It's good to see a back-to-basics video now and then, especially as the technology evolves. The new beginners today certainly have a different journey than I had 7+ years ago when I got stuck into WordPress properly. Eloquently delivered, as always, Jamie #Bravo
Wordpress should have this as the introductory video when you sign up. I can't begin to tell you how frustrating its been starting out trying to use Wordpress as a beginner, they tell you its easy to use, it really isn't and its not intuitive, it's only intuitive once you know what you're doing, which is probably the same as doing anything difficult, I bet brain surgery is intuitive once you've learned how. Thanks for a fantastic video that really explains how to start using Wordpress. Amazing teaching, was so clear and makes so much sense!
Thank you for incredibly kind words - i hear you and I'm glad this was useful. It's a mission of mine to make WordPress easy, and the WordPress team do read these comments, so hopefully your voice will be heard. It certainly has been by me.
Jamie, I started my career in 2008 using WordPress and haven't used it in over a decade. How you explain modern WordPress development's fundamentals and concepts is amazing. It is easy to digest and friendly to new and old users / developers. Thank you for sharing.
Best video to comprehend the big picture by not put too many details to confuse audiences. It is a good starting point for someone who have not used wordpress for 10 years like me.
Great to see you covering these topics, thank you. Perhaps you could also explain how patterns fit in all this? To my mind patterns can replace most of the page/post templates. And also what about covering how to select a specific template or pattern when you create a new page or post? Or change it once you have one. It seems to me that this must be very confusing for many WP users.
Enjoy your content, but this is certainly the first - and most clearest content - I have seen from you over the last 3-4 months, for beginners. I appreicate you dont want to give your expertise away too much for free, and that you have to serve other audiences, but more core explanations like this (particularly in the light of the current WP versions rather than past ones) would be a worthwhile addition to your portfolio. It progresses beginners into better users.
Ahh...finally I see the big picture of how to use WordPress. It took watching the video a couple of times and following along on my computer, making notes, but I finally understand how I should have created the website I'm working on. I'll have to now go through and see how I have things laid out and things I might want/need to change. I have an inkling that I may be trying to do something that doesn't fit the block structure (like have the same background image behind all my pages, so that the blocks sit on top of this, but will see if I can work this out). I could say that it would have helped a lot to have seen this video when I first started using WordPress a few years ago, but I can also see that without the knowledge of having worked in WordPress, I may not have been able to understand this video now.
Im getting back into Wordpress after being away for around 8 years (believe it or not!) and your tutes have been very helpful ... trying to assist a not for profit in my hometown so Im volunteering my time, so these will all help!
Thank you, Jamie, for taking the time to break it down for us non-tech beginners. I stopped the video and took notes during your presentation. In my simple analogy I compare the old WordPress as an automatic transmission. I was very comfortable with the old style page builder model. Now I am trying to use a standard transmission, which at first seems very intimidating, but with practice becomes second nature. That is what I am hoping for with the new WordPress block editor. Time will tell! I sure do appreciate taking the time to make these videos!!
Wonderfully simple! Simply wonderful! You have a gift, Jamie, for cutting through multi-layers of complexity to showcase the bare bones of your topic. Everything you explained here, I maybe sorta-kinda already knew, but after watching, it just makes So.Much.More.Sense. Thanks for all you do!
Thanks very much Jamie. Although I have an idea of what's going on, it is always reassuring to hear or see an expert on the topic. The Dunning-Kruger effect, one is not always sure whether one knows all about a subject.
Simply amazing! Wished when I first started out in Wordpress that this video of yours was around. Sure would have made it easier and quicker for me to understand the concept of Wordpress.
Love your stuff, and I know you're light years ahead of most folks. One suggestion Jamie, is that you actually *show* us how you construct a page or a post, to connect the dots between content & template. I understand the concept, as I've worked on other CMSs which separated content from design, but their process was intuitive. WP is in some very important ways, still stuck in 2005.
Have you shown how to create Feature Section Victor yet, by chance? I was hoping to see the start-to-finish process of that section with native blocks.
