What's New at I♥️ Cards

You can now copy a card from one of your existing decks into the deck you're currently editing. No need to recreate content from scratch when you want to reuse a card across projects. Thanks to Ruben for the suggestion!

This is especially useful when you're building a new deck that shares some cards with an older one — like a revised edition, a themed subset, or a spin-off.

How it works

1. Open the deck you're editing
2. Click the dropdown arrow next to "Add card" in the toolbar
3. Choose "Import from Deck"
4. Pick the source deck and the card you want
5. Choose which category to place it in, and click Import

The imported card appears as a draft — nothing is saved until you hit Save, so you can review or discard it freely.

Smart field matching

When you import a card, the system checks which fields are compatible between the source and target deck. If both decks share the same field names and types (like "title", "description", etc.), those values are carried over automatically.

If some fields don't match, you'll see exactly which ones will be skipped before confirming — so there are no surprises.

Give shapes elements (circles, rectangles, polygons, etc.) a hand-drawn look in the Template Designer.

This makes it much easier to create decks that feel warm, playful, and less "perfect" — great for workshops, education, kids content, or creative brainstorming cards.

What you can do

• Turn any shape into a sketch-style element with one click
• Choose different sketch fills (like lines, dots, zigzag, and cross-hatch)
• Adjust how rough, soft, or detailed the drawing style feels
• Combine sketch shapes with your deck colors for a consistent visual style
• Use sketch backgrounds and accents to make key content stand out

If you want ideas and examples, read the new guide: SVG Shapes

You can now create your own illustration packs in Visual Assets.

Create one pack for your branding, another for a client, or a separate pack for each card deck project — whatever keeps your work clean and fast.

What you can do

• Create and name your own packs
• Upload once and reuse across decks, categories, cards, and templates
• Move assets between packs (single or bulk)
• Organize assets with folders and tags

You can also browse the free packs already available in the app, including our CNVS packs.

Open your Visual Assets library

Need a quick walkthrough? Read the Visual Assets guide

This is one of the biggest changes since launch. When I built the alpha, I audited dozens of card decks and chose a fixed set of fields that would work for 90% of simple decks. It was a pragmatic choice, but also a constraint I always wanted to remove.

Today, that constraint is gone.

What's new

Your decks are no longer limited to a fixed set of fields. You can now add as many fields as you need, at every level:

• Card fields: Multiple icons, multiple illustrations, unlimited text fields. Stats, flavor text, rules, quotes, whatever your cards need
• Category fields: Customize what information lives at the category level
• Deck fields: Add deck-wide metadata beyond the basics

Mix text, markdown, numbers, images, and icons however you want.

All features have been updated to work with your custom fields: import/export handles them automatically, and AI generation is smart enough to populate your custom fields based on your deck structure.

What this enables

• Activity cards: Title, description, steps, group size, difficulty level, tags, etc.
• Educational flashcards: Question, answer, hint, source, difficulty level
• Recipe cards: Ingredients list, instructions, prep time, serving size, dietary tags
• Product cards: Features, specs, pricing tiers, multiple product shots
• RPG cards: Character stats, abilities, equipment slots, lore text, all as separate fields
• Any structure you need: If you can imagine it, you can build it

Under the hood

This was a complex refactor. Migrating thousands of existing cards to the new system while keeping everything working. Your existing decks are fully compatible; they just gained new superpowers.

The foundation is now in place for new types of fields like QR code and for multilingual decks.

Please test and report

This is a major change, and there may be bugs lurking around. Please test your decks and let me know if you notice anything unexpected. Your feedback helps make the platform better for everyone.

Export complete decks as JSON files and import them anywhere. Share your decks with clients, back up your work, or transfer between accounts.

What's included in exports

• All cards with content and translations
• All categories
• All templates (even official ones get cloned)
• Color scheme

How to use

Export: Open your deck → Actions tab → Export Full Deck

Import: Click Import button → Import full deck → Select your JSON file

Use cases

• Share with clients: Build a deck, export it, send the file
• Backup before changes: Export, experiment, restore if needed
• Transfer between accounts: Export from one, import to another

Learn more →

Import card decks from JSON files, ideal for cards with rich content like markdown, bullet points, and multi-paragraph descriptions. While spreadsheet paste works great for simple cards, JSON handles complex content without losing formatting.

Features

• JSON file upload: drag & drop or click to upload .json files
• Flexible format: accepts both flat arrays and wrapped { "cards": [...] } structure
• AI-powered mapping: same intelligent field detection as spreadsheet import
• Markdown-friendly: preserves line breaks, bullet points, and rich formatting
• New documentation page covering both spreadsheet and JSON import methods

Why I did this

Spreadsheet import is great for simple cards, but if your cards have detailed content with markdown formatting: bullet lists, headers, multiple paragraphs, copy-pasting from Excel gets messy. Newlines break, special characters cause issues. JSON handles all of this cleanly.

This came from a real use case: importing a deck for one of I Love Cards's users where each card had structured content with headers and lists. JSON just works better for that.

Export and import card templates as JSON files. Share your custom designs with colleagues, clients, or the community.

Why I built this

One of our users needed a specific template design. Rather than walking her through the template designer, I created it myself and needed a way to share it with her. Export & import was the answer: I exported the template, sent her the file, and she imported it into her account in seconds.

