1. Section semantics are still too implicit

The editor should think in:

surface
flow
width
spacing
density
alignment
media

banner, spotlight, and wrapper should keep becoming presets over that smaller model instead of being the primary authoring contract.

2. The inspector is still too token/class-shaped

The inspector needs to feel like:

select a page / section / block
see the meaningful controls immediately
change them without thinking in raw classes or attrs

3. Direct manipulation is still thin

To feel closer to Figma/SquareSpace, the live page still needs:

better hover/select outlines
spacing and padding overlays
click-to-insert between sections/blocks
drag/reorder for structured objects
cleaner media handles and replacement flows

4. Structured blocks need broader coverage

team, gallery, and contact are the right pattern. The same model should expand to:

stats
testimonials
trust strips
steps/process
pricing
FAQ
embeds
newsletter/forms

5. Responsive authoring is still behind

We need real responsive authoring support for all three surfaces:

width/device previews
breakpoint-aware controls
mobile nav/footer/header checks
landing/detail rhythm verification at multiple widths

6. Review/history/collaboration is still missing

To feel more product-complete:

comments
presence
soft locks
history/rollback
clearer save/rebuild/publish state

Next 5 Highest-Value Steps

1. Extend the layout inspector

Build the current first section inspector slice into a fuller layout inspector that edits:

flow
width
spacing
density
alignment
surface

Acceptance:

a selected section can be widened/tightened/re-aligned without editing raw attrs
the same section settings work in page WYSIWYG and PDF surfaces

2. Scope-aware style editing

Make the token UI intentionally writable at:

site
header
main
footer
aside
article-nav
page type
page
section
block

Acceptance:

the same shared surface tokens can be edited at each scope
the inspector shows effective value, inherited vs overridden state, and source scope
chrome region edits do not require site-local override CSS
page-type and page controls stay primarily surface-focused until broader consumer migration is real
legacy section / region token groups are demoted to compatibility only

Current status:

the first semantic Header card now exists in the shared inspector for site and page scope, using the header contract (layout, logo_position, nav_align, density, surface, sticky, cta_mode) instead of legacy preset popovers

Next slice:

extend that same semantic chrome model to page type, then widen it from header to the other chrome regions (main, footer, aside, article-nav) without regressing back to preset UI

3. More structured blocks

Keep expanding common brochure blocks as structured fenced blocks. testimonials is now in; the next set should be:

stats
steps
faq
pricing

Acceptance:

each block renders from Hugo
each block opens a dedicated structured editor
no new page-specific raw HTML systems are introduced for those patterns

4. Responsive editing and regression passes

Build multi-width checks into the normal browser smoke:

desktop
tablet
phone

Acceptance:

home/list/landing/detail pages pass width/rhythm checks
page WYSIWYG and PDF surfaces do not diverge in obvious spacing/layout ways

5. Review layer

Add comments/history as a first-class layer over content editing.

Acceptance:

comments anchor to page/block/text context
comments do not become content source
page editing and review can coexist cleanly

Phase Plan

Phase A: Make editing semantics explicit

finish section generalization
finish scope-aware token editing
improve the inspector

This is the most important phase for “feels like a product” progress.

Phase B: Make repeated content first-class

expand structured blocks
improve media/upload/picker flows
add reordering/insertion affordances

This is the phase that removes the most raw HTML/manual friction.

Phase C: Make responsive editing normal

width/device previews
mobile-specific regression checks
responsive spacing/density controls

This is what closes the “professional website builder” gap.

Phase D: Make review and iteration first-class

comments
history
presence
soft locks

This is what closes the “team workflow” gap.

Phase E: Tighten the page/PDF/book unification

ensure page, PDF, and spread editors share the same semantic controls
keep layout/style controls mode-agnostic
keep PDF-specific controls additive rather than a separate design system

This is the distinctive advantage over SquareSpace: one editing model for both websites and books.

Guardrails

do not create site-specific editor systems
do not re-implement Hugo render logic in client JS
do not let structured block editors become HTML-as-source workflows
do not fork page and PDF styling into separate token vocabularies
do not expand legacy preset classes when a shared semantic/token control would solve the problem better