Homepage Layouts

[JohnPixle]

@HardeepAsrani Good progress today. I was initially having a bunch of problems with patterns and images, but sorted them all out.

All 24 patterns work fine now.

You should use my latest branch, where the latest progress is made: https://github.com/Codeinwp/quickwp-theme/tree/Fix-Patterns

Also, magic link for the demo site.

In the above branch you will also find 3 layouts for the homepages. They are referencing our patterns like:

<!-- wp:pattern {"slug":"quickwp/hero-centered"} /-->
<!-- wp:pattern {"slug":"quickwp/feature-columns"} /-->
<!-- wp:pattern {"slug":"quickwp/content-columns"} /-->
<!-- wp:pattern {"slug":"quickwp/call-to-action-1"} /-->

These layouts are registered as simple pages. I would advise against using a frontpage template in our case, instead I suggest we use a simple page template that the user can set as his front page via the Settings \ Reading controls.

This is much more flexible, because otherwise, the homepage template is persisting, and there is no way to override. Other players use the same approach.

Let me know your thoughts! I think this is enough to start testing. From my end, I will continue to work on the page templates for the Quick Theme (archives, singles, headers/footers etc) so we can have it shaped-up properly.

[HardeepAsrani]

Hry @JohnPixle,

First of all, I've added a zip workflow to the repo so now we should get zip files generated for each PR for quick testing. Second, I don't mind them being page templates but one issue that I have, at least now, is that when you install the theme, you get an empty homepage and not like before where you had the default.

Is it because it's work in progress or there are any issues?

[JohnPixle]

@HardeepAsrani the final setup should depend on how we deliver the theme. Are we installing it via a plugin? Then we can auto-set the page as homepage in the reading settings when we install the theme.

Overall, as I mentioned above, the homepage template always persists, unless the user disables it. Regardless if how the Reading Settings are configured. This also means that changing themes will result in loss of content, if it is powered by a template.

Ollie theme follows a similar approach where they allow the user to select a page layout instead of a template for their homepage.

Let me know what you think, we can always adjust this as we go.

[HardeepAsrani]

@JohnPixle I don't mind that option but we need to consider that this theme might replace Neve FSE in which case this approach might break existing websites completely. Also if the theme is available at WPorg, people will still be downloading it directly.

Let me know what you think.

[HardeepAsrani]

@JohnPixle One good thing with the current default theme is they put all Homepage (and other) templates in a single pattern of their own, so by default have their default homepage referenced inside the home.html (or front-page.html in our case) file as a pattern to call the homepage.

We can follow the same approach. Our template-home-default.php pattern file, for example, can just be empty file referencing other patterns.

For example, here's one of their homepage templates, we can see the parameters they use here and it makes it easy to switch between: https://github.com/WordPress/twentytwentyfour/blob/trunk/patterns/template-home-business.php

Let me know what you think about it.

[JohnPixle]

@HardeepAsrani i am fine with doing it this way if u think it is better. From what I saw they do not have these defined as front-page templates in Site editor, so its easy to change.

[HardeepAsrani]

@JohnPixle What does that mean? I'm bit confused of how it's easier to change or not. Can you explain more as I think I'm missing some context here. 😄

[JohnPixle]

I am away from desk right now, but i will explain tomorrow. Maybe i have misunderstood something from your explanation above as well.

…

On Fri, 12 Jan 2024 at 8:39 PM, Hardeep Asrani ***@***.***> wrote: @JohnPixle <https://github.com/JohnPixle> What does that mean? I'm bit confused of how it's easier to change or not. Can you explain more as I think I'm missing some context here. 😄 — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#17 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AA773CBRZXZ2KTB7POCIMBDYOF7O3AVCNFSM6AAAAABBWOATAGVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMYTQOBZG43TSOBRGI> . You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[JohnPixle]

Also:

we need to consider that this theme might replace Neve FSE in which case this approach might break existing websites completely

If it replaces Neve FSE it will break more than that, not just the homepages 🙃. Think about the color slugs, spacing and other things that are made differently with the TT4 theme.

Lets arrange a quick meeting on Monday if you can, so we can strategize some things.

[HardeepAsrani]

Sure, we can do that.