Other ways to use this

• Team consistency: Share approved brand templates across your organization
• Client handoff: Deliver custom template designs to clients as downloadable files
• Backup your work: Export templates before experimenting with changes
• Template marketplace: Share or sell your designs with the I Love Cards community
• Cross-account transfer: Move templates between your own accounts

How it works

1. Export: Click the export button on any template in your library → downloads a .json file
2. Import: Click the dropdown arrow next to "Create Empty" → select "Import from file" → choose your template

Both your custom templates and official templates can be exported. Imports always create a new template in your library.

Learn more about sharing templates →

Fixed toolbar image upload targeting wrong element and improved empty image handling with placeholders.

Improvements

• Empty or invalid image URLs now display a placeholder instead of a broken link

Fixes

• Toolbar image upload now updates the correct element instead of changing a different item

Full control over how your Detailed Content field looks. Style headings and body text separately with custom fonts, colors, and weights. Create eye-catching lists with custom bullet shapes, colored markers, and distinctive numbering. Perfect for instructional cards, checklists, and rich formatted content.

Features

• Typography panel: one-click access to all markdown styling from the toolbar
• Heading controls: separate font, color, weight, and spacing for titles
• Body text controls: customize paragraphs with their own font and color
• Custom bullet shapes: choose from disc, square, diamond, arrow, checkmark, star, heart and more
• List styling: adjust marker colors, sizes, and alignment
• Ordered list numbers: separate font, size, and weight for numbering

New batch action to auto-number all cards sequentially based on category and card order. Numbers follow your deck structure, with a warning if existing numbers will be overwritten.

Features

• Auto-number cards: assign sequential numbers (1, 2, 3...) to all cards in one click
• Order-aware: numbering follows category order and card positions within each category
• Overwrite warning: confirmation modal when existing card numbers will be replaced

Design cards that stand out with new decorative tools. Add flowing waves, sharp zigzags, or smooth curves to section borders. Layer subtle patterns over backgrounds for texture and depth. Small touches that make your designs feel more intentional and polished.

Features

• Decorative section edges: add waves, zigzags, curves, ramps, and more to section borders with adjustable height and frequency
• Pattern overlays: layer subtle textures (dots, lines, grids) over section backgrounds with adjustable opacity and size

Everything you need to create stunning image-based card decks: coaching cards with photos, conversation starters, mood cards. New templates designed for photo decks, a Background Opacity control for readable text over any image, and proper Unsplash attribution so photographers get the credit they deserve.

Features

• Automatic attribution: photographer name and profile automatically saved when selecting Unsplash images
• Attribution display: photographer credit shown in image upload widget and card content forms with clickable links
• Full-resolution images: Unsplash photos now use the highest quality source for print-ready cards
• Download tracking: proper event tracking when images are selected, as required by Unsplash guidelines
• Background Opacity control: make backgrounds semi-transparent while keeping text fully visible - perfect for attribution text over photos
• New official templates: added image-focused card templates optimized for photo decks with built-in attribution
• Real preview images: lorem preview mode now shows real photos instead of placeholder graphics

Improvements

• Terms of Service updated with Unsplash license requirements
• All Unsplash links include proper UTM parameters for photographer analytics
• Security hardening on download tracking endpoint

Small things that make a big difference. Visual guides appear as you drag elements - everything snaps into perfect alignment. Preview your cards with real content to see how they'll actually look. Importing a spreadsheet? Categories now get colors automatically, and you can flip between front and back instantly.

Features

• Visual alignment guides: drag any element and guides appear to help you align perfectly with other elements
• Snap to guides: elements gently snap into place when close to an alignment guide
• Quick position grid: one-click placement to center, corners, or any point on a 5x5 grid
• Template preview modes: switch between Tags view (showing field names) and Lorem view (showing placeholder text) so it's always clear you're editing a template, not a card
• Front/Back toggle in import: instantly flip between front and back preview when importing spreadsheets
• Auto-colored categories: imported categories automatically get distinct colors from your palette

Improvements

• AI deck generation: fixed empty stream issue and improved generation quality
• Card format selector: easier to find the right card size with search and format grouping

I prioritized this feature because data portability is simply the right thing to do. Export any deck as a CSV file with all your cards, categories, and metadata. A dedicated Backups page in Settings gives you access to all your decks - even if your trial expires. Your work is yours, always.

Features

• CSV export: download any deck as a complete CSV file with all cards, categories, metadata, illustrations, and icons
• Backups page: new Settings section listing all your created and owned decks with one-click export buttons
• Access anytime: export works regardless of subscription status - your data is always portable

Improvements

• Export button added to deck toolbar and deck editor actions tab
• Excel-compatible UTF-8 encoding with proper character support
• Updated Terms of Service and Privacy Policy to document the data portability features

Categories can now have their own illustration, just like decks. Upload an image, generate one with AI, or pick from Unsplash. Use it in your card templates as a dynamic image field, or display it in category info views.

Features

• Category illustrations: upload, AI-generate, or pick from Unsplash - same options as deck images
• Dynamic image field: embed category illustrations directly in your card templates - all cards in a category automatically display their category's image
• Dedicated category editor: new modal with Content, Design, Template, and Actions tabs

Improvements

• Template duplication now always available and preserves assignment level (deck/category/card)
• Edit Colors button: quick access to color palette editing right from the deck builder toolbar

No more back-and-forth with the sidebar. Select any element and a floating toolbar appears right there with all the tools you need. Change colors, fonts, sizes, borders - everything happens in context. Plus full keyboard shortcuts for the power users.