I’m sorry to bother you both (whom I have profound respect for your work here), but I believe that @Gearyco wants to know the ins and outs of query loops (with a cover block) and the grids feature. There are two great videos that I want to point out: 1. The Query Loop Block: ua-cam.com/video/Inz5I7UuuE4/v-deo.html 2. Grids Feature (36 seconds): ua-cam.com/video/fI30qNvFjU4/v-deo.html Here's the video to which Gary is referring (I believe): ua-cam.com/video/g8YxdSIq-uk/v-deo.html
Thank's @jamiewp I didn't know about it, and I just subscribed to the channel. I'm a graphic designer who became a web designer. Initially, I disliked WordPress due to its design limitations. Elementor made me start working with WordPress. As Elementor was limited, I began using programs like Crocoblock alongside Elementor. This turned out to be a double problem. For slightly more complex sites, this solution wasn't stable enough. It required a significant investment in the server, and still, issues arose. A real nightmare. For much simpler sites, this solution ended up costing almost as much as the website construction itself. (Not everyone values a website - some people just want to put some information online.) I started using Bricks Builder, and so far, I like it a lot. However, although it's not quite the same, I feel there's also a tendency to pile up programs on top of Bricks. I don't like that as much. I really like this native WordPress solution. I appreciate the fact that it is a simple system in its code base operation, so it works very well and is fast, even without any cache program. I just built a simple site with the Twenty Twenty-Four theme and the free wp forms, and it works very well and is very fast. And even if the client pays little, I no longer incur losses renewing their subscriptions. There's definitely a place for everyone (in my life, there's definitely a place for these two programs). Thank you very much @jamiewp for all this excellent work demystifying WordPress
This absolutely makes sense. I watched someone else's video several days ago and they had me deleting all the plugins that came with WP and install their stuff. So maybe that's why my theme is not working because I'm somewhat sure the company I bought from was decent. I am going to delete everything and start over and reinstall both WP and my theme and if it still doesn't work, I will assume I got duped with the theme I bought and use a new block theme inside of WP. Thank you for this video.
This was a very informative video. The huge mistake I made was thinking I could make any layout I wanted but it seems we have to find a block that fits our need and use that. I just wish it was easier to see what all the blocks actually look like when they are on a page rather than being a little thumbnail of the block.
Hi Jamie and cats. Thanks for all of your videos. I have been watching for months and thought it was finally worth it to reach out. Any video updates on the felines would be great; they have never thanks us for all of the likes that have kept their bellies full :)🐱🐱
thank you so much for this video. I subscribed and ofcourse liked your video. Question: you have to put your content in the page first and after that you edit this in the editor. What about putting a gallery of pictures as a portfolio in a page? Do I need to choose a template for this that I like in the editor just for this page? Still confusing..
Jamie - Hats off to you your channel really inspires me!! 😳♥♥♥ - its amazing! 🚀Dear buddy - I wanna truly thank you for making this for us all. 🙏🙏🙏😊👍🏻 You are so great!!!! keep up your great project!😳♥♥
Jamie Another great video. Re-posting my comment as I think it might have been removed by YT I added in a link. I agree. The future is block themes. I've transitioned my site, bajanthings to using Ollie. Having mastered the block theme basics, I've reverted for a short while back to my classic theme Astra Pro as I think there are still too many edge case bugs with Ollie, some of which I've detailed in two post... my way of documenting my classic theme to block theme journey. I'm going to give it another go and use Spectra One instead of Ollie... Peter
Apologies as I'm new to Wordpress and still can't figure out the basics. Thank you for making these videosQ Is it possible to just make a page from scratch that's not assigned to a template? I just want a header and footer, and the ability to create unique individual pages. But it seems like I have to create blocks on a template only, and can't add blocks to a page itself?
Good video that definitely improves my understanding. Thank you. I’m using free Astra theme and have successfully built two websites with it. My approach was to delete everything on the theme (template?) and start each page from scratch except the header and footer. I recently added the Spectra Gutenberg plugin which seems to add more flexibility to the Gutenberg block editor page builder but haven’t used Spectea yet. I have a friend who would like a specific design for all pages and then that would be the “look” for every page on the website which would become the basic template for all pages to be built on. My idea is to make the design in Photoshop and use it as the base container block on which additional Spectra containers would be nested to construct each page of the website. Does this make sense? Your video caused me to google if Astra is considered a block theme but it appears no. Yet I use blocks to build my pages in it. I’m confused about that.
Hi - Thats right Astra is not a block theme . A block theme lets you design everything on your site using blocks , including the header and footer and all your templates eg page and post templates. With a block theme you have 100% design control. Spectra One is the Block Theme from the team who build Astra. Make sense ?
