Block patterns are pre-set layouts you can add in just a few clicks. We have added pre-set patterns to the Humanity Theme which will help you create Perspectives, Project Pages, Press Release Plus Pages, Web Reports and more. Patterns can help you make consistent and well-designed content on your website.
This guide outlines how to insert patterns into your post or page which you can then customise with your own content.
We refer to two types of Patterns within the Humanity WordPress Theme:
- Block templates are a full-page pattern, that includes a block layout for a whole page or post.
- Patterns are a smaller collection of blocks, used to add a layout to a particular section of a page or post.
How to insert a Pattern
- Open the block list, by clicking on the blue cross in the top left corner of the editor.
- Select the Patterns tab.
- Select your chosen pattern from the list.
When you click on your chosen pattern, it will be inserted into your post or page. To get a clear view of which blocks have been used to make up the layout, click on the document overview button.
Page setup
Tags and featured image
Each post or page will still need tags and a featured image to be added in the page settings:
- Select the relevant tags from your taxonomies (Content Type, Resource Type, Topic, Countries).
- Insert your featured image.
Remove sidebar
If you are using a pattern which has a full-width page design and requires the sidebar to be removed, go to the appearance settings to remove the sidebar:
- Open the appearance settings
- Open the Sidebar section and select both maximise content and disable sidebar
What Patterns are available?
The patterns are organised into the following categories. You can browse the patterns library section by section, or view all together.
1/2, 1/2
These patterns use two columns with a 50:50 ratio to display text on one side and either a video or an image on the other side. Eight combinations are available with a grey or white background . These are useful for creating issue pages.
1/3, 1/3, 1/3
This pattern is a new way of creating the Links with Icons block. Options are available with and without a square border around each item. Links with icons can also be inserted individually using the ‘Links with Icons Single’ pattern.
2/3, 1/3
These patterns use two columns with a 66:33 ratio to display text on the left and either an image, key facts or a video on the right. These are useful for creating press release plus pages.
Actions
This section contains some useful patterns including an ‘Evergreen Text Highlight’ pattern and a ‘Full Image with Buttons’ pattern, both of which can be useful for breaking up a page and highlighting a short piece of text.
Chapter headings for web reports are also found here, alongside Links with Icons blocks in sets of three or as individual items.
Media
Media patterns are any of the above patterns that contain an image or video.
Templates
These are the four full-page block templates we have made so far:
- Perspective
- Press Release Plus
- Web Report
- Issue Page
How to use block templates
To create a perspective post, using the block template:
Post set up
- Add a new post.
- Add the relevant tags in the post settings e.g. Content Type: Campaigns, Resource Type: Blog.
- Add your featured image
Insert pattern
- Click on the blue cross on the top left of the page and select the patterns tab.
- Go to the ‘Templates‘ section of the patterns list or search for the word ‘perspective’ in the block search bar.
- Select the perspective post template to add it to your post.
Add your content
Once you have added the perspective post template to your post, you will need to replace all the dummy content with your post content.
- Add your summary to the grey section at the top.
- Add the main body of the blog using the headings and paragraphs.
- Change the text in the call to action block and add your action link in the call to action button.
Byline
If you are adding a byline, you will need to do this in the appearance settings of your post.
- Go to appearance settings.
- Open the Metadata section.
- Select enable public byline.
- Add your byline name and a title/description in the byline context field.
To create a press release plus post, using the block template:
Post set up
- Add a new post.
- Add the relevant tags in the post settings e.g. Content Type: News, Resource Type: Press Release.
- Add your featured image
Remove sidebar
- Open the appearance settings
- Open the Sidebar section and select both maximise content and disable sidebar
Insert pattern
- Click on the blue cross on the top left of the page and select the patterns tab.
- Go to the ‘Templates‘ section of the patterns list or search for the word ‘press release’ in the block search bar.
- Select the press release plus template to add it to your post.
Add your content
Once you have added the press release plus template to your post, you will need to replace all the dummy content with your post content. For example:
- Add a title and a call to action to the header block.