Features

• Floating toolbar: contextual tools appear above selected elements - colors, fonts, sizes, borders, opacity, padding, and more
• Keyboard shortcuts: Ctrl+C copy, Ctrl+V paste, Ctrl+D duplicate, Delete to remove - work like any design tool
• Inline text editing: double-click any text to edit it directly on the canvas, with all styling preserved
• Visual drag handles: adjust corner radius, section spacing, and element size by dragging directly on the element
• Shape presets: quickly switch SVG shapes between circle, rectangle, triangle, pentagon, hexagon, star, and heart

Improvements

• Card preview now pans and scrolls with a center button to reset the view
• Separator styling controls for line thickness, style, and margins
• Settings sidebar toggles on/off instead of stacking

Test your card deck before printing or run interactive online sessions with clients. Export to Tabletop Simulator - a virtual 3D tabletop game platform - and experience your deck in a realistic environment. Shuffle, deal, flip cards, and interact with your designs before committing to print.

Features

• Tabletop Simulator export: one-click export creates everything you need to test your deck virtually or use it in online facilitation sessions
• Update existing games: re-export to refresh your cards in active TTS games without re-importing - perfect for rapid prototyping iterations

New experimental feature: enable Auto-Fit on any text element with fixed dimensions, and the font automatically shrinks to fit longer content. Perfect for cards with variable-length titles or descriptions - 'Focus' and 'Strategic Planning Workshop' both fit beautifully in the same box.

Features

• Auto-Fit toggle for text elements: font shrinks to fit, with a minimum scale you can adjust

Based on feedback from alpha tester Natalie, the table editor view now makes it much easier to work with your cards. Sort columns, show/hide fields, reorder columns, and copy everything to Excel with one click.

Features

• Sort any column: click column headers to sort alphabetically (A→Z or Z→A) - great for finding specific cards quickly
• Show/hide columns: toggle which fields you see in the table to focus on what matters
• Reorder columns: drag columns in the dropdown to arrange them in the order that works for you
• Copy to Excel: one-click button copies all your card data - paste directly into Excel or Google Sheets for content review
• Quick Edit buttons: edit category, content, and illustrations all from convenient buttons at the start of each row

Improvements

• More visible table area: the split pane divider is now more obvious and easier to drag
• Better keyboard navigation: arrow keys, Tab, and Enter work smoothly even when columns are hidden or reordered
• Simpler editing: press Enter to save changes, Shift+Enter for new lines

The template designer now offers better precision when positioning and sizing elements, plus a new Separator element for creating visual dividers between content areas. Also requested by Natalie!

Features

• New Separator element: add horizontal dividers between content - choose solid, dashed, dotted, or invisible spacer styles
• Precision sliders: all numeric controls now include a text input for fine-tuning values with keyboard or clicking arrows

Improvements

• Field names now match across the app: 'Additional Content' is used consistently instead of 'Side Content'

The home printing system now works beautifully with any card size, from tiny micro cards to large jumbo cards. It automatically figures out the best layout for your cards on A4 or Letter paper, and gives you full control over how they're arranged.

Features

• Smart grid layout: automatically calculates the best arrangement for any card size on A4 or Letter paper
• Layout efficiency display: see exactly how many cards fit per page and how efficiently your paper is being used
• Portrait or landscape orientation: choose the orientation that works best for your cards
• Flexible cutting guides: add cutting marks around each card, only at page edges, or as full cut lines
• Custom card spacing: control the gap between cards, or print them edge-to-edge with no gaps

Improvements

• Layout system completely rebuilt to handle any card size from micro (30+ per page) to jumbo cards
• Zero-gap printing: you can now print cards directly next to each other without any spacing

I've completely rebuilt the professional printing settings to work with any print shop's requirements. Whether you need standard poker size or a custom dimension your local printer uses, you now have full control over every detail of your print files.

Features

• 15+ card size presets: choose from micro, poker, jumbo, square, and many more standard sizes
• Custom card dimensions: enter any size in millimeters or inches for print shops with non-standard requirements
• Flexible bleed settings: use the standard 3mm bleed or set any custom bleed your print shop needs
• Visual bleed guides: toggle guides on and off to see exactly where your card area and bleed area are
• Crop marks control: enable or disable crop and cut marks based on what your print shop requires

Improvements

• Bleed system completely refactored to support any bleed amount, not just fixed values
• More intuitive controls that make it easy to match your print shop's exact specifications

I'm excited to add CNVS icons as our third free icon set. These hand-drawn style icons from Lucie Agolini bring a unique, colorful personality to your cards. They're perfect when you want something that feels more artistic and less corporate. Expect more official announcements about what CNVS and I Love Cards are building together.

Features

• CNVS icon set: 240 hand-drawn style icons covering a wide range of topics
• Color integration: CNVS icons automatically use your card's primary color for their accent color
• Three icon styles: choose between Lucide icons, emojis, or CNVS icons for each card

Improvements

• Expanded icon library gives you more creative options to match your deck's personality

New writing mode control for text elements enables vertical text layouts without rotating the element's bounding box, allowing text of various sizes to be reliably anchored to card edges.