@@jamiewp ok - it’s starting to make more sense. Previously, I watched a couple of videos about Spectra One but didn’t really see how it was that much different from the basic Astra theme. Basically, instead of using “customize” to alter & adjust built in Astra theme header & footer, they can now be built from scratch for a new website and I’ll have more flexibility if I start with the newer free Spectra One theme combined with the Soectra block editor plugin/add-on for the WP built in Gutenberg block editor/page builder?
@@jamiewp what do you think of the approach to make the base block template design in Photoshop and use it as the base container block on which additional Spectra containers would be nested to construct each page of the website. Does this make sense?
I'm not sure how a graphic could act as a container i.e the blocks would fall outside the container especially on different devices@@jburns47 - feel free to email me the design, and i'll take a look for you.
@@jamiewp thank you for so generously taking the time to reply. I haven’t done it yet. I DID however make a test page with the Spectra plugin where I nested about 20 empty containers inside each other and they made a very nice Frank Stella like effect😊. I then tried selecting each one individually and resizing which seemed to be successful without any of the others disappearing. My thought was that, if you know in advance how many separate elements that you’re going to have on a page, you can create that many nested containers and then starting from the bottom (1st container), build up a series of layers since each container can be separately selected, used and sized as appropriate etc. The next step will of course be to try it😂. One would have to be disciplined about building one item at a time from the bottom container up. When I have a chance I’ll try it and let you know. The key issue is that the friend wants a custom border with a special design in it as the base layer of every page. I’m able to make a border easily but not the desired custom design images incorporated as part of the border. I realized it would be simple though if I could simply make the highly stylized border design in Photoshop and use it as a base layer for every page.
Jamie, I'm using the Popcorn theme, and it defaults to building the Frontpage inside the editor. I am building service sites, not blogs, so I have service pages and service location pages. BUT I have put the content on those pages inside the editor, and not in pages. What do I do now? Everything shows in both places. Is that ok?
Thank you very much for this video. Dumb question: I can't find that block editor area in my Blocksy theme. Is that because it's not the same kind of block theme that you're using here?
Hi Frank, yes that's correct, Blocksy is whats called a Classic Theme, but it's a great classic theme! But you won't see the options in my video. Here's an explainer video I put together about Block Themes vs Classic Themes ua-cam.com/video/dZ1kruAnQso/v-deo.htmlsi=ASZib-MoqvgCFDM2
@@jamiewp Thank you Jamie, that helps a lot! I went from a page builder to a classic theme, but it sounds like I should keep going from a classic theme to a block theme if I want even more control. My new learning curve is clear :-)
I would like to make a Gutenberg block, where the page viewer has the ability to type input, such as an option or the day of current month. Then the page must filter the display to what the viewer selected. Is it possible?
To me this is not helpful. I made HTML pages with CSS style guides. That was simpler than adding blocks for every little thing into the mix. A CMS (content management software) began as a way to manage all your pages of content. Before we had a lot of pages and had to build something to index them. So along came content management, like WordPress. These days WP seems to have overcomplicated that whole process and yet, its still easier than writing all the HTML/code and then building an index of your files. At times, like this, I wonder how much time/ work WP is really saving me. I'm spending a silly amount of time just dealing with software and I haven't written anything since January.
A great idea for a video would be - here's how you create a page - here's how you apply the template to that page - here's where you start entering your content.
@@jamiewp is it true that I NEED to build the page design within editor.. and content can be added after that inside a page. Because If I just create a page and click on title and start adding patterns then preview my page. It's still empty. even though I can see what I built. If I publish it - it's empty. Is this because I NEED to design the Page in editor first. Or create a front page template design in editor FIRST ?
@@jamiewp i really just want a front page / landing page. other pages may be added later but the start is just one page. So If I created a page in dashboard its automatically using the page template?. So how do you assign the front page template to an existing page? I'm used to other builders where I just create all the pages I'll need in the dashboard. Then go into the pages and build them re-using web parts etc on other pages as needed. If I create a standard page in dashboard and set it as home page in reading settings.. does it now automatically try draw from the front page template? Do you have to have templates?
I m using spectra one theme with spectra page builder. I m bit confused between front page and home. I have fully customized frontpage containing everything, but not blog home...please guide me theough. Is it correct or just missing the trick
I really like 2024 theme, ollie theme and spectra one but the great thing about block themes is that they all start with the same high level of customisation options :) re block addon - it really depends on the project but i would learn core deeply first 👍
Hi Jamie, I'm trying to make a boxed layout with the twenty twenty-four theme :) But my 2 brain cells just can't get it to work :D Can you make a tutorial? Thanks in advance
still confusing. I want to make a simple one page design.Do I create a page - name it home page, then how do I apply the template to that page? Where do I start entering the content ?
