Grid, or Text Boxes…

[Eneida]

Hi Tom,

I had been trying to format my first page (at least) a little bit like a magazine, but with not only columns. What I was looking for is something that some other WB templates offer, like having text boxes where I can insert text and pictures and links to display a summary of my site. It turns out that today, during the review on Nick’s webinar, he actually recommended that format. I’ve been looking at plugins almost the whole day, and I still didn’t find anything that seems to accomplish what I am looking for.

First: am I missing, maybe, something that Generate Press already offers?

Second: if not, do you have a plugin you could recommend that would do what I am looking for (and wouldn’t require ccs, html, etc. knowledge?

Note: I actually tried to change my theme for one with the layout I’m looking for, but I missed some of the flexibility that your template offers, so I came back to GP.

Thanks!

Eneida

[Tom]

Hi there,

Do you have any examples of what you’re trying to do? Would help me come up with a solution for you 🙂

[Eneida]

Here are some themes with layouts similar to what I’m trying to have:

http://tips-n-things.com/wp-admin/themes.php?theme=leeway
http://tips-n-things.com/wp-admin/themes.php?theme=silk-lite
http://tips-n-things.com/wp-admin/themes.php?theme=magzimum
http://tips-n-things.com/wp-admin/themes.php?theme=mesocolumn
http://tips-n-things.com/wp-admin/themes.php?theme=evolve
http://tips-n-things.com/wp-admin/themes.php?theme=clean-box
http://tips-n-things.com/wp-admin/themes.php?theme=colormag
http://tips-n-things.com/wp-admin/themes.php?theme=cosimo

I don’t want it to be a grid that automatically populate from posts. I wanted it to be like a summary of my blog, where I could have a photo and a description of each page, with links to those pages directly there on the box. Like a portfolio, but with text also. Something like a magazine.

I decided to try this theme – http://tips-n-things.com/wp-admin/themes.php?theme=evolve – but it doesn’t seem to work quite well. Maybe it would work better with the paid version, but I already paid for your theme, and I like that you offer a good flexibility to customize, so I would still like to try to make GP work for me.

Thanks!

Eneida

[Tom]

GP can achieve something very similar to that using the Blog add-on.

Go to “Appearance > Customize > Blog > Columns” and set your columns to “2”.

Then your posts will be displayed in two columns.

You can add images and summaries to your post, and achieve the exact same look and functionality many of those themes are going for.

[Eneida]

Hi Tom,

I tried the blog format you suggested, but I couldn’t make it look like I wanted.

I finally got something similar to what I was looking for using widgets. There are a few problems with widgets, though: they are not very customizable, and I can’t include different links in the text. My idea would be each item to be a link that would lead directly to that page (subtopics). I could only get the widget itself to be a link leading to the topic pages. It kind of works, though not as well as I had envisioned. I’m trying now to create more widgets for each subtopic and mark them to be displayed only on their topic pages. It’s a LOT of work!

Here is the front page of my site (which Nick should review tomorrow, I hope), for you to have an idea of what I’m talking about.

http://tips-n-things.com/

I’ll leave you a suggestion, which I think maybe many other people would find greatly useful.

Could you create a couple of page layouts to offer to GP users? I can’t believe it would be difficult for someone with your expertise. One page could be something like what I was looking for: a collection of “boxes”, that you could move around, preferably, that you could customize: size, width, background, margin, font, add links, add pictures, “read more” option, and so on. That way, you could have some kind of magazine-like display on you first page, not only with columns, but with independent boxes. The columns would kind of work (just with less options for shapes and sizes) as long as you could define a length to each one and place more columns under the top ones.

Maybe I’m asking a bit too much, but your theme is so flexible that it would be great if it offered something like this. I asked my son, who’s a computer expert too, to create something like that for me to add to my page, but, unfortunately, he has no time at all to help me at this moment. I tried, again, to use some of the other themes that offer that layout I’m looking for, and ended up coming back again to yours because of the overall flexibility you offer.

Thanks much!

Eneida

[Tom]

Hi Eneida,

Your site looks great!

You might want to check out a page builder like Beaver Builder.

It integrates with GP and gives you all kinds of cool page layouts which you can drag and drop to customize.

It may be just what you’re looking for 🙂

[Eneida Gastal-Keith]

Hi again, Tom

I’m really happy that Tom liked my website’s visual, but I still didn’t give up the idea of creating sections, or blocks, or boxes that are not made from widgets.

I tried to download the lite version of Beaver Builder, but it didn’t work. I sent an email to them. At this moment, I can’t invest $99.00 for the simplest version they offer.

I’ve been testing the columns and sections on Generate Press, and I almost got what I wanted (I would like to “enclose” each topic, though). What I find strange is that each column starts a little lower than the previous one. Why does this happen?

Here is the link to the test page I created so that you see what I’m talking about:

http://tips-n-things.com/test-3/

Thanks!

Eneida

[Eneida Gastal-Keith]

I meant to say that “Nick” liked…, of course! 🙂

[Eneida Gastal-Keith]

Ang here is the link I forgot to include! 🙂

http://tips-n-things.com/test-3/

[Eneida Gastal-Keith]

Trying again… Now I included the link in the “Website” field.

[Tom]

Sorry about that, the forums don’t like WordPress 4.4 content embeds. Working on disabling those.

The issue with the columns going lower and lower is fixed in the latest version, just haven’t had the chance to release it yet.

Shoot me an email to support@generatepress.com and I’ll send over the latest version 🙂

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