Features

• Writing mode control: choose horizontal, vertical (RL/LR), or sideways text flow for text elements, enabling vertical text layouts without bounding box rotation issues

Improvements

• Improved layout usability: card remains fully interactive and movable even when the editor panel is open, eliminating the need to close the panel to adjust card position

Fixes

• Fixed reliability issues with absolute positioning when dragging and dropping elements - elements now stay properly aligned

All AI features now use GPT-5.1, delivering improved quality for card generation, deck creation, icon suggestions, and all other AI-powered features.

Improvements

• Upgraded AI models to GPT-5.1 for better quality and more accurate results across all AI features

When generating images for all your cards at once, you can now choose the style and adjust how they look before hitting generate. Each card still gets its own unique image based on its content.

Improvements

• Pick your preferred image style and adjust the instructions when generating images for multiple cards at once

Two major updates to help you share and promote your decks: add beautiful illustrations to make your deck stand out visually, and new behind-the-scenes improvements that make your deck pages show up beautifully when you share them on social media, search engines, or anywhere else.

Features

• Deck illustrations: add a cover image to your deck that appears on your deck page, in search results, and when sharing on social media
• AI image generation: generate custom illustrations for your deck using AI
• Unsplash integration: search and use professional photos from Unsplash as deck illustrations
• Social media sharing: when you share your deck link on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn, it now shows your deck title, description, author name, and illustration in a beautiful preview card
• Search engine friendly: your deck pages now show up in Google with proper titles, descriptions, and your name as the creator
• Automatic sitemap: published decks are automatically included so search engines can find them

Improvements

• Author attribution: your name appears everywhere - in titles when shared, in descriptions, and in search results
• Smart privacy: only published and early-access decks appear in search engines; private, draft, and unlisted decks stay hidden
• Better deck pages: your deck landing page now has all the info needed for professional sharing and promotion

Categories can now be reordered using intuitive up/down buttons. Powered by the same LexoRank positioning system that made card reordering reliable, you can now organize your deck structure exactly how you want it. Requested by one of our alpha testers (thanks Tolu!).

Features

• Category reordering buttons: move categories up, down, to first, or to last position with simple toolbar buttons
• LexoRank positioning for categories: reliable category ordering that persists across saves and never conflicts

Improvements

• Click-to-select UX: click a category to select it and reveal the reordering toolbar - click again to deselect
• Mobile card buttons: Create and Generate buttons in the Add a Card section are now always visible on mobile devices
• AI image generation: add spinner and information text while image is uploading to server

Fixes

• Color palette drawer: fixed issue where the ColorSchemeLibraryDrawer would immediately close after opening from the card toolbar
• Download center: fixed bug where selecting only one card in digital export mode resulted in 0 files exported

Duplicate any deck instantly with the new duplicate button. Creates a copy with all content, categories, and cards while setting it to draft status and adding '(Copy)' to the title. Asked by one of our alpha testers (thanks for the feedback Tolu!).

Features

• Duplicate button: one-click deck duplication from the deck grid

Complete overhaul of the Template Designer interface and interaction model. The preview is now fully interactive with Figma-style controls, the toolbar has been redesigned for better workflow, settings are organized with tabs, and the entire interface is now mobile-responsive. This brings the Template Designer to the same quality level as the Deck Builder.

Features

• Interactive preview: click elements to select, drag to move, resize with 8 handles, rotate with visual feedback and angle display
• Compact floating toolbar: preview selector, ratio quick-switch, zoom control, and save actions in one clean toolbar at the top
• Tabbed settings panels: settings organized in tabs (Content, Style, Advanced) for cleaner navigation
• Mask controls: apply masks to text, icons, and shapes for creative effects
• SVG shape support: add custom SVG paths alongside basic shapes
• Mobile responsive: drawer-based interface on mobile with floating action buttons
• Overlay scrollbars: custom scrollbars save ~15px horizontal space in sidebars

Improvements

• Figma-style UX: overlays hide during adjustments (drag, resize, rotate, zoom) and smoothly reappear when you stop
• Smart layer detection: clicks automatically select the right element even when layers overlap
• Unified shell component: modal and page routes now use the same UI component for consistency
• Auto-open settings: adding new items automatically opens their settings panel
• Vertical text alignment: new controls for vertical text positioning
• Position-based section numbering: sections labeled by position (Section 1, 2, 3) and update when reordered
• Keyboard modifiers: Shift key locks aspect ratio (resize) and snaps to 15° (rotation)

Organize your deck exactly how you want it with intuitive drag and drop card reordering powered by LexoRank. Combined with improved previews, adjustable layouts, and better visual feedback, the Deck Builder now feels polished, responsive, and genuinely ready for daily use. This milestone marks the transition to Beta1-level quality.

Features

• Drag and drop card reordering: click and drag any card to reorder within categories or move between categories - powered by LexoRank positioning system for reliable ordering
• Adjustable deck preview columns: customize how many columns of cards you see in the preview grid for optimal viewing
• Side indicator: clear visual indicator showing whether you're viewing the front or back of cards
• Markdown support in deck descriptions: add links and simple text styling to your deck descriptions for richer formatting

Improvements

• Custom preview width: setup the number of colums to preview the cards
• Higher quality image previews: improved image rendering quality throughout the deck preview
• Drag and drop implemented in deck preview rail: smooth drag interactions in the card rail navigation
• LexoRank positioning system: robust ordering system that handles card position changes efficiently without conflicts

Alpha testers wanted to share experimental decks with each other without committing to a public release. The new Unlisted status solves this perfectly - your deck landing page is accessible via direct link but won't appear in the public directory. Plus, a completely redesigned publishing experience makes managing deck visibility simple and clear.

