Blog Templates
CleanSlate Theme Development Tutorial Series
Video #15 - Part A: Introduction to blogs
CleanSlate Theme Development Tutorial Series
Video #15 - Part B: Advanced topics with blogs
FAQ:
Does CleanSlate support blogs? Yes.
Can you have multiple blogs on a single site? Yes.
Do you have code examples of a blog index and blog article templates?
Absolutely! Check out the blog_index.html and blog_article.html templates in the
CleanSlate Toolkit—a boilerplate for making themes in CleanSlate.
Can you have different templates for different blog posts?
Yes. Say, for example, you had different authors and you wanted a bio to appear at
the bottom of posts they write. Each author could have his or her own template.
Another example could be a blog post that includes a YouTube video. You could have
a field for the video in a blog_article--youtube.html template.
How do I pull articles from my blog onto my site's homepage?
Do this using the r:blog tag by passing it a blog id. Note: this pulls blog articles from the same site—not from a different site.
How do I pull blog articles from a different site?
Use the
RSS Feed Snippet. You can customize your site's RSS feed output in blog_index.rss.
Tag a blog article by adding a label to it in Pages. To filter blog posts by tag(s),
follow this format: http://example.wvu.edu/blog?tags=example where
example is the tag and /blog is the permalink to your
blog's homepage. Separate multiple tags with commas in the URL.
How do I add a featured blog post to my homepage (or another page)?
You can add a label or multiple labels to a blog post or blog posts using
this code in your template. First, change the blog ID. Then, choose which tag(s)
you want included via tags="my-tag,my-tag-2". Choose how many posts
to display via limit="1". Here's a
simplified example if you're looking to break this code down.
Can I exclude a certain label from a blog feed?
This usually happens if you don’t want your “featured stories” repeated next to your
regular blog articles. To exclude a certain label from a list of blog articles,
use tags_op="none" tags="dont-show-stuff-with-this-label" on the <r:articles> tag. Here’s an
exclude label code example.
How do I pull articles from multiple tags/labels?
Where you're referencing tags="xyz", enter your tags as a comma
separated list
without spaces. For example: tags="history,art,event". This could
also be: labels="history,art,event".
On the <r:articles> tag, include tags_op="all" tags="admissions,year-2050".
This will only show blog posts with
both admissions and year-2050 labels.
Can I pull a list of blog posts onto another page, but have content authors specify which tags/labels to pull via the CleanSlate UI?
Yes. Specify
Custom Page Data for the page where you want to pull the posts, then use r:set_var and r:get_page to output the list. Here is a
code example for dynamic labels via the CleanSlate UI.
Does CleanSlate have comments for blogs?
Not natively; however, we believe services like Disqus and many others accomplish this better than we could. We have had good experiences with Disqus in the past (we're even using Disqus for comments on this site's blog!).
I'm getting an application error for my blog. What's the deal?
It's likely that you created your blog page as a "Content Page" instead of a "Blog Index" page. In order for a blog to work, you must create the parent page (the root of the blog) as a "Blog Index" page. You cannot switch a normal "Content Page" to be a Blog Index. Pages are different from blogs and have different functionalities.
Wait, I thought you just said I can have any number of templates for my blog posts.
Yup, you can. But your blog index must be created as a "Blog Index" page in Your Site > Pages > Create Page.
Does CleanSlate support blog post thumbnails?
You mean like
thumbnails like this? Absolutely! You'll notice the css_selectorattribute
on your
blog_index.htmlpage. If you want to pull more than just a paragraph,
add in the other tags in a comma separated list. In this case, image and paragraph
tags: css_selector="img, p".. You can also use a dedicated editable
region for an image, then pull that into your blog index template.
I'm redesigning a site with lots (100+) blog articles. Is there a way to move blog articles from one site to another?
Yes, this is possible. There are a few things to keep in mind. 1) The blog's editable regions need to be the same. 2) Moving blog articles from one site to another is a "cut" operation, not a "copy". Thus, once the articles have been moved, they only exist in one place and are no longer accessible at the old domain. Keep this in mind when launching your new site. Any assets used in blog posts can be copied to the new site. Labels/tags can be copied too if specifically requested.
Moving a blog is oftentimes a tedious process, no matter how you approach it. Depending on the redesign, it may make more sense to manually migrate the content so that you can simultaneously adapt it to the new design and reformat content as necessary.
If you would like help migrating a blog, fill out the Request Help Form or email CleanSlate@mail.wvu.edu.
I have a question you didn't cover here. Where do I get answers?
You can either email CleanSlate@mail.wvu.edu or use the Request Help Form. We're happy to hear from you!
FAQ:
Does CleanSlate support blogs? Yes.
