Web Services Blog

Update to Interior template banners/mastheads

Brief:

The Interior template hero images/banners were originally designed to be more of a “masthead”, to be consistent throughout parts of a site. This is why we have the image for this section set in the options block. We have had many questions regarding some custom edits to the titles/image, which are limited here to keep this consistency across all interior pages within a folder or sub-site where a new options block is set. Previously we had an option to set the title to be either current folder’s display name OR the parent folder’s display name. This was causing some issues with multiple level items that were not intended to be sub-sites.

The Fix:

We have updated the way the titles are targeted for display. There is no longer a radio button selection for this in the options block. The titles in these banners/mastheads for interior pages are now targeted by the closest option block’s current folder. This title will trickle down throughout any sub items using the interior page template, until a folder is reached with a new options block. Any pages in that new level (along with the new options block) and deeper levels will have the new display name from the new option block’s current folder. This may be confusing to some. I will try to map it