Features

• Unlisted deck status: share decks via direct link without listing them in the public directory - perfect for trials, experiments, and sharing with specific people
• Publishing modal: dedicated modal for managing deck status with transactional saves and rollback - change status, copy public URL, and save in one place
• Smart publish button: toolbar button shows 'Publish' or 'Unpublish' based on current state, opens publishing modal with one click
• Public URL copy: instant copy button for sharing your deck's public page when it's published, unlisted, or in early access

Improvements

• Redesigned publishing workflow: status changes now use a dedicated modal instead of being buried in editor tabs
• Transactional status changes: status updates require explicit save, with automatic rollback on cancel to prevent accidental changes
• Smart action labels: button labels adapt to show clear destination actions like 'Publish in Directory', 'Publish as Unlisted', or 'Save as Private'
• Status visibility system: all UI elements now distinguish between link-accessible decks (published/early-access/unlisted) and directory-listed decks (published/early-access only)
• Studio navbar status display: replaced binary Public/Private with granular status badges showing all 6 deck states with distinct colors and icons
• Unlisted banner: visitors to unlisted decks see a friendly banner explaining the privacy level
• Landing Page tab: renamed Publishing tab to Landing Page to better reflect its purpose (tags, external links, SEO content)

Two simple improvements that make working with cards much more comfortable. Adjust card preview size on the fly with a floating zoom slider, and enjoy a subtle dot grid background that helps cards stand out against any background color.

Features

• Floating zoom control: adjust card preview size from 150px to 1200px with a slider in the bottom-right corner (desktop only)
• Adaptive dot grid background: subtle dot pattern background that automatically adapts to light/dark mode, helping white cards stand out in light mode and dark cards in dark mode

Improvements

• Replaced CSS grid with flex layout for more predictable card wrapping and centering
• Responsive card sizing: cards automatically scale down on smaller screens while respecting zoom preferences
• Card toolbar positioning: new 'card-bottom' position option for better visibility in public deck views
• Consistent layout: deck and category headers now constrained to readable width while cards use full available space

Template management is now faster and more intuitive than ever. Duplicate templates with smart naming, edit them instantly, and assign them to cards—all without leaving the deck builder.

Features

• Duplicate template button: create a copy of any template with one click directly from the card toolbar
• Smart template naming: duplicated templates are automatically named based on card content (e.g., 'Leadership Skills - Front'), making them instantly identifiable
• Move card between categories: relocate cards to different categories with a simple modal interface that shows all available categories

Improvements

• Streamlined template workflow: edit, duplicate, or assign templates without navigating away from your card
• Visual feedback: toolbar button shows current template name and inheritance source at a glance
• Reduced clicks: all template operations accessible from a single toolbar button
• Smart defaults: template picker opens at the right level (Card/Category/Deck) based on context
• Seamless switching: jump between deck editor and template designer without losing context

Edit templates without leaving the deck builder! The new quick-edit toolbar and inline template editor modal let you make design changes instantly while staying in your creative flow.

Features

• Inline template editor modal: edit any template directly from the deck builder without navigating away - make quick changes to fonts, colors, spacing, and see results immediately
• Quick-edit toolbar: streamlined toolbar appears when you select a card, giving instant access to key actions like editing content, changing design, and adjusting templates

Improvements

• Template editing workflow: no more context switching between deck builder and template designer - edit templates inline and return instantly to deck building
• Faster iteration: make small template adjustments without losing your place in the deck

The Deck Builder interface has been redesigned from the ground up to make editing more intuitive and less overwhelming. The new approach is simple: click on what you want to edit. Click a card to edit a card, click a category to edit a category.

Features

• Floating category navigation: quickly jump between categories in long decks with a vertical navigation bar

Improvements

• Deck Builder interface redesign: new click-to-edit paradigm makes editing more intuitive - click on a card to edit a card, click on a category to edit a category, with a clean toolbar and seamless card/table view switching
• Enhanced table view: now more complete and intuitive, you can edit everything directly from the table and benefit from the same toolbar as the card view
• Visual hover feedback: deck and category sections now show a dashed border and edit indicator when you hover over them, making it clearer what's clickable

Color and template pickers now use a simple switch so it's obvious whether a card follows the deck/category defaults or a custom choice.

Improvements

• Color & template selectors now use an explicit inheritance toggle with clear attribution text
• Select menus stay focused on real choices—inheritance lives in the switch, and we remember your last custom pick

New table view for the Deck Builder makes it easy to edit text across all cards in your deck. A highly requested feature from alpha testers.

Features

• Table editor view: edit all text fields across all cards in a single table
• Card preview ribbon: see all your cards at the top while editing
• View switcher: toggle between table and card view

You can have the best deck in the world - if you cannot promote it, nobody will see it. I Love Cards isn't just a deck builder, it's also about helping you promote and share your work. You don't have to finish your deck to start promoting it. Each time you add a new card, it's an opportunity to promote it. Social Banners create beautiful packaging for your cards with multiple background options, perfect for sharing on LinkedIn, Instagram, and other social networks.