Can you have multiple blogs on a single site? Yes
Do you have code examples of blog index and blog article templates? Absolutely! Check out the blog_index.html and blog_article.html templates in the CleanSlate Toolkit—a boilerplate for making themes in CleanSlate.
Can you have different templates for different blog posts?
Yes. Say, for example, you had different authors and you wanted a bio to appear at the bottom of posts they write. Each author could have his or her own template. Another example could be a blog post that includes a YouTube video. You could have a field for the video in a blog_article--youtube.html template.
How do I pull articles from my blog onto my site's homepage?
Do this using the blog.articles tag by passing it a blog ID. Note: this pulls blog articles from the same site—not from a different site.
How do I pull blog articles from a different site?
Use the RSS Feed Snippet. You can customize your site's RSS feed output in blog_index.rss.
How do I tag articles in CleanSlate?
Tag a blog article by adding a label to it in Pages. To filter blog posts by tag(s), follow this format: http://example.wvu.edu/blog?tags=example where example is the tag and /blog is the permalink to your blog's homepage. Separate multiple tags with commas in the URL.
How do I add a featured blog post to my homepage (or another page)?
You can add a label or multiple labels to a blog post or blog posts using this code in your template. First, change the blog ID. Then, choose which tag(s) you want included via tags: "my-tag,my-tag-2". Choose how many posts to display via limit: "1". Here's a simplified example if you're looking to break this code down.
Can I exclude a certain label from a blog feed?
This usually happens if you don’t want your “featured stories” repeated next to your regular blog articles. To exclude a certain label from a list of blog articles, use tags_match: "none", tags: "dont-show-stuff-with-this-label" on the {% assign articles %} tag. Here’s an exclude label code example.
How do I pull articles from multiple tags/labels?
Where you're referencing tags: "xyz", enter your tags/labels as a comma separated list without spaces. For example: tags: "history,art,event".
How do I pull blog posts that include ALL of the included labels?
On the {% assign articles %} tag, include tags_match: "all", tags: "admissions,year-2050". This will only show blog posts with both admissions and year-2050 labels.
Can I pull a list of blog posts onto another page, but have content authors specify which tags/labels to pull via the CleanSlate UI?
Yes. Specify Custom Page Data for the page where you want to pull the posts, then use get_page and filter_articles to output the list. Here is a code example for dynamic labels via the CleanSlate UI.
Does CleanSlate have comments for blogs?
Not natively; however, we believe services like Disqus and many others accomplish this better than we could. We have had good experiences with Disqus in the past (we're even using Disqus for comments on this site's blog!).
I'm getting an application error for my blog. What's the deal?
It's likely that you created your blog page as a "Content Page" instead of a "Blog Index" page. In order for a blog to work, you must create the parent page (the root of the blog) as a "Blog Index" page. You cannot switch a normal "Content Page" to be a Blog Index. Pages are different from blogs and have different functionalities.
Wait, I thought you just said I can have any number of templates for my blog posts.
Yup, you can. But your blog index must be created as a "Blog Index" page type in Your Site > Pages > Create Page.
Does CleanSlate support blog post thumbnails?
You mean like thumbnails like this? Absolutely! You'll notice the css_selector attribute on your blog_index.html page. If you want to pull more than just a paragraph, add in the other tags in a comma separated list. In this case, image and paragraph tags: css_selector="img, p". You can also use a dedicated editable region for an image, then pull that into your blog index template.
I'm redesigning a site with lots (100+) blog articles. Is there a way to move blog articles from one site to another?
Yes, this is possible. There are a few things to keep in mind. 1) The blog's editable regions need to be the same. 2) Moving blog articles from one site to another is a "cut" operation, not a "copy". Thus, once the articles have been moved, they only exist in one place and are no longer accessible at the old domain. Keep this in mind when launching your new site. Any assets used in blog posts can be copied to the new site. Labels/tags can be copied too if specifically requested.
Moving a blog is oftentimes a tedious process, no matter how you approach it. Depending on the redesign, it may make more sense to manually migrate the content so that you can simultaneously adapt it to the new design and reformat content as necessary.
If you would like help migrating a blog, fill out the Request Help Form or email CleanSlate@mail.wvu.edu.
I have a question you didn't cover here. Where do I get answers?
You can either email CleanSlate@mail.wvu.edu or use the Request Help Form. We're happy to hear from you!
Last updated on March 15, 2021.
We welcome all questions, feedback and bug reports. If you're having an issue, we usually need the following information:
- A brief description of the issue
- A link to the page where you saw the issue
- Screenshots that illustrate the problem - How do I take a screenshot?
Kindly email CleanSlate@mail.wvu.edu for help or use the form on the request help page.