@@jamiewp I created pages via the dashboard. Then click on the title and was able to edit page from there by inserting patterns. This however isnt publishing as I also have created a front page template in the actual editor. So is the editor meant to be for editing templates and content meant to be done via dashboard page level? So the site editor should actually be called the template editor as it doesnt edit the site ? Why do templates in the editor come through with content already there if they are meant to be just dynamic templates. I really wish there was a video explaining step by step how you are actually meant to use this system. How to create a page. how to apply a template. how to publish the site. I have watched all your videos and havent seen one yet. Step by step. NO skipping steps. You normally just say - I used this. I did this. But dont show how. it leaves it still confusing. Im sure it's simple once it's done and understood. But untill then it makes no sense at all.
@@jamiewp I was just saying how well I've been getting on with WordPress, thanks to yours and other videos. I also managed to migrate the test site off my home server, onto a live site, without using any plugins. I simply exported the database as an SQL file, and changed all the links in VS Code. RE ad my pro file notes.
Another great post! I think you described very clearly how the parts of a page fit together and relate to each other. This is exactly why so many people feel overwhelmed when they are first exposed to Gutenberg. If you just start willy-nilly pasting stuff together you will end up with a mess that keeps getting worse until it becomes an unrecognizable mess. An old episode of "The Three Stooges" building a house is a great example of why you need a blueprint. ua-cam.com/users/shortsBSdedJ638P4 The most essential tool for starting a new website is a whiteboard or paper and pencil or whatever. This allows for changes that are easy and fast and do not have a ripple effect in parts that were implemented prior to a full understanding of how all the pieces fit together.
It's good to see a back-to-basics video now and then, especially as the technology evolves. The new beginners today certainly have a different journey than I had 7+ years ago when I got stuck into WordPress properly. Eloquently delivered, as always, Jamie #Bravo
Thanks Richard
Wordpress should have this as the introductory video when you sign up. I can't begin to tell you how frustrating its been starting out trying to use Wordpress as a beginner, they tell you its easy to use, it really isn't and its not intuitive, it's only intuitive once you know what you're doing, which is probably the same as doing anything difficult, I bet brain surgery is intuitive once you've learned how. Thanks for a fantastic video that really explains how to start using Wordpress. Amazing teaching, was so clear and makes so much sense!
Thank you for incredibly kind words - i hear you and I'm glad this was useful. It's a mission of mine to make WordPress easy, and the WordPress team do read these comments, so hopefully your voice will be heard. It certainly has been by me.
Jamie, I started my career in 2008 using WordPress and haven't used it in over a decade. How you explain modern WordPress development's fundamentals and concepts is amazing. It is easy to digest and friendly to new and old users / developers. Thank you for sharing.
Best video to comprehend the big picture by not put too many details to confuse audiences. It is a good starting point for someone who have not used wordpress for 10 years like me.
Thank you so so much Kan :)
Great to see you covering these topics, thank you. Perhaps you could also explain how patterns fit in all this? To my mind patterns can replace most of the page/post templates. And also what about covering how to select a specific template or pattern when you create a new page or post? Or change it once you have one. It seems to me that this must be very confusing for many WP users.
👍
Enjoy your content, but this is certainly the first - and most clearest content - I have seen from you over the last 3-4 months, for beginners. I appreicate you dont want to give your expertise away too much for free, and that you have to serve other audiences, but more core explanations like this (particularly in the light of the current WP versions rather than past ones) would be a worthwhile addition to your portfolio. It progresses beginners into better users.
Thanks Jim - that's great to hear - there is more on the way!
Ahh...finally I see the big picture of how to use WordPress. It took watching the video a couple of times and following along on my computer, making notes, but I finally understand how I should have created the website I'm working on. I'll have to now go through and see how I have things laid out and things I might want/need to change. I have an inkling that I may be trying to do something that doesn't fit the block structure (like have the same background image behind all my pages, so that the blocks sit on top of this, but will see if I can work this out). I could say that it would have helped a lot to have seen this video when I first started using WordPress a few years ago, but I can also see that without the knowledge of having worked in WordPress, I may not have been able to understand this video now.
Im getting back into Wordpress after being away for around 8 years (believe it or not!) and your tutes have been very helpful ... trying to assist a not for profit in my hometown so Im volunteering my time, so these will all help!
