Slick Google Map vs Spectra Gutenberg Blocks – Website Builder for the Block Editor

A simple, intuitive Google Map / OpenStreetMap plugin that installs as a Gutenberg block and a shortcode. Packed with useful features — geo-mashup of posts, KML overlays, marker icons, address geocoding — and fully free and open source. No subscriptions, no SaaS, no telemetry. Slick Google Map lets you embed maps using either: Google Maps — requires your own API key (configurable per-site). Leaflet / OpenStreetMap — no key required, free tile service. Features: Insert maps via the Slick Google Map Gutenberg block (with a multi-marker repeater) or the [slick_map] shortcode. Classic Editor users get a Slick Map media button above the editor that opens a dialog with the same repeater. Marker geo-mashup — aggregate every post/page that has lat/lng custom fields onto a single map. KML and GPX overlays — drop a track or boundary onto any map. KML works on both providers; GPX is Leaflet-only. Address geocoding — write address="Vienna, Austria" instead of coordinates. Geocoded once per address and cached for 30 days. Uses your Google Geocoding API key if set, falls back to Nominatim/OSM otherwise. Coordinate formats — accepts decimal (48.2082) and DMS (48°12'29.5"N) in any marker. Marker icons — bundled set of 13 modern SVG pins (default, restaurant, lodging, cafe, bar, museum, airport, rail, shop, camera, mountain, castle, religious), plus your own URL. Legacy filenames from the 2014-era plugin are auto-aliased. Map controls — toggle the zoom / map-type / street-view / scroll-wheel / drag controls per map. Layers — Google bicycling and traffic overlays on demand. 45° aerial tilt — passed through to Google as tilt: 45. Only takes visible effect on vector Map IDs, or on satellite/hybrid view over the specific cities where Google has 45° aerial imagery. No effect on raster maps or on Leaflet. Custom Google styles JSON — for branded maps without cloud-styled Map IDs. Wiki-style links in marker titles: [[https://example.com|Display text]] becomes a real link. Compatible with WordPress page caches — no per-visitor state in the rendered HTML, no AJAX side-effects. No fixed-cost dependencies — Leaflet / OSM is free; Google Maps is pay-as-you-go with a generous monthly free tier (≈28k map loads/month at no charge). History: Slick Google Map 1.0 is a rewrite of the original plugin version 0.3, which was itself a fork of the Comprehensive Google Map Plugin by Alexander Zagniotov (2011–2014). Version 1.0.0 is a complete rewrite for WordPress 6.4+ and PHP 8.1+ — see the “Parity & rewrite” section below for what changed. Insert a map via the Slick Google Map Gutenberg block, the Slick Map media button in the Classic Editor, or the [slick_map] shortcode. Optionally aggregate posts/pages that have lat/lng custom fields onto a single map (“geo-mashup”), and overlay a KML or GPX file. Shortcode [slick_map lat="48.2082" lng="16.3738" zoom="13" height="400px" provider="leaflet"] Geo-mashup of posts and pages: [slick_map mashup="post,page"] KML or GPX overlay: [slick_map kml="https://example.com/track.kml"] [slick_map provider="leaflet" gpx="https://example.com/hike.gpx"] KML works with both providers; GPX requires the Leaflet provider (Google’s Maps JS API does not natively render GPX). Markers with addresses and custom icons (nested [marker] children): [slick_map zoom="6"] [marker address="Vienna, Austria" title="Home"] [marker lat="52.5" lng="13.4" title="Berlin" icon="https://example.com/star.png"] [/slick_map] Each [marker] accepts address (geocoded once and cached) or explicit lat/lng, plus optional title and icon. The icon attribute accepts either an https://… URL pointing to your own image, or one of the bundled short names: default, restaurant, lodging, cafe, bar, museum, airport, rail, shop, camera, mountain, castle, religious. Legacy filenames from the 2014-era plugin (1-default.png, museum_naval.png, hotel_0star.png, …) are auto-aliased to the nearest modern equivalent. For geo-mashup markers, set a marker_icon custom field on each post to override the default pin for just that post. Map controls and layers Toggle Google’s built-in UI: zoomcontrol, maptypecontrol, streetviewcontrol, scrollwheel, draggable (all default true). Google-only overlays: showbike="true", showtraffic="true". 45° aerial tilt: tilt="45". Only takes visible effect on a Google vector Map ID, or in satellite/hybrid view over cities where Google has 45° imagery. Ignored elsewhere. Custom Google map styles JSON: styles='[{"featureType":"poi","stylers":[{"visibility":"off"}]}]' (ignored when a Map ID is configured — cloud styling takes precedence). DMS coordinates Marker lat / lng values accept either decimal (48.2082) or DMS form (48°12'29.5"N). Wiki-style links Marker titles support [[https://example.com|Display text]] to embed real links, or [[Plain Page]] for unlinked highlighted text. Geocoding When a Google Maps API key is configured the plugin uses the Google Geocoding API (same Cloud project as Maps; enable Geocoding API alongside Maps JavaScript). Otherwise it falls back to Nominatim/OpenStreetMap. Results are cached in a 30-day transient per