diff --git a/cursive-core/src/align.rs b/cursive-core/src/align.rs
index 77f46201..d13adc3e 100644
--- a/cursive-core/src/align.rs
+++ b/cursive-core/src/align.rs
@@ -61,6 +61,24 @@ impl Align {
     }
 }
 
+impl std::str::FromStr for Align {
+    type Err = ();
+    fn from_str(s: &str) -> Result<Self, Self::Err> {
+        Ok(match s {
+            "top_left" => Self::top_left(),
+            "top_center" => Self::top_center(),
+            "top_right" => Self::top_right(),
+            "center_left" => Self::center_left(),
+            "center" => Self::center(),
+            "center_right" => Self::center_right(),
+            "bot_left" | "bottom_left" => Self::bot_left(),
+            "bot_center" | "bottom_center" => Self::bot_center(),
+            "bot_right" | "bottom_right" => Self::bot_right(),
+            _ => return Err(()),
+        })
+    }
+}
+
 /// Horizontal alignment
 #[derive(Debug, Clone, Copy, PartialEq, Eq, Hash)]
 pub enum HAlign {
@@ -72,6 +90,18 @@ pub enum HAlign {
     Right,
 }
 
+impl std::str::FromStr for HAlign {
+    type Err = ();
+    fn from_str(s: &str) -> Result<Self, Self::Err> {
+        Ok(match s {
+            "left" | "Left" => Self::Left,
+            "center" | "Center" => Self::Center,
+            "right" | "Right" => Self::Right,
+            _ => return Err(()),
+        })
+    }
+}
+
 /// Vertical alignment
 #[derive(Debug, Clone, Copy, PartialEq, Eq, Hash)]
 pub enum VAlign {
@@ -83,6 +113,18 @@ pub enum VAlign {
     Bottom,
 }
 
+impl std::str::FromStr for VAlign {
+    type Err = ();
+    fn from_str(s: &str) -> Result<Self, Self::Err> {
+        Ok(match s {
+            "Top" | "top" => Self::Top,
+            "Center" | "center" => Self::Center,
+            "Bottom" | "bottom" | "Bot" | "bot" => Self::Bottom,
+            _ => return Err(()),
+        })
+    }
+}
+
 impl HAlign {
     /// Returns the offset required to position a view.
     ///
diff --git a/cursive-core/src/builder.rs b/cursive-core/src/builder.rs
index 454d7758..3d61f1c8 100644
--- a/cursive-core/src/builder.rs
+++ b/cursive-core/src/builder.rs
@@ -938,7 +938,21 @@ macro_rules! manual_blueprint {
 
 #[cfg(feature = "builder")]
 #[macro_export]
-/// Define a blueprint to build this view from a config file.
+/// Define a blueprint to manually build this view from a config file.
+///
+/// Note: this is entirely ignored (not even type-checked) if the `builder` feature is not
+/// enabled.
+///
+/// There are 3 variants of this macro:
+///
+/// * `manual_blueprint!(Identifier, |config, context| make_the_view(...))`
+///   This registers the recipe under `Identifier`, and uses the given closure to build
+///   the view.
+/// * `manual_blueprint!(Identifier from { parse_some_config(...) })`
+///   This register under `Identifier` a recipe that forwards the creation to another
+///   config using [`Context::build_template`].
+/// * `manual_blueprint`(with Identifier, |config, context| Ok(|view| wrap_the_view(view, ...)))`
+///   This register a "with" blueprint under `Identifier`, which will prepare a view wrapper.
 macro_rules! manual_blueprint {
     // Remember to keep the inactive version above in sync
     ($name:ident from $config_builder:expr) => {
diff --git a/cursive-core/src/builder/resolvable.rs b/cursive-core/src/builder/resolvable.rs
index d8ced928..362b9581 100644
--- a/cursive-core/src/builder/resolvable.rs
+++ b/cursive-core/src/builder/resolvable.rs
@@ -1009,22 +1009,51 @@ impl Resolvable for crate::view::Margins {
     }
 }
 
+impl Resolvable for crate::align::Align {
+    fn from_config(config: &Config, context: &Context) -> Result<Self, Error> {
+        // Try a string shortcut
+        if let Some(config_str) = config.as_str() {
+            if let Ok(align) = config_str.parse() {
+                return Ok(align);
+            }
+
+            return Err(Error::invalid_config("Unexpected align string", config));
+        }
+
+        let h = context.resolve(&config["h"])?;
+        let v = context.resolve(&config["v"])?;
+
+        Ok(Self { h, v })
+    }
+}
+
+impl Resolvable for crate::align::VAlign {
+    fn from_config(config: &Config, _context: &Context) -> Result<Self, Error> {
+        if let Some(config) = config.as_str() {
+            if let Ok(align) = config.parse() {
+                return Ok(align);
+            }
+        }
+
+        Err(Error::invalid_config(
+            "Expected top, center or bottom",
+            config,
+        ))
+    }
+}
+
 impl Resolvable for crate::align::HAlign {
     fn from_config(config: &Config, _context: &Context) -> Result<Self, Error> {
-        // TODO: also resolve single-value configs like strings.
-        // Also when resolving a variable with the wrong type, fallback on loading the type with
-        // the variable name.
-        Ok(match config.as_str() {
-            Some(config) if config == "Left" || config == "left" => Self::Left,
-            Some(config) if config == "Center" || config == "center" => Self::Center,
-            Some(config) if config == "Right" || config == "right" => Self::Right,
-            _ => {
-                return Err(Error::invalid_config(
-                    "Expected left, center or right",
-                    config,
-                ))
+        if let Some(config) = config.as_str() {
+            if let Ok(align) = config.parse() {
+                return Ok(align);
             }
-        })
+        }
+
+        Err(Error::invalid_config(
+            "Expected left, center or right",
+            config,
+        ))
     }
 }