Features

• Social banner generation: create beautiful banners for individual cards with professional backgrounds, multiple layout options. Use them for promotion on LinkedIn, Instagram, and other platforms

Replaced autosave with reliable manual save system and added Facebook field to user profiles.

Features

• Facebook field: added Facebook profile field to user profiles
• New fonts: added League Spartan, Sue Ellen Francisco, and Glacial Indifference fonts following alpha tester requests

Improvements

• Manual save system: replaced autosave with reliable save/cancel buttons

Fixes

• Fixed save reliability issues and edge cases with autosave

The Download Center has been refactored with a focus on user experience. The core features remain the same, but the interface is now more user-friendly with a bigger preview window, more prominent presets, and a smoother workflow for exporting your decks.

Features

• Anonymous visitor downloads: visitors who acquired a deck can download it without creating an account

Improvements

• UX refactoring: redesigned interface for better user experience
• Bigger preview window: enhanced preview functionality for better deck visualization before export
• More prominent presets: export presets are now more visible and easier to access

The Marketplace now has sharing links that creators give to people who buy or get access to decks, allowing them to download decks directly. If they create an account, they get access to advanced features like saving decks and using the playground.

Features

• Sharing link generation: create direct access links to your decks that can be used in payment pages, emails, websites, or anywhere you want to share your deck
• Visitor download banner: visitors can download decks without logging in through a banner on the visitor page
• Deck library tab: users with accounts get a tab listing all their newly acquired decks
• Owned deck advanced features page: new page for decks they acquired showing advanced features like downloading everything or opening playground (and more to come)

The Playground now has a feature to browse through decks with next and previous card controls.

Features

• Deck browsing: navigate through decks with next and previous card controls

Improvements

• Smarter back button: returns to the correct tab (acquired decks or created decks) based on where you came from

Complete redesign of the color picker interface in the template builder to make color selection simpler and more intuitive. The new modal-based design provides better organization and clearer explanations for all color options.

Improvements

• Color picker interface fully redesigned with clearer wording and descriptions for easier understanding
• Added ability to select all individual category colors (1-9) in text, background, and border color pickers

Multiple refinements to the color palette system based on Thalia's alpha testing feedback. Better visibility, improved workflows, and a new direct edit feature make working with color palettes much smoother. Also includes template builder improvements and various other bug fixes.

Features

• Direct edit button: quickly edit the current color palette without navigating through menus
• Rotation control: rotate any element in the template builder for perfect positioning
• Individual color pickers: added separate background and text color controls to template builder settings for backgrounds and sections, giving users granular control alongside existing color presets

Improvements

• Enhanced color palette selection visibility - now clearer which palette is currently selected
• Improved usage count display: see how many decks are using each color palette
• Better palette menu organization: user palettes now separated from public palettes
• Streamlined create/edit forms: removed accordions for quicker workflow
• Enhanced drawer stability: eliminated elastic bounce when copying content (spotted in Thalia's screencast)
• Quicker tooltip explanation for when delete is disabled on palettes used in decks

Fixes

• Color scheme create/edit now works properly from the deck bar
• Fixed bug where shared templates were incorrectly appearing as user templates
• Template application now works properly for full deck (was previously broken)

Two days of progress, both based on Rachel’s first onboarding feedback. First, a bug fix: background illustrations now display correctly, and you can control their alignment (top, center, bottom). Second, borders! You can now add borders not just to icons, but also to images, text, and shapes — everywhere. And finally, the sharing menu has been fixed to properly display the full description and help text.

Features

• Background image alignment controls: choose top, center, or bottom positioning
• Border styling: add borders to icons, images, text, and shapes with full control over width, color, and style (solid, dotted, dashed, decorative)

Fixes

• Fixed bug preventing background illustrations from displaying correctly
• Sharing menu now correctly shows the full description and help text

The Template Builder just became incredibly powerful! Upload any image (bitmap or SVG) directly into your templates, add shape components for sophisticated layouts, and use redesigned controls that give you pixel-perfect precision. It's like having Canva, but specialized entirely for card creation.

Features

• Image upload component: add any bitmap or SVG image directly to your templates - perfect for background patterns, logos, or decorative elements
• Shape components: add squares, rectangles, ovals, and circles to your templates - ideal for creating icon containers or statistical displays
• Precise image controls: resize and position images with pixel-perfect accuracy using enhanced manipulation tools

Improvements

• Redesigned template builder controls: completely reorganized and made more flexible to accommodate future component types
• Enhanced positioning controls: new fine-tuned controls for margins, padding, and element positioning
• Template rendering system: major refactoring to make the system more extensible, flexible, and maintainable before public alpha

I usually advise against making card-ocuments (i.e. cards with a lot of content), but I'm a realist - there are some use cases where yes, you need cards with a lot of details. So I've added markdown support with typography controls, plus improved responsive scaling so everything scales perfectly with card size.

Features

• Markdown typography controls: individual size sliders for H1, H2, H3, and paragraph text in markdown content
• Card documents support: markdown now works well for cards with lots of text, like instruction cards or rule explanations
• Font family selection: choose from different font families for text elements in the template builder
• Text case controls: manage uppercase, lowercase, capitalize, and other text transformations for each text item in the template builder

Improvements

• Perfect responsive scaling: font sizes already scaled with card size, but now padding and border sizes scale too for really perfect proportions

Fixes

• Markdown components: restored normal typography styling for markdown components throughout the rest of the site

The Template Builder has been completely transformed! What used to require Tailwind CSS knowledge is now fully visual. Design your card templates using intuitive mouse controls - adjust layouts, styles, spacing, and everything else without writing a single line of code.

