[Resolved] Can't set full width template when creating Elementor 'page' templates

[Dave Foy]

When using GeneratePress: if I create an Elementor ‘Page’ template, I can’t set ‘full width’ to use Elementor on.

I made a quick video showing the problem:

https://www.useloom.com/sh…/982be3f5bef246e5937027cc4b7e5036

In the template’s settings, I can set ‘Elementor Full Width’. But the template doesn’t work. The page isn’t full width. It’s still using GP’s default template.

And GP’s Layout metabox is missing from the template’s edit page completely, so I can’t use that either.

I posted this a bug to Elementor as I thought it must be a problem at Elementor’s end… but then checked the same thing in Astra and in Astra all works fine. I can set ‘Elementor Full Width’ (and it works). Plus Astra’s layout metabox is available to use.

Which leads me to think this might be an issue with GP? Sorry if it’s not… trying to troubleshoot as best I can. 🙂

Thanks for your help guys.

Dave

[Tom]

Hey Dave,

Your video doesn’t seem to exist – can you double check?

If the GP layout metabox isn’t displaying, it means the custom post type isn’t “public”. Since non-public custom post types aren’t meant to be view-able on the front end, the metabox is useless and doesn’t display.

The page template thing seems strange though – would love to take a look.

[Dave Foy]

Gah, sorry Tom!

Here you go:

https://www.useloom.com/share/982be3f5bef246e5937027cc4b7e5036

[Dave Foy]

And thanks for taking a look so quickly. Appreciated.

[Tom]

So when you’re creating a template library item, is this item meant to be viewed in public by itself, or is it just a section which can then be added to an actual page?

The fact that the Layout metabox isn’t appearing tells me that Elementor have set their custom post type not to be public, so they shouldn’t actually be viewable by themselves on the front end.

I have a feeling that their page template option isn’t working for the same reason.

If that’s the case, you would want to set the public page (or whatever) that has that library on it to full width.

Let me know if that makes sense or not.

[Dave Foy]

Well in this case, the template itself isn’t meant to be viewed publicly, no. You’d insert it into a regular page and set THAT full width.

However, this same issue also affects Elementor’s Single Post templates and Archive templates too. Those templates, again, wouldn’t be viewed publicly as such. But they’d be output publicly, when viewing a single post or archive that they’ve been applied to. You’d want to view those rendered ‘pages’ full width on the front end. As it stands, you can’t.

Actually, the lack of layout metabox isn’t really an issue, IF setting Elementor’s ‘Elementor Full Width’ template worked (instead of GP’s default). But as you see in the video, that doesn’t work either. Pretty sure when I set to use that template, I’m still using GP’s default template. If I change the container width in Customize > Layout > Container > Container Width it affects the content width on those pages still.

I hope that make sense!

[Tom]

I assume their template option only applies to the template it’s on (not the final destination). It likely shouldn’t even be showing up (like the Layout metabox). Of course, that’s just a guess.

So the issue here is that GP doesn’t assume you want a full width template if Elementor is active like other themes might. We could make that assumption, but I think that causes issues in the future when it comes to backward compatibility (we originally did this with Beaver Builder).

Instead, we need a way to set the Page Builder Container option globally, or assign it to custom post types, archives, single posts etc..

Luckily, that is exactly what I’m working on right now for GPP 1.7. I should have a beta available as early as Monday 🙂

[Dave Foy]

Ah lovely. That would certainly be a great workaround!

So excited for 1.7 Tom. Hope it’s going well. 😀

[Dave Foy]

By the way:

The ‘Elementor Full Width’ template is just a page template they add to the template chooser.

So in addition to GP’s (‘Default’) there’s also the choice of ‘Elementor Full Width’ (full width + header and footer) and ‘Elementor Canvas’ (literally a blank page).

If I choose ‘Elementor Canvas’, that switches to that page template just fine. If I choose ‘Elementor Full Width’, it appears not to change.

As I say… I tried it in Astra just to troubleshoot, and it works fine in that. Not sure if they’re doing something different though.

[Tom]

I believe they just detect Elementor and go full width by default. If you have a live site using the Full Width template and GP, I can definitely take a look at the code 🙂

[Dave Foy]

These are the options for templates on a regular page:

https://cl.ly/3t3S192q3W19

And the same template choices are also there when editing Elementor templates too (i.e. a custom post type).

On regular pages, choosing the ‘Elementor Full Width’ template has the desired effect. But on their template CPT it doesn’t.

I expect it’s an Elementor issue! Just wanted to rule out anything else.

[Tom]

I would be curious to hear what Elementor says about that. I assume that the page template is applying to that template itself, and not the page it ends up on. However, maybe they have some sort of trickery they built in that I don’t know about.

Either way, the new module I’m working on should offer a powerful solution to this 🙂

[Dave Foy]

Thanks for this Tom. I’ll report back here when/if Elementor get back to me.

Waiting for 1.7 feels like waiting for Christmas! 🙂

[Dave Foy]

Reply from Elementor:

“It’s due to the way GP handles body classes. We have implemented a fix and it should be released in Elementor Pro v2.1 soon.”

I think that just means they haven’t accounted for your body classes. 🙂

At least they’re fixing it.

Thanks for your help with this Tom. Marked as resolved.

[Tom]

Good to know! Thank you, Dave 🙂

[Author]

Posts