address, so each unique address is geocoded at most once. Privacy Using the Google provider loads scripts and tiles from maps.googleapis.com. Using the Leaflet/OSM provider loads tiles from tile.openstreetmap.org and the Leaflet library from unpkg.com. Choose the provider that matches your site’s privacy posture. Parity & rewrite Version 1.0.0 is a complete rewrite of the 2015 codebase. The old plugin’s PHP and JavaScript were written against WordPress 3.6 and PHP 5, used the long-retired Google JSAPI loader, geocoded addresses on every page view, shipped 300+ marker PNGs of mixed provenance, and had several unauthenticated AJAX write paths in wp-admin. Re-issuing it as-is on a modern stack was not viable, so the codebase was rewritten from scratch around the same shortcode vocabulary. What you keep. Posts written against the very old [google-map-v3 ...] shortcode still render. The plugin registers google-map-v3 as a back-compatibility alias that maps the still-useful attributes (width, height, zoom, kml, maptype, addmarkermashup, addmarkerlist, maptypecontrol, zoomcontrol, streetviewcontrol, scrollwheel, draggable, showbike, showtraffic, tiltfourtyfive, styles) onto the new renderer. The Google provider is selected by default for these legacy shortcodes, the old addmarkerlist="addr{}icon{}desc|..." packed format is parsed transparently, and the most-used legacy icon filenames (1-default.png, museum_naval.png, hotel_0star.png, …) are aliased to the bundled modern SVG set. What’s gone for good. Some features can’t come back because the upstream services or APIs disappeared: panoramio — Google shut Panoramio down in November 2016. pancontrol — Google removed panControl from the Maps API in 2017; there is no flag to set anymore. google.maps.KmlLayer — deprecated April 2026; replaced internally with a fetch + KML→GeoJSON renderer. The old https://www.google.com/jsapi loader — retired by Google in 2017; the modern loader requires a user-supplied API key. What’s not yet back. Marker clustering, directions/routing, geolocation marker, and marker drop/bounce animations are reachable from the rewrite but not yet wired up. See PARITY.md on GitHub for the full, categorised list (restored / new / missing-but-doable / deprecated-by-upstream / deliberately-dropped) plus a migration cheat-sheet. What was dropped on purpose. The sidebar widget (Classic Widgets is in long-term legacy mode), the saved-shortcodes admin library (it was the largest single security surface in the old plugin), and the 300+ marker PNG library (replaced with 13 modern SVGs plus a legacy-filename alias map) — see PARITY.md for the rationale on each. Contributors Current maintainer Norbert Preining Original author of the upstream “Comprehensive Google Map Plugin” (2011–2014) Alexander Zagniotov — thanks for the original work, released under GPL. Additional contributors Honza Rameš

SPECTRA WEBSITE BUILDER – BEST GUTENBERG BLOCKS PLUGIN TO EXTEND THE WORDPRESS BLOCK EDITOR WITH PAGE EDITING FEATURES, 30+ FREE CUSTOMIZABLE BLOCKS, COMING SOON MODE, POPUP BUILDER ★★★★★ Most helpful links Spectra – Free Page Builder | WordPress Builder Plugin A Better Way to Build WordPress Websites with Gutenberg | Introducing Spectra Spectra Flexbox Controls CRASH COURSE Spectra Page Builder For WordPress Gets These 10 Things Right – Never Seen Before Feature Reveal! DESIGN BEAUTIFUL FAST LOADING WEBSITES DIRECTLY ON THE WORDPRESS BLOCK EDITOR (GUTENBERG EDITOR) WITHOUT CODING Try the live demo of Spectra Our mission is to empower web designers like you with an end-to-end solution for building stunning websites. We aim to simplify the website creation process by providing a versatile toolkit within a single plugin, eliminating the need to install multiple plugins for various functionalities. With Spectra, we strive to make it extremely easy to use for beginners and feature-rich for experienced designers. Spectra equips designers with a wide range of pre-designed website templates, allowing them to effortlessly create professional websites tailored to their unique requirements. Beyond just aesthetics, we are committed to optimizing website performance. Spectra offers efficient code and performance-focused features, ensuring that the websites built with our plugin are not only visually appealing but also deliver exceptional speed and smooth functionality. By providing an all-in-one solution for building websites, we aim to streamline their workflow and enhance their productivity. We continuously innovate and improve Spectra, integrating cutting-edge technologies and staying ahead of the evolving web design landscape. We empower our users to build websites that captivate, engage, and impress their clients or themselves. HERE’S THE IMPORTANT THING ⭐ Finally, a website builder which allows you to design beautiful and professional-looking websites using the power of the default block editor of WordPress. With utmost attention, the developers have ensured that Spectra is easy to use and provides everything you need to design a fully functional website. Guess what! 