Features

• Layout and style controls: adjust spacing, margins, padding, and positioning with visual controls instead of Tailwind classes

Improvements

• Eliminated Tailwind CSS requirement, though it's still available for advanced users

No changes this week. I took a one-week break. See you next week for the latest changes before opening to the first alpha users.

AI suggests icons for individual cards or your entire deck at once. It can choose between thousands of Lucide icons or emojis, and watch your deck come to life.

Features

• AI icon suggestions: get intelligent icon recommendations for any deck, category, or card based on content
• Mass icon suggestions: process your entire deck in one click - suggests icons for all entities missing them
• Icon collection choice: select between Lucide icons or emojis
• Clear icons: easily remove icons with a simple clear button

Import just got smarter! Now handles all card fields and can merge into existing decks with intelligent category matching. Perfect for adding cards from multiple sources without the hassle of file preparation.

Features

• Import into existing decks: smart category detection with fuzzy matching allows slight spelling differences and variations while still finding the right category

Improvements

• Enhanced import now handles all card fields: not just title and description, but one-liner, primary content, and every field available in cards
• Optimization of the ai mapping prompt for a more reliable import

Sometimes you need to slow down and solidify. This last few days was all about fixing the small friction points, polishing rough edges, and ensuring existing features work reliably. No flashy new features - just the essential work that makes the platform feel solid and professional.

Improvements

• Print Center now has presets for one-click printing setup

Fixes

• Template state management and consistency issues
• Color palette selection UX with proper select states
• Save state warnings when deleting unsaved decks
• Navigation improvements between explore and dashboard
• And much more...

With the new Early Preview system, creators can now share unfinished decks publicly. This fundamentally changes how card decks are built and shared - no more waiting until everything is perfect to get feedback and user can start playing with the deck immediately!

Features

• Multi-state deck system: Draft, Private, Early-Access, Published, and Archived statuses replace the simple public/private toggle
• Early Access deck sharing: publish unfinished decks with clear preview labeling to gather feedback early

Improvements

• Enhanced deck management: more granular control over deck visibility and sharing
• Better creator recognition: see who made each deck with hover profiles showing bio and join date

Apart from the landing page links, no flashy features this week, just the essential groundwork for alpha testing. Built invitation management, fixed critical bugs, and polished the rough edges that make or break user experience. Sometimes the most important work is the least visible.

Features

• Landing page download links: add direct download, Dropbox, or Stripe payment links to your deck's public page
• Landing page documentation links: add rules, instructions, or any supplementary content links
• Waitlist and invitation management: built complete alpha tester invitation system for controlled rollout

Improvements

• Default template pack: created and uploaded curated template collection for quick deck prototyping
• Template management system: streamlined process for updating and improving default templates
• AI card generation consistency: now matches existing card style - long sentences beget long sentences, short beget short
• Enhanced emoji support: better emoji handling throughout the entire application
• AI emoji generation: AI can now generate card decks using emojis alongside Lucide icons

Fixes

• Firefox PDF export: fixed broken PDF export by replacing underlying library
• General housekeeping: addressed accumulated minor bugs and friction points
• Icon rendering improvements: more reliable emoji display across all contexts

The printing workflow is now complete! Generate professional-quality PDFs for both home printing and print shops with a single click. No more complex settings, no more design tool frustrations - just click and print.

Features

• One-click home printing PDF: generates optimized grids for A4 or Letter format with perfect front/back alignment
• One-click professional printing PDF: creates print-ready files with crop marks and professional specifications

Major code refactoring of the Visual Template Builder and Export Center. While not flashy new features, this foundational work prepares the codebase for upcoming capabilities like PDF export and an even better template builder.

Features

• Field editing in Visual Template Builder: you can now edit card field values directly within the template builder interface
• Advanced PNG export controls: new filters for quality, ratios, portrait/landscape orientation

Improvements

• Visual Template Builder refactor: complete code restructure to simplify architecture and enable future feature development
• Export Center refactor: rebuilt the entire export system foundation to support upcoming PDF export
• Export presets: optimized settings for home printing, professional printing, and digital use

Fixes

• Removed SVG export support: SVG generated quality was not meeting standards, focusing on PNG export and upcoming PDF export that will embed high-quality PNGs

Icons are an easy way to add meaningful visual information to your cards, especially when you're not a designer. Now you have access to thousands of icons and emojis with a simple icon picker that makes finding the perfect icon super easy.

Features

• Emoji support: add emoji icons to your cards, categories, and decks alongside the existing Lucide icon library
• Fuzzy search icon picker: quickly find the perfect icon with smart search that understands what you're looking for
• Thousands of icons: access to comprehensive icon libraries plus all emoji characters
• Multi-icon-set architecture: technology foundation to support multiple icon libraries

Improvements

• Icon picker UX: replaced basic dropdown with searchable picker interface
• Broader icon access: expanded from Lucide-only to include emoji and future icon sets

You can now build card templates visually instead of coding them. The first version of the Visual Template Builder lets you create templates with a simple interface. Take any existing template and remix it by changing the layout, content organization, and design.

