Single Post Views
Latest update: February 4, 2019 | Reading time: 7 to 8 minutesThe ‘Page Options’ box
As mentioned on the previous chapter, when you are working on a single post view, apart from the native WordPress editor and the rest of the edit boxes, you also have the Page Options box ( usually placed right after the editor ). The Page Options box includes the following tabs:
- Content Basics
- Header ( displayed only on Show More Options state )
- Content
- Footer ( displayed only on Show More Options state )
- Misc ( displayed only on Show More Options state )
The Header, Footer and Misc tabs contain options that will allow you to change the post view radically, therefore you don’t have to mess with these unless you really need a special design for a specific page. That’s the reason we decided to make them visible only when you click on Show More Options switch. Some examples on when you might need to deal with those options:
- If you need a landing page that you don’t need header / footer elements at all ( an advertisement or a newsletter page ).
- If you want to create a website section with some pages that will display a different main menu on the header.
- If you need a different set of widgets for your footer.
Nevertheless, for the 99% of your single posts all you have to do is to focus on the Content Basics and Content tabs.
The “Page Options > Content Basics” tab
Apart from the generic page post type, all the rest single post’s Page Options boxes include the Content Basics tab. This tab includes the very basic text and design configuration options that you more likely have to update on each new post. It serves as a fast track lane for those that have already defined the look and feel for their posts and just want to wrap up the post editing process as soon as possible. Most of the text options included here are defined also as content variables.
Content variables are dynamic bits of text that can be placed where on various single view design sections. For example, when you create a single post view, you have the following content variables available:
- {post_title} – the post title
- {post_subtitle} : the post subtitle, you can fill its value under the Content Basics tab
- {post_excerpt} : the post excerpt text
To fully understand the concept behind the content variables, please review the Page Options > Content > Headings Group Section text fields that accept content variables. As you can see, you are given full flexibility to manage all content elements to be displayed exactly as you need to.
The ‘Page Options > Content’ tab
As mentioned on a previous chapter, we strongly advise you to master the look and feel of each single view via the Theme Options panel. Nevertheless, there will often be cases that you might need to apply some design refinements for a certain post. So, if you need to alter the headings group behavior, apply a different color set, or even disable a section, this is the place to do so.
The first and most important thing you have to remember about the Content tab is that it includes segmented and detailed option sets for each section displayed on the front end; actually, you can imagine that each section is represented as a grid row on the front end.
Each section option set has the following structure:
- The hide/show display switch. You can use this to hide completely the specific content section
- All the content section specific options, depending on the element
- The section styling options. Some of the section style options are:
- The Container Type, which defines if the row will be of type: stretch. If you need a stretched section that will cover all the screen from side to side, then you should select a fluid container.
- The Color Set, which will affect the text, links and background color
- The Background behavior. Apart from the color sets background color, you may set it to be transparent or even having an image background.
- The Transparent Overlay, which gives you the option to add a solid or gradient overlay film
- The Full Height display mode, where you can set the element to be expanded in height according to the browser viewport height.
- The Text Align, that allows you to set text alignment to left, center or right.
- Top & Bottom Paddings, that allows you to change the distances between each section as you like
- You can apply you own CSS classes and ID on each element using the Extra Class and Container ID fields.
There are some standard frontend sections that remain the same for all single views, such as the Headings Group and the Editor Content & Sidebar sections, but in general their display order and options might differ from post type to post type.
The Editor Content & Sidebar Section
Apparently, the most important content section of a single post view is the editor content. As mentioned on the previous chapter, the editor content can be managed as any other front end section.
The editor content comes hand in hand with the sidebar, depending on the selected layout. There are 4 different layouts to choose from:
- Editor content only
- Editor with right sidebar
- Editor with left sidebar
- Editor content, with narrowed display
Depending on the post type context, you might even want to hide it if it does not serve any useful purpose on the design. This might be true for a Single Post view, where most of the information displayed is managed by the theme options and there is no need to display the editor contents.
On the other hand, you might want to use only the Content Editor to create the page content and disable all the rest. This might also be the case for Single Page views, where most administrators use to build landing pages with special design aided by the Page Builder.
Editor Content using the WPBakery Page Builder
Our theme comes bundled with WPBakery Page Builder, one of the most popular premium plugins. It is an intuitive and user-friendly page builder that allows you to easily creating unique designs. With a visual guide that includes several elements, it will allow you to create pretty much anything you want. Apart from simple text, you may display post grids & sliders, single images or galleries, contact forms, image galleries, etc.
Note that the elements included on the Page Builder are a mix of the plugin’ s native elements and custom shortcodes from Plethora Themes. If you have to choose over a Page Builder and a Plethora Themes element that do the same task, always prefer the latter as it is guaranteed that it will seamlessly fit the theme’s design. In any case, if you face any issues with WPBakery Page Builder we’ve got you covered as long as your subscription to our support service is valid. To see a list of the available WPBakery Page Builder Elements, edit a page and click on Add Element.