[Resolved] Any plans to add custom header/footer and/or nicely formatted blog & post pages?

[Matthew]

Hey Tom,

I know GeneratePress isn’t intended to be a ready-made, super elaborate theme with a million features built-in like you can buy for $69 on ThemeForest. That being said, however, being able to create custom headers and footers, and having code that produces an attractive main blog and individual post pages would be REALLY nice. I have always bought my themes because of how much time it saves because everything is already coded. The down side to that approach is that, unless you use the same theme on every project (which we don’t), you have to learn a new UI every time. We switched over to using GeneratePress Premium for all website projects that don’t require fancy bells and whistles to simplify the development and support process. In doing so, however, it feels like we went too far the other direction, and now no longer have functionality that has become necessary for any website design project we do.

Do you have any plans to add customer header/footer capabilities as well as blog styling to your Premium product in the future? If so, do you have any idea what the timeframe might be?

[Tom]

Hi there,

What exactly do you mean by custom headers and footer? What exact kind of functionality?

[Matthew]

I mean the kind of typical elements you usually find that you can enable in ThemeForest commercial themes, like showing the client’s phone number, showing social media icons w/ new window links, showing the cart, etc. (examples for the custom header). Typically the “custom footer” stuff is going to be a text block for “About Us” (which I know we can do already), as well as a repeated list of social media links, Facebook/Twitter/Instagram feed, “Latest Posts” widget, etc.

[Tom]

Those are mostly widgets, which you can either install plugins for, or use text widgets for.

For example, you can add a text widget with the clients phone number. Social icons can be added using Font Awesome or a plugin like Lightweight Social Icons. WooCommerce has a cart widget, which you can add inside any widget area.

GP has widget areas in the top bar, header, sidebars and in the footer, so you can build out your header/footer with these widgets and plugins.

Let me know if you need more info 🙂

[Stephen]

Hi,

I’ve only been using GP P for 2 months, but I can assure you that the functionality you require is already built in 🙂

Cheers
Steve

[Matthew]

Oh boy; now I just feel stupid… I should have been able to figure that out. Thanks for the helping hand, guys.

Your answers prompted two more questions, if I can appeal to your good graces:

1. Can I use the WP GUI to add the following PHP so I can have your theme dynamically print the website’s tagline into the header instead of using text to type it in: <?php bloginfo( 'description' ); ?>

2. What about a nicely formatted main blog page and individual blog posts page? Does GP handle that without needing to add custom code, and – if not – is that feature planned in the product’s roadmap/future?

[Tom]

No problem! Always happy to help 🙂

1. GP can add this for you if you have it turned on in Customize > Site Identity. Otherwise, you can add that code into Appearance > GP Hooks as long as you check the Execute PHP option in the area you added it to.

2. What would nicely formatted look like? Any specific design?

[Stephen]

I have a monopoly on stupid questions so please leave them to me 😉

Cheers

[Tom]

No such thing 😉 Always happy to help!

[Matthew]

OK… I am having success adding all the custom stuff I want in the header via HTML inserted into text widgets. My challenge now is to get them to display the way I want: In side-by-side columns instead of one vertically stacked column.

The intended outcome is this: Left-to-right widgets that are responsive and allow me to have (in the following order) 1) Logo, 2) PHP-generated code that displays their slogan, 3) Phone number or other text for a call-to-action, 4) Social media icons+links

How do I accomplish that?

[Leo]

This article should help with a bit of modification: https://docs.generatepress.com/article/split-header-three-sections/

Let me know.

[Matthew]

OK; I have the website almost exactly how I want it, but some finesse is still needed. Please help me troubleshoot one weird issue I can’t figure out and accomplish the desired outcome…

A) The site name is displaying in the header-center area of the header and it’s hyperlinked. Where is this coming from and how can I get rid of it so only the desired content shows up there?

B) I want to have the Tagline show to the right of the logo, and I want to have the .header-center CSS block available for future use (though it’s going to be blank for the time being).

I know this has been a long, rambling support thread, but I’m trying to get a base template site built in Flywheel that I can save as a blueprint to make future web development efforts faster. Getting these foundational design elements in place is a key part of that process.

Thanks in advance for your help!

[Leo]

Can you link me to the site?

This should help for B: https://docs.generatepress.com/article/putting-site-title-next-logo/

[Matthew]

You can access the website prototype using the following URL: https://www.stonecrestleadership.com?bypass=prototype

[Leo]

Looks like it’s added in Customizer > Site Identity?

[Author]

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