- Add your text to the headings and paragraph blocks.
- Insert quotes into the blockquote blocks.
- Embed a video by adding the YouTube link to the YouTube block.
- Add images to the empty image blocks.
- Change the text in the call to action block and add your action link to the button.
Set the menu items
The menu block allows users to skip to a certain section, further down the page. When you insert the Press Release Plus template, the menu items will be named Section 1, Section 2, Section 3 and Section 4. To edit these:
- Select a section block.
- Open the block settings, on the right hand side of the page.
- Edit the ‘section name’ field, this will update in the menu block.
Add or remove sections
Your press release may contain more or fewer sections than are in the template press release plus layout.
To add an extra section to your press release plus:
- Click on the blue cross on the top left of the page and select the patterns tab.
- Go to the ‘2/3, 1/3‘ section of the patterns list.
- Add one of the 66:33 patterns for your new section, e.g. Text with Image, Text with Video or Text with Key Facts.
To create a Web Report, using the block template:
Post set up
- Add a new post.
- Add the relevant tags in the post settings e.g. Content Type: Research, Resource Type: Report.
- Add your featured image
Remove sidebar
- Open the appearance settings
- Open the Sidebar section and select both maximise content and disable sidebar
Insert pattern
- Click on the blue cross on the top left of the page and select the patterns tab.
- Go to the ‘Templates‘ section of the patterns list or search for the word ‘web report’ in the block search bar.
- Select the web report template to add it to your post.
Add your content
Once you have added the template to your post, you will need to replace all the dummy content with your report content. For example:
- Add a title to the header block.
- Add your text to the headings and paragraph blocks.
- Use the collapsable blocks for footnotes or other sections that can be hidden when the block is closed.
- Add anchor links to the buttons on the chapter heading sections.
Set the menu items
The menu block allows users to skip to a certain section, further down the page. When you insert the web report template, the menu items will be named Executive Summary, Chapter 1, Chapter 2 and Conclusion and Recommendations. To edit these:
- Select a section block.
- Open the block settings, on the right hand side of the page.
- Edit the ‘section name’ field, this will update in the menu block.
Add chapters
Your web report may contain more than 2 chapters. To add an extra chapter to your web report:
- Click on the blue cross on the top left of the page and select the patterns tab.
- To add the chapter heading, search for the ‘Chunky Heading with Links’ pattern and select it to add to the post.
- To add the chapter body, go to the ‘2/3, 1/3‘ section of the patterns list or search ‘chapter’ and add the ’66-33 Chapter’ pattern.
The issue page template creates a page like those found in the What We Do section on amnesty.org.
To create a press release plus post, using the block template:
Post set up
- Add a new page.
- Add the relevant tags in the post settings e.g. Topic: Protest.
- Add your featured image
Remove sidebar
- Open the appearance settings
- Open the Sidebar section and select both maximise content and disable sidebar
Insert pattern
- Click on the blue cross on the top left of the page and select the patterns tab.
- Go to the ‘Templates‘ section of the patterns list or search for the word ‘issue’ in the block search bar.
- Select the press release plus template to add it to your post.
Add your content
Once you have added the issue page template to your page, you will need to replace all the dummy content with your page content. For example:
- Add a title to the header block.
- Add your text to the headings and paragraph blocks.
- Change the text in the call to action block and add a link to the button.
- Embed a video by adding the YouTube link to the YouTube block.
- Add images to the empty image blocks.
Set the menu items
The menu block allows users to skip to a certain section, further down the page. When you insert the template, the menu items will be named Section 1, Section 2, Section 3 and Section 4. To edit these:
- Select a section block.
- Open the block settings, on the right hand side of the page.
- Edit the ‘section name’ field, this will update in the menu block.
Add or remove sections
Your page may contain more or fewer sections than are in the template.
To add an extra section:
- Click on the blue cross on the top left of the page and select the patterns tab.
- Go to the ‘1/2, 1/2‘ section of the patterns list. There are patterns with either a white or grey background, with a video or with an image.
- Add one of the 50:50 patterns to your page.