🤩 Users of page builders like Elementor and Beaver Builder absolutely LOVE Spectra because of 3 reasons – The code of Spectra is extremely optimized for performance and speed Spectra designs and features make you look like an expert web designer There’s zero learning curve as Spectra works on top of the default WordPress block editor. Introducing Spectra – the ultimate solution to revolutionize your web design experience. With Spectra, you can power up the block editor with advanced and powerful blocks that simplify the entire process. Say goodbye to the hassle of coding and say hello to effortless website creation. Spectra provides a wide range of unique and creative blocks on top of the default WordPress page editor, enabling you to build and design pages or posts without writing a single line of code. It offers an easy-to-use interface, customization options, and a library of pre-built website templates to help you build awesome websites in minutes. Whether you need to launch an online store or promote your services, Spectra empowers you to build pixel-perfect websites that captivate your audience. Don’t let coding complexities hold you back – unlock the potential of block editor with Spectra and build faster, better-performing websites today! SOME POWERFUL FEATURES OF SPECTRA 💪 Layouts – Easily move, resize, and hide different sections, rows, columns, and blocks using convenient layout navigation to make your page designing process faster. Designs powered by Starter Templates – Thinking about switching from Elementor templates to a more performance-friendly alternative? Spectra gives you the same level of design flexibility – without the bloat. Spectra offers hundreds of designs to choose from. Wireframes – Before diving into the design process, it’s crucial to create a structure for your website. With Spectra’s Wireframe Blocks, you can quickly create page or website mockups, improving work efficiency and saving time. Block patterns – Import and customize pre-designed block patterns for various sections on your website. Spectra provides a collection of these patterns that can be easily tailored to your preferences. Advanced block presets – Not sure how to design blocks optimally? No worries! Our team of expert designers has created highly converting and visually appealing presets for you to use. Spectra Copy Paste – If you’ve customized a block with specific fonts, colors, spacings, borders, shadows, and animations, you can effortlessly replicate the same design on another block using Spectra Copy Paste feature. Container – Create stunning layouts using the Container block, powered by flexbox technology. Global styling support – Spectra allows you to set the default content width for your website with just a single click. You can also inherit button styles from your theme, maintain consistent container padding throughout your site, and set a default gap between rows and columns. Popup Builder – Grab your audience’s attention or share important notices by designing beautiful popups using our intuitive popup builder. Coming soon mode – Is your website still under construction? Not ready for public viewing yet? Enable the coming soon mode, and only the selected page will be visible to those not logged in. Animations – Add a touch of life and interactivity to your website with Spectra’s wide range of animations. Choose from fade, slide, zoom, flip, zoom in, zoom out, and more. Free users have access to a selection of animations that can be easily applied to any block. Load Google Fonts locally – Optimize your website’s speed and ensure GDPR compliance by enabling this option to download and save Google fonts on your server. INCLUDES 30+ ESSENTIAL BLOCKS 🔥 Core Blocks – Spectra offers essential blocks that every website and landing page needs. You’ll find blocks like Container, Heading, Image, Icon, Buttons, Info Box, Call To Action, and Countdown, which are crucial for crafting your pages. Creative Blocks – Unleash your creativity with Spectra’s creative blocks. These include Star Ratings, Countdown, Marketing Button, Icon List, Image Gallery, and even support for Lottie Animations. Let your imagination run wild and make your designs truly stand out. Content Blocks – Showcase your content beautifully with Spectra’s content blocks. From Sliders and Image blocks to Content Timelines, Google Maps, Inline Notices, Tabs, Taxonomy Lists, Price Lists, and more, these blocks offer diverse options to present your content in an engaging manner. And if you’re using Spectra Pro, you’ll even have access to the powerful Loop Builder. Post Blocks – Enhance your blog posts with Spectra’s Post Blocks. Add a Counter, Modal Popup, Post Carousel, Post Grid, or Post Timeline to make your blog visually appealing and user-friendly. Social Blocks – Spectra provides blocks that help you showcase your social status. You’ll find blocks like Instagram Feed, Blockquote, Social Share, Team, and Testimonials, which allow you to highlight social proof and engage with your audience effectively. Form Blocks – Create interactive forms easily with Spectra’s Form Blocks. Whether it’s a contact form, newsletter signup, or suggestion form, you can collect valuable leads. You can even enable reCAPTCHA to ensure form security. With Spectra Pro, you can even enable user registration or login forms. SEO Blocks – Boost your website’s search engine optimization with Spectra’s SEO Blocks. These blocks, such as FAQ, How-To, Review, and Table of Contents, are designed to improve your site’s visibility and enhance the user experience. Dynamic Content – Take control of your website’s archive feed with Spectra’s Dynamic Content blocks. You can customize the feed based on dynamic parameters like date, name, category, page, posts, and more, giving you flexibility and customization options. WHO CAN BENEFIT FROM SPECTRA? 