Overview
This article is an overview of Liftoff, DreamHost's AI website builder for WordPress.
Get a free, handcrafted WordPress website
The DreamHost WordPress support team can create a custom WordPress site for you. See this article for more details.
Background
DreamHost's Liftoff is designed to streamline the creation of personalized WordPress websites. By leveraging artificial intelligence, it enables users to generate a fully customized site in 60 seconds, greatly simplifying the manual complexities of configuring WordPress.
After the initial setup, the built-in Site Assistant dashboard guides you through the next steps, helping you easily build and refine your website.
Installing
The process to install Liftoff is different depending on if WordPress is already installed.
New installations
Follow the instructions in the installing WordPress article. During installation, select the Liftoff Website Builder option to automatically install it with WordPress.
Existing installations
Contact support if you have an existing WordPress site and wish to add Liftoff.
Liftoff staging
Liftoff staging is a site builder tool that runs locally in your web browser. This allows you to immediately begin building your WordPress site as it is still being installed on the web server.
How do I use Liftoff staging?
When installing WordPress in the panel, you have the option to select Liftoff Website Builder by DreamHost. After clicking Confirm Install, you are redirected back to the Manage Websites page. Here, your website displays a progress bar as WordPress installs.
If you do not wish to wait until WordPress is fully installed, click the Try Liftoff Now button to the right. This opens a Liftoff staging environment in your web browser.
How do I build my site?
When Liftoff staging opens, proceed through the guided prompts to design your new website.
How do I publish my new site?
When you're finished building your new website, click the Publish button on the top right. All of your custom changes are then imported into your live WordPress site.
After publishing, the staging environment will no longer be accessible. To continue editing your site, you will need to log in directly to your new WordPress dashboard.
Limitations
Browser environment
The Liftoff staging environment is limited to the browser in which you originally installed WordPress in the panel. This means that if you pause while building your site and would like to resume later, you would need to use the original browser.
Do NOT clear browser cache
Do not clear your browser's cache when building your site using Liftoff staging. This is because the tool runs in your browser, so clearing your browser's cache will permanently delete all of your changes.
How do I know if I'm using staging or my real WordPress site?
You can confirm by looking at the top menu. The Liftoff staging environment will display Liftoff Website Builder on the top left. You will also see Publish and Exit buttons on the top right.
14 days to publish
You can continue to work on your new WordPress design using Liftoff staging for up to 14 days. Please note that after this 14-day period is over, no backups will remain. Make sure to publish your new design within this 14-day time period to avoid losing your design.
Importing not available
It is not possible to import a WordPress site into this staging environment. See this article for instructions on importing an existing WordPress site into your live website.
Product Features
Liftoff provides you with access to the following features.
AI website and content generation
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Liftoff creates a personalized WordPress website in less than 60 seconds using the information you provide to the AI builder.
You can then edit the site and generate custom images with the AI's assistance directly inside the WordPress editor.
Site Assistant
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Site Assistant is a personalized dashboard that includes smart tasks, helping to guide the website owner through the next steps of building the website.
AI Agents
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Users can describe what they want to change, for example updating content or adjusting site colors, and an appropriate AI agent will handle it.
If a request is outside the agent's current capabilities, an AI support agent provides clear, step-by-step guidance to complete the task manually.
AI image generation
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Image generation uses GPT Image 1 (upgraded from DALL·E 3), to produce sharper and more realistic results.
Design Library
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The Design Library provides hundreds of beautifully designed, WordPress native block patterns and page templates, helping you to quickly design a visually appealing website.
AI-powered help center
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Liftoff includes an AI-powered knowledge base and chatbot, providing you with real-time solutions to any questions you may have.
You own all changes
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You retain full ownership of the website you've built, which will continue running normally, even if you choose to uninstall Liftoff or migrate to another hosting provider.
Using Liftoff
Liftoff leverages WordPress’s Site Editor, allowing you to customize your website's entire design using a visual interface. To access the Site Editor, log in to your WordPress dashboard and navigate to Appearance > Editor.
Styles
The Styles Panel allows you to define global styles that apply to your entire site.
Predefined and Custom Styles
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On the left, click Styles. Here you can experiment with predefined styles by clicking the squares in the left-hand sidebar. When finished editing, click the Save button so your changes display on your site.
Custom Styles can be accessed by clicking the pencil icon on the top right of the left-hand sidebar.
Typography
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Click Typography in the right-hand sidebar and scroll down to the Element section. Here you can change the following:
- Text
- Links
- Headings
- Captions
- Buttons
When finished editing, click Save in the top right corner of the page. Alternatively, you can upload your own custom webfont or connect Google Fonts following these steps.
Colors
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Click Colors > Palette in the right-hand sidebar and hover over each circle to change the following:
- Background
- Foreground (default text color)
- Primary (main brand color, links/buttons)
- Secondary (alternate brand color)
- Background Alt (section color)
When finished editing, click Save in the top right corner of the page.
Templates
Templates allow you to change the look and navigation of your website's header and footer.
- In the Site Editor, navigate to Templates.
- Filter the template using the search field and enter 'Pages'.
- Click the Pages template displayed.
- In the top menu, click the Document Overview button.
- On the left, click the Header or Footer block. The right-hand sidebar will present different design options for your header.
- Click a design to replace your current header or footer.
- On the top right, click the Save button when finished editing.
Navigation
Navigation menus allow your visitors to get around your site.
- Navigate to Navigation > Header Navigation.
- In the top menu, click the Document Overview button.
- Click the + button.
- In the popup, add a URL or search for an existing page.
- On the top right, click the Save button when finished editing.
Content
The Content Panel allows you to use the built-in AI tools to generate content, images or apply pre-designed sections.
Content Assistance
This tool allows you to generate new content or modify any information already part of the website.
- In the Block editor, click on a block of text or a heading.
- Click Ask AI.
- In the right sidebar, choose from these prompts:
- Ask AI to edit (create your own prompt)
- Improve writing
- Fix spelling & grammar
- Simplify language
- Make shorter
- Make longer
- Review the offered content, apply it automatically using one of these options:
- Replace selected
- Insert at top
- Insert after selected
- Insert at bottom
If the generated content does not suit your needs click Try again to generate it anew or Discard to exit without changes.
Image Assistance
This tool allows you to generate custom images or search stock photos.
- In the Block editor, click on an Image block.
- Click Ask AI.
- In the right sidebar, choose from these options:
- Add a prompt:
- Fill in the Image Description field.
- Select Aspect Ratio.
- Click Generate Image.
- Review the image generated, click Use this image to apply it or Delete image to clear it.
- Search Unsplash stock photos.
- Add a prompt:
Design Library
This option lets you select from preexisting designs to apply on any section of your website.
- In the top menu bar, click the Design Library button.
- Choose the desired pre-designed section.
- Review the applied design.
See Also
DreamHost links
- AI Business Advisor overview
- AI Business Planner Tool overview
- AI Content Builder overview
- Managing your Liftoff WordPress site
Third-party links