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Feedback on adding a background image to a template part #29238
Description
What problem does this address?
Right now, if you want to add a cover block to your header, it's a fairly painful experience requiring you to add a Cover block above your content within the template part, setting an image or background color, and then add a column block to separate out the Site Title, Site Tagline from the navigation block before adding in the content you want.
Here's a video of the current experience using the TT1 Blocks theme and Gutenberg 10.1:
https://cloudup.com/c1p8v_ybzp1
This was first brought up as part of the FSE Outreach Program here.
What is your proposed solution?
cc @kjellr this might be neat to explore as a theme pattern. Otherwise, making it easier to add a cover block to a template part and/or set a background image for a template part seems like a good alternative!
Activity
overclokk commentedon Feb 23, 2021
This should be the behavior of the Global Style where you can change bg color and image, bg image is an option in the customizer and GS will replace the customizer.
If you want to add a bg image inside the header or in others files other than GS with cover block is a best way, also with a custom block if you want.
I don’t want to see this behavior in the template-part block.
Sandstromer commentedon Feb 23, 2021
Rather than adding in a column block to the cover, and then adding in your content (Site Title, Tagline and Navigation) to the new column block, it is possible to drag-drop the whole of the current columns block into the cover block, greatly reducing the number of steps required.
With this in mind, it seems the issue is that it is not immediately obvious which block is selected/selectable or that the List View is maybe not prominent enough?
annezazu commentedon Feb 23, 2021
Appreciate you all chiming in and sharing more ideas around how best to approach this.
Yes, you can drag a column block but there's also a level of needing to imagine building this from scratch.
This wouldn't work well as it would set the background for all template parts rather than just that specific template part!
overclokk commentedon Feb 23, 2021
A template part should only do one thing, include a template and nothing others, so a bg image should be added or from a block or from a GS (GS is also global style for specific blocks).
carolinan commentedon Feb 25, 2021
I am not sure that block patterns for the header and and footer area is the best solution,
because it is simpler, fewer steps, to preview and replace an entire template part,
than deleting existing content and selecting and adding a new pattern.
But both template parts and patterns are added by the theme author, and the theme author will never know exactly what the user wants.
The user can create new blank template parts from scratch, but that does not solve the problem of a level of needing to imagine building this from scratch.
Perhaps we need a more advanced walkthrough, a set up wizard, where the user is asked what they would like to see in their header.
carolinan commentedon Feb 25, 2021
On the other hand, the pattern directory is coming, so maybe this is what really needs to be addressed:
it is simpler, fewer steps, to preview and replace an entire template part,
than deleting existing content and selecting and adding a new pattern.
Maybe we need to both "add" a pattern and "add and replace"
annezazu commentedon Mar 22, 2021
To help make some connections to other work that's happening around this same area, I wanted to cross link this issue with this effort to add background tools to more blocks beyond just the cover block: #28643 Hopefully, in time, it becomes easier for more blocks to have the same background options as the Cover block whether through block supports, sidebar settings, toolbar settings, etc (TBD there!).
annezazu commentedon Mar 31, 2021
This came up in the fourth call for testing too with feedback in this WP Tavern Post:
Sharing here for posterity :)
kjellr commentedon Apr 1, 2021
On a related note, it feels like it should be possible to "Group" your selected blocks, and then convert that group into a Cover block. I've opened #30445 to track that.
annezazu commentedon Feb 7, 2022
This came up as part of the latest FSE Outreach Program's All Things Media exploration once more:
&
I expect this to be a fairly common workflow folks will want to have so it would be great to get what seems to be mostly some technical solutions in place.
jordesign commentedon Sep 8, 2023
Hey @annezazu quick gut check on whether we should keep this Issue open, as distinct from #28643 ?
annezazu commentedon Sep 12, 2023
I actually think we can close out in favor of this: #53934 :) I'll note it there for consideration/feedback loop closing.