📈 Web designers – Want to enhance your website-building process without getting stuck in coding? Spectra’s got your back! With its advanced blocks, you can create stunning layouts and customize elements like a pro, all without writing a single line of code. Small business owners – Building a professional website for your business just got easier with Spectra. Choose from the pre-built WordPress Templates and customize them to match your branding and content. Say goodbye to costly web development and hello to a beautiful online presence. Bloggers – Spice up your blog posts with Spectra’s eye-catching elements. Add images, engaging call-to-actions, content timelines, and social sharing blocks to make your content pop. It’s time to captivate your readers and take your blog to the next level. SEO Specialists – Spectra has schema markup blocks like FAQ, How-To, Review, and Table of Content to boost your website rankings and improve search engine representation. Plus, its lightweight and optimized code ensures your site performs at its best. Get ready to conquer the search results! eCommerce store owners – Spectra helps you create visually stunning product listings, showcase star ratings and reviews, and display pricing information that will make your customers click that “buy” button. Get ready to take your online store to new heights. Marketers – Spectra is your secret weapon for creating effective landing pages and promotional materials. Use attention-grabbing blocks like call-to-actions, marketing buttons, and testimonials to drive conversions and engage your target audience. Your campaigns just got a whole lot better. Freelancers – We’ve got something special for you! Streamline your workflow and save time with Spectra. Quickly build websites for your clients using the pre-built website templates and customize them to meet their requirements. It’s the ultimate toolkit for freelancers. Podcasters and YouTubers – With Spectra, you can enhance your website or blog with ease. Add a podcast player, embed videos, showcase a content timeline, and create engaging content using the various blocks offered. Let your creativity flow and captivate your audience. Non-profit organizations – Create visually appealing websites to showcase your cause, share inspiring success stories, and collect donations. Spectra’s image blocks, forms, testimonials, and social sharing options will help you engage your audience and promote your mission effectively. Restaurant owners – Spectra’s ready-to-use Starter Templates cater specifically to restaurants. Show off your menus, feature customer testimonials, and even integrate a reservation form using the forms block. It’s the secret ingredient to a mouth-watering online presence. Beginner WordPress users – Spectra’s user-friendly interface, pre-designed WordPress Templates, and comprehensive tutorials make website creation a breeze. No coding skills are needed! You can create professional-looking websites and amaze everyone with your online presence. Anyone thinking of moving away from traditional page builders like Elementor and Divi Builder in favor of WordPress Block Editor (also known as Gutenberg) for a better page-building experience without the need for traditional page builders like Elementor and Divi. SOME OF THE WORDPRESS THEMES & PLUGINS SPECTRA SUPPORTS 🔗 Spectra works with any theme, including: Spectra One Astra Blocksy Flatsome GeneratePress Hestia Kadence Neve Spectra is compatible with all plugins, including: Easy Digital Downloads FluentCRM FluentForm GiveWP Gravity Forms LearnDash LifterLMS MemberPress PrestoPlayer Restrict Content Pro SureCart SureMembers The Events Calendar TutorLMS Wishlist Member WooCommerce Yoast SEO And many more Note: Spectra does not offer Elementor Templates. SUPPORT THAT CARES! ⛑️ We understand the need for a quality product backed by dedicated support that cares. We are here to listen to all your queries and help you make the most out of our plugin. Need help? We are just a click away! CONNECT WITH OUR TEAM AND COMMUNITY 🌐 Facebook Group: Web Creators by Astra Facebook: Spectra Twitter / X: Spectra WANT TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE PLUGIN? 🙋 You may now contribute to the plugin on Github: Spectra on Github Credits Our external packages use Rating Star Component that are distributed under the terms of the ISC. While Slick, Lottie and Striptags is distributed under the terms of the MIT. Additionally, we incorporate FontAwesome v6 under the CC BY 4.0 License, and dnd kit licensed under the MIT License.