Getting started with blocks: Organizing site content in the WMS

Keeping content organized will go a long way towards maintaining a healthy website. Blocks in the WMS are pre-designed containers for important or highlighted information. Blocks are useful tools that can help work towards that goal, as it allows you to place multiple synced instances of the same content, leading to less resources wasted on maintaining the content. This article will go over the basics of how to create a standard block in the WMS, as well as how to edit and configure the block to make it show up on the correct pages.

A supplementary video guide has been created that goes over the same steps that will be mentioned in this article:

In this article: Creating a standard block in the WMS

1. Add a Standard Block (via Workbench)
2. Configuring blocks
   • Block regions
   • Place a block on a page
3. Edit or delete a block

Step 1: Add a Standard Block (via Workbench)

1. Go to Workbench
2. Click the Create Content tab
3. Under the section Create Blocks, click Standard Block
4. Fill in the fields:
   • Label: a brief description showing on the administration page only.
   • Title: The title will appear at the top of your block.
   • Body: add content to your block. To add an image or a file, click the Add media icon on the toolbar.
5. View Mode: There are three options to choose from:
   • Full: Spans the full width of the region where the block is placed; recommended block regions to use are: Top of content, Bottom of content, Top of page, or Bottom of page.
   • Half: allows you to fit two columns of blocks, each taking up half the width of the region.
   • Third: allows you to fit three columns of blocks, each taking up one-third the width of the region.
6. Click "save"

Step 2: Configuring blocks

Block regions

• A block can be placed on one or multiple pages within a site and can be located in one of six regions:
• Highlighted: directly below the horizontal menu bar, and above the site breadcrumb links
• Sidebar: right side of the page
• Top of content: between the left side menu and right sidebar; the right sidebar only exists if blocks have been placed in this region
• Top of page: above any blocks in the right sidebar region
• Bottom of content: between the left side menu and right sidebar; the right sidebar only exists if blocks have been placed in this region
• Bottom of page: just above the footer area; below the left-side menu and below any blocks in the right sidebar region

Blocks that are placed at the 'Top of content', 'Bottom of content', 'Top of page', or Bottom of page', can cover the full width of those regions, or you have the option to fit multiple blocks side-by-side within these regions depending on the blocks’ View Mode

Place a block on a page

When working with blocks, remember that:

• Disabled blocks are never shown on pages. If a block is located under the Disabled region, you will first have to position it in another region. (See Position a block in a region.)
• Blocks can be configured to be visible only on certain pages.

1. Access the configuration settings of the block.
   1. Hover over the top right-hand corner of a block until the gear icon and drop-down list appears, then click Configure. OR...
   2. From the Administration toolbar, go to Structure > Blocks to locate the block, then click configure.
2. Scroll down to Visibility settings and click Pages.
3. Under Show block on specific pages:
   • If All pages except those listed is selected, make sure that the page you want the block to appear on is not in the list.
   • If Only the listed pages is selected, add the path of the page(s) you want the block to appear on to the list.
     • Note that the path should be displayed as a node reference, e.g. https://www.mcgill.ca/web-services/node/3271 not as the page’s published URL, e,g. https://www.mcgill.ca/web-services/contact-us

Click Save Block once you have finished. The block should now appear on the page(s) you wish it to appear on.

Step 3: Edit or delete a block

Edit a block

Block content can be edited in two ways.

Through My Workbench

Go to My Workbench and click the Blocks tab.

1. Locate the appropriate block - filter on Title, Label, or Type if you wish
2. Click Edit Block.
3. Apply your changes and click the Save button at the bottom of the page.

Directly on the page
Block content can be edited directly on the page.

1. Hover over the right hand corner of the block and click Edit Block.
2. Apply your changes and click the Save button at the bottom of the page.

Delete a block

Block content can be deleted in two ways.

Through My Workbench

1. Go to My Workbench and click the Blocks tab.
2. Locate the appropriate block - filter on Title, Label, or Type if you wish
3. Click delete block

Directly on the page

Block content can be deleted directly from the page.

1. Hover over the right hand corner and click Edit Block
2. Click the Delete button at the bottom of the page.

Check out these resources for more detailed explanations on specific steps:

Blocks and the View mode in the WMS

Create, edit, delete, or translate a block in the WMS

Manage blocks in the WMS