Features

• Visual Template Builder: create and edit card templates without writing code
• Template remixing: start from any official template and customize it
• Layered design system: background, content sections, and overlay layers
• Real-time preview: see changes as you build
• Remix public templates: pick from existing templates to modify

Improvements

• No more coding templates: replaced manual HTML/CSS and JSON editing with visual controls
• The template library has a page on its own, you can browse and remix any template you want
• In the template library, you can preview the templates with any card from any of your decks

Import content and create decks in I♥️Cards with ease. Copy your data from Excel or Google Sheets, paste it into our importer, preview, and import. AI automatically maps your columns to the right fields with 99% accuracy.

Features

• One-click spreadsheet import: copy from Excel/Google Sheets and paste directly into I♥️Cards
• AI-powered column mapping: automatically detects and maps your columns to card fields (title, primary text, secondary text, description)
• Header row detection: automatically identifies if your data has headers and handles them appropriately
• Flexible field mapping: easily adjust mappings with simple dropdown menus if needed
• Smart preview system: see how your data will look as cards before importing

The color system has been completely revamped! Now you can style your entire deck in under 2 minutes with intelligent color schemes that automatically calculate perfect text contrast ratios. Just pick a color scheme and paint your deck - the system handles all the complex color calculations in the background.

Features

• Smart color schemes: automatic text color calculation with 4.5 contrast ratio compliance
• Multi-level color control: set main colors at deck, category, or individual card level
• Color scheme templates: pre-designed schemes with beautiful category color combinations
• New deck editor color tab: style your entire deck in under 2 minutes
• In-context scheme editing: create and duplicate color schemes without losing your editing context

Improvements

• Simplified color selection workflow with smart overriding system
• Expert mode: advanced users can still override automatic calculations
• Quick deck painting interface for rapid styling
• Template integration: card templates now intelligently pick up and apply your color scheme throughout the design

The template system has been totally refactored! The AI template generator has been improved and it also paves the way to a drag and drop UI for your to create your own templates. Second big update, the images of your cards and decks are now optimized based on the use case: faster to load for the web, better quality for the export.

Features

• New template system: you can now create your own templates and use them in your cards.
• Image optimization - Export: the images are automatically optimized for the export, with a better quality.
• Image optimization - For your deck landing page: the images are automatically optimized for the web, with a faster load time (which is great for SEO).

You can now share your deck to the world! Public decks are now visible from /explore. Each public deck has its own landing page with your bio.

Features

• Public decks: you can now share your deck to the world! Public decks are now visible from /explore. Each public deck has its own landing page with your bio.

Improvements

• Profile: you can now edit your public profile, add a bio, an avatar, a website, a linkedin, a twitter and an instagram.

You can now define a back template for your cards, for either the full deck, a category or just one card - just like you do for the front.

Features

• Card back: for the deck, a category or a single card.
• Playground: flip the card.

Improvements

• Deck editor UX: you are now warned when you leave the page with unsaved changes.

First iteration of the "playground", with already a lot of love. Pick a card randomly,reverse a card! You can even stream your screen thanks to the green screen background. Select a deck, and start playing by clicking on the play button in the top right corner.

Features

• Playground: get a random card, reverse it!
• Green screen background: you can stream your screen thanks to the green screen background.

Improvements

• Deck editor UX: you are now warned when you leave the page with unsaved changes.

The first version of the Magic Onboarding, create your first deck in 30 seconds.

Features

• Onboarding, super easy to create your first deck with AI.

Improvements

• Studio navbar UX: tooltip and popover when the sidebar is collapsed.
• Changelog: is now a timeline, with a new design and a new layout.

Features

• First card template collection: Fifty/Fifty, with 6 templates that complement each other.
• Card template library: you can now browse and pick templates from the library directly from the card deck editor.

Improvements

• Card template system has been refactored to be more reliable and flexible.
• AI template generator is now located directly from the card deck editor and the prompt has been updated to use the new CSS system.

Fixes

• No more weird changes in the order of cards and categories in the deck preview.
• Card template preview: added a bleed option to the card template preview.
• Card templates were loaded multiple times, now they are loaded only once.

Features

• Card Generation: You can now ask the AI to generate one additional card for your deck.
• Changelog: the exact thing you are looking at right now. Keep yourself updated on the latest features and improvements.
• About: a minimal about page, cause you are curious about who I am and what I♥️Cards is.

Improvements

• Deck preview: you can now add or generate a card directly from the deck preview.

Fixes

• Better AI streaming: refactored the AI streaming (when you see the cards being progressively generated in real-time) to be more efficient and reliable.

Improvements

• Improved deck creation sidebar to display the list of cards with edit on click and an add card button.
• This paves the way for the upcoming card generation feature.

Features

• Custom Templates: You can now create and use custom templates for your cards.
• AI Template Generator: An AI assistant that generates custom templates for you based on your descriptions.

Features

• Deck Generation: You can now generate an entire deck with a single prompt using AI.

A proof of concept that you can export your cards as PNG and SVG with great fidelity.

Features

• PNG and SVG export: You can now export your cards as PNG and SVG, select which cards you want to export and their size.

Features

• Image Upload: Upload your own images to use on cards.
• Unsplash Integration: Search and use Unsplash images directly in your cards.
• AI Image Generation: Generate images for your cards using AI.

This is the initial pre-alpha release of the app.