Thanks Richard , that’s great to hear 👍
Thank you, Jamie, for taking the time to break it down for us non-tech beginners. I stopped the video and took notes during your presentation. In my simple analogy I compare the old WordPress as an automatic transmission. I was very comfortable with the old style page builder model. Now I am trying to use a standard transmission, which at first seems very intimidating, but with practice becomes second nature. That is what I am hoping for with the new WordPress block editor. Time will tell! I sure do appreciate taking the time to make these videos!!
Thanks Canon , thats a great analogy 👍
Wonderful to see a really pedagogical way of teaching wordpress
Thank you 🙏
Wonderfully simple! Simply wonderful! You have a gift, Jamie, for cutting through multi-layers of complexity to showcase the bare bones of your topic. Everything you explained here, I maybe sorta-kinda already knew, but after watching, it just makes So.Much.More.Sense. Thanks for all you do!
thank you so much Gary - I put a lot of thought and planning into this one, so it's great to hear it was useful.
Great overview. Provides a better understanding of how Wordpress works. You have a great teaching style in all your videos. Thanks
Thank you 🙏
Thanks very much Jamie. Although I have an idea of what's going on, it is always reassuring to hear or see an expert on the topic. The Dunning-Kruger effect, one is not always sure whether one knows all about a subject.
Cheers Paul
Great and simplyest explanation, I am teaching my doughter now WP and I will definitely show her this video :)
Great to hear Nick 👍
First, Welcome back, Jamie. Second, It's good to have the cobwebs cleared out occasionally. TY.
👍
Dammnnn, its that simple, and nobody I repeat nobody explained it this well 👏👏👏👏👏🙌. Thank you so much.
🚀
Hi Jamie, I love your content and even though I "know everything" this is way more simple that I ever thought about it before. Thank you, as always.
Awesome, thank you!
Thanks so much, Jamie! You're a gifted teacher.
Thanks Candice :)
Simply amazing! Wished when I first started out in Wordpress that this video of yours was around. Sure would have made it easier and quicker for me to understand the concept of Wordpress.
Thanks Dennis
Love your stuff, and I know you're light years ahead of most folks. One suggestion Jamie, is that you actually *show* us how you construct a page or a post, to connect the dots between content & template. I understand the concept, as I've worked on other CMSs which separated content from design, but their process was intuitive. WP is in some very important ways, still stuck in 2005.
Great idea - i'll get my thinking cap on :)
Have you shown how to create Feature Section Victor yet, by chance? I was hoping to see the start-to-finish process of that section with native blocks.
Victor?
I’m sorry to bother you both (whom I have profound respect for your work here), but I believe that @Gearyco wants to know the ins and outs of query loops (with a cover block) and the grids feature. There are two great videos that I want to point out:
1. The Query Loop Block: ua-cam.com/video/Inz5I7UuuE4/v-deo.html
2. Grids Feature (36 seconds): ua-cam.com/video/fI30qNvFjU4/v-deo.html
Here's the video to which Gary is referring (I believe):
ua-cam.com/video/g8YxdSIq-uk/v-deo.html
Check out the Brian Coords video - he covered this brilliantly @@Domingos_Ferros
Thank's @jamiewp
I didn't know about it, and I just subscribed to the channel. I'm a graphic designer who became a web designer. Initially, I disliked WordPress due to its design limitations. Elementor made me start working with WordPress.
As Elementor was limited, I began using programs like Crocoblock alongside Elementor. This turned out to be a double problem. For slightly more complex sites, this solution wasn't stable enough. It required a significant investment in the server, and still, issues arose. A real nightmare. For much simpler sites, this solution ended up costing almost as much as the website construction itself. (Not everyone values a website - some people just want to put some information online.)
I started using Bricks Builder, and so far, I like it a lot. However, although it's not quite the same, I feel there's also a tendency to pile up programs on top of Bricks. I don't like that as much.
I really like this native WordPress solution. I appreciate the fact that it is a simple system in its code base operation, so it works very well and is fast, even without any cache program. I just built a simple site with the Twenty Twenty-Four theme and the free wp forms, and it works very well and is very fast. And even if the client pays little, I no longer incur losses renewing their subscriptions.
There's definitely a place for everyone (in my life, there's definitely a place for these two programs).
Thank you very much @jamiewp for all this excellent work demystifying WordPress
👍
This absolutely makes sense. I watched someone else's video several days ago and they had me deleting all the plugins that came with WP and install their stuff. So maybe that's why my theme is not working because I'm somewhat sure the company I bought from was decent. I am going to delete everything and start over and reinstall both WP and my theme and if it still doesn't work, I will assume I got duped with the theme I bought and use a new block theme inside of WP. Thank you for this video.
Good luck 🤞
Excellent!! simple but powerful explanation of block themes , thank you very much for this video !!
👍
Simple, clear, effective, as usual!
Thanks Jamie 🙂
Thanks Michel
This was a very informative video.
The huge mistake I made was thinking I could make any layout I wanted but it seems we have to find a block that fits our need and use that. I just wish it was easier to see what all the blocks actually look like when they are on a page rather than being a little thumbnail of the block.
Check out the Style Book - that lets you see what the blocks look like
Great video and very helpful. I would love more detailed video instructions like this
Thank you 👍
I'm one of the beginners you refer to. I am thanking you.
Thanks Anita
Well done and thanks.
Thanks Richard
Thank you so much! Very helpful and informative explaining of everything
Great 👍
Hi Jamie and cats. Thanks for all of your videos. I have been watching for months and thought it was finally worth it to reach out. Any video updates on the felines would be great; they have never thanks us for all of the likes that have kept their bellies full :)🐱🐱
thank you so much for this video. I subscribed and ofcourse liked your video. Question: you have to put your content in the page first and after that you edit this in the editor. What about putting a gallery of pictures as a portfolio in a page? Do I need to choose a template for this that I like in the editor just for this page? Still confusing..
Thank you, Jamie! You sorted it out so well.
Cheers Cay - this one took a lot of planning and thinking
@@jamiewp and it pays off...
Bravo!! A tour de force of presentation🌝
Really big thankyou🎉
Also love the mini white board …
Thanks Brian (and thanks for your email)
Cheers Jamie for this tutorial.
My pleasure 👍
Jamie - Hats off to you your channel really inspires me!! 😳♥♥♥ - its amazing! 🚀Dear buddy - I wanna truly thank you for making this for us all. 🙏🙏🙏😊👍🏻
You are so great!!!! keep up your great project!😳♥♥
Thanks Martin - that’s incredibly kind 😃
Just what the doctor ordered...thanks!
👍
perfect, thank you so much!
This is helpful Jamie... Do expect a full website tutorial made of block theme?
Working on it
Jamie
Another great video. Re-posting my comment as I think it might have been removed by YT I added in a link.
I agree. The future is block themes. I've transitioned my site, bajanthings to using Ollie.
Having mastered the block theme basics, I've reverted for a short while back to my classic theme Astra Pro as I think there are still too many edge case bugs with Ollie, some of which I've detailed in two post... my way of documenting my classic theme to block theme journey.
I'm going to give it another go and use Spectra One instead of Ollie...
Peter
Thanks for the feedback Peter - i’ve built a few client sites with 2024 theme recently and they’ve gone great 👍
Thank u so much. It is worthy to watch!
Thanks Sharif 🙏
Very useful. Thank you!
👍
Good job, Jamie.
Thanks 🙏
So helpful😇
I'm so glad!
Really good work!
thanks
Brilliant, thanks Jamie the fog has lifted 👍
Great to hear Rich
Apologies as I'm new to Wordpress and still can't figure out the basics. Thank you for making these videosQ Is it possible to just make a page from scratch that's not assigned to a template? I just want a header and footer, and the ability to create unique individual pages. But it seems like I have to create blocks on a template only, and can't add blocks to a page itself?
Hi Peter - Yes you can do that. Just create a new page and design away 👍
Good video that definitely improves my understanding. Thank you. I’m using free Astra theme and have successfully built two websites with it. My approach was to delete everything on the theme (template?) and start each page from scratch except the header and footer. I recently added the Spectra Gutenberg plugin which seems to add more flexibility to the Gutenberg block editor page builder but haven’t used Spectea yet. I have a friend who would like a specific design for all pages and then that would be the “look” for every page on the website which would become the basic template for all pages to be built on. My idea is to make the design in Photoshop and use it as the base container block on which additional Spectra containers would be nested to construct each page of the website. Does this make sense? Your video caused me to google if Astra is considered a block theme but it appears no. Yet I use blocks to build my pages in it. I’m confused about that.
Hi - Thats right Astra is not a block theme . A block theme lets you design everything on your site using blocks , including the header and footer and all your templates eg page and post templates. With a block theme you have 100% design control. Spectra One is the Block Theme from the team who build Astra. Make sense ?
@@jamiewp ok - it’s starting to make more sense. Previously, I watched a couple of videos about Spectra One but didn’t really see how it was that much different from the basic Astra theme. Basically, instead of using “customize” to alter & adjust built in Astra theme header & footer, they can now be built from scratch for a new website and I’ll have more flexibility if I start with the newer free Spectra One theme combined with the Soectra block editor plugin/add-on for the WP built in Gutenberg block editor/page builder?
@@jamiewp what do you think of the approach to make the base block template design in Photoshop and use it as the base container block on which additional Spectra containers would be nested to construct each page of the website. Does this make sense?
I'm not sure how a graphic could act as a container i.e the blocks would fall outside the container especially on different devices@@jburns47 - feel free to email me the design, and i'll take a look for you.
@@jamiewp thank you for so generously taking the time to reply. I haven’t done it yet. I DID however make a test page with the Spectra plugin where I nested about 20 empty containers inside each other and they made a very nice Frank Stella like effect😊. I then tried selecting each one individually and resizing which seemed to be successful without any of the others disappearing. My thought was that, if you know in advance how many separate elements that you’re going to have on a page, you can create that many nested containers and then starting from the bottom (1st container), build up a series of layers since each container can be separately selected, used and sized as appropriate etc. The next step will of course be to try it😂. One would have to be disciplined about building one item at a time from the bottom container up. When I have a chance I’ll try it and let you know. The key issue is that the friend wants a custom border with a special design in it as the base layer of every page. I’m able to make a border easily but not the desired custom design images incorporated as part of the border. I realized it would be simple though if I could simply make the highly stylized border design in Photoshop and use it as a base layer for every page.
I LOVE YOU. TY❗️❗️❗️
thank you 🤩
another great one! Thanks
Tks 👍
Great explaination. How did you do the split screen in 1 browser tab that showed the template in site editor and a page beside it?
Thanks Paul - that's using the Vivaldi Browser
Thank You Big Bro🙏 #Jamie! From Morocco 👌🇲🇦
Love Morocco ❤
Thanks for the overview :)
Cheers Ronald
BRILLIANT!
thanks for watching ❤
Great video.
Thanks!
Awesome! You made it understandable! Pew! 😂
Tks Vishal
Jamie, I'm using the Popcorn theme, and it defaults to building the Frontpage inside the editor. I am building service sites, not blogs, so I have service pages and service location pages. BUT I have put the content on those pages inside the editor, and not in pages. What do I do now? Everything shows in both places. Is that ok?
Excellent
thanks
Give us your take on the future of niche sites, seo and so on. Are we going to even need WP Themes ?
As in Affiliate sites ?
@@jamiewp Yes, as in affiliate sites... not government and academia sites :)
Yup you are still going to need a theme (sorry if I misunderstood your question)
@@jamiewp Not a problem .. but the way affiliate marketing sites and SEO are going.. are we going to even need one?
Thank you very much for this video. Dumb question: I can't find that block editor area in my Blocksy theme. Is that because it's not the same kind of block theme that you're using here?
Hi Frank, yes that's correct, Blocksy is whats called a Classic Theme, but it's a great classic theme! But you won't see the options in my video. Here's an explainer video I put together about Block Themes vs Classic Themes ua-cam.com/video/dZ1kruAnQso/v-deo.htmlsi=ASZib-MoqvgCFDM2
@@jamiewp Thank you Jamie, that helps a lot! I went from a page builder to a classic theme, but it sounds like I should keep going from a classic theme to a block theme if I want even more control. My new learning curve is clear :-)
@@FrankHerr 👍 it's a fun journey
I would like to make a Gutenberg block, where the page viewer has the ability to type input, such as an option or the day of current month. Then the page must filter the display to what the viewer selected. Is it possible?
Hi Paul, is this to filter posts?
Jamie your cats must be getting rather round after all these treats 😂😂
They are 😬
To me this is not helpful. I made HTML pages with CSS style guides. That was simpler than adding blocks for every little thing into the mix. A CMS (content management software) began as a way to manage all your pages of content. Before we had a lot of pages and had to build something to index them. So along came content management, like WordPress. These days WP seems to have overcomplicated that whole process and yet, its still easier than writing all the HTML/code and then building an index of your files. At times, like this, I wonder how much time/ work WP is really saving me. I'm spending a silly amount of time just dealing with software and I haven't written anything since January.
Thanks for your perspective 👍
we will be respectful and say nothing about GoDaddy sponsoring the video.
But, beginners, if you didn't know, now you know: no, no... no.
?
A great idea for a video would be - here's how you create a page - here's how you apply the template to that page - here's where you start entering your content.
Do you want to apply a unique template to that page ? If you just create a page it will automatically use the Page Template 👍
@@jamiewp is it true that I NEED to build the page design within editor.. and content can be added after that inside a page. Because If I just create a page and click on title and start adding patterns then preview my page. It's still empty. even though I can see what I built. If I publish it - it's empty. Is this because I NEED to design the Page in editor first. Or create a front page template design in editor FIRST ?
@@jamiewp i really just want a front page / landing page. other pages may be added later but the start is just one page. So If I created a page in dashboard its automatically using the page template?. So how do you assign the front page template to an existing page? I'm used to other builders where I just create all the pages I'll need in the dashboard. Then go into the pages and build them re-using web parts etc on other pages as needed. If I create a standard page in dashboard and set it as home page in reading settings.. does it now automatically try draw from the front page template? Do you have to have templates?
I m using spectra one theme with spectra page builder. I m bit confused between front page and home. I have fully customized frontpage containing everything, but not blog home...please guide me theough. Is it correct or just missing the trick
Hi - this video should explain things ua-cam.com/video/RsFMHafzUz4/v-deo.htmlsi=X931-nmSzfJfJmRH
3:10 "Templates are made 100% using Blocks."
6:13 "Your Templates are made of two things, Blocks and Styles."
Please clarify??
hey , what block addon would you recommed ,greenshift is ok ? or is there a better one with lifetime license ? And what FSE theme or block theme ?
I really like 2024 theme, ollie theme and spectra one but the great thing about block themes is that they all start with the same high level of customisation options :) re block addon - it really depends on the project but i would learn core deeply first 👍
Bro how are you getting those themes?
Templates Templates Templates....Please count how many times you said templates. Thanks for the videos.
Its all about templates 👍
Hi Jamie, I'm trying to make a boxed layout with the twenty twenty-four theme :) But my 2 brain cells just can't get it to work :D Can you make a tutorial? Thanks in advance
Can you share a screenshot of what you are trying to build ?
@@jamiewp hi, I’m trying but every answer with a link disappears:)
Feel free to email me
@@jamiewp mail has been sent
still confusing. I want to make a simple one page design.Do I create a page - name it home page, then how do I apply the template to that page? Where do I start entering the content ?
If its just a one page website then i would 1) add a new front page template 2) add the content into that template
@@jamiewp I created pages via the dashboard. Then click on the title and was able to edit page from there by inserting patterns. This however isnt publishing as I also have created a front page template in the actual editor. So is the editor meant to be for editing templates and content meant to be done via dashboard page level? So the site editor should actually be called the template editor as it doesnt edit the site ? Why do templates in the editor come through with content already there if they are meant to be just dynamic templates. I really wish there was a video explaining step by step how you are actually meant to use this system. How to create a page. how to apply a template. how to publish the site. I have watched all your videos and havent seen one yet. Step by step. NO skipping steps. You normally just say - I used this. I did this. But dont show how. it leaves it still confusing. Im sure it's simple once it's done and understood. But untill then it makes no sense at all.
❤!
thanks Barbara 🙏
LOL 😂 Kevin... Geary
GoDaddy. 😂
Because we care about helping beginners avoid mistakes... 🙄
..😂
My last comment was deleted by YT because I added a link.
Oh dear - what did it say?
@@jamiewp I was just saying how well I've been getting on with WordPress, thanks to yours and other videos. I also managed to migrate the test site off my home server, onto a live site, without using any plugins. I simply exported the database as an SQL file, and changed all the links in VS Code. RE ad my pro file notes.
Another great post! I think you described very clearly how the parts of a page fit together and relate to each other. This is exactly why so many people feel overwhelmed when they are first exposed to Gutenberg.
If you just start willy-nilly pasting stuff together you will end up with a mess that keeps getting worse until it becomes an unrecognizable mess.
An old episode of "The Three Stooges" building a house is a great example of why you need a blueprint. ua-cam.com/users/shortsBSdedJ638P4
The most essential tool for starting a new website is a whiteboard or paper and pencil or whatever. This allows for changes that are easy and fast and do not have a ripple effect in parts that were implemented prior to a full understanding of how all the pieces fit together.
Thanks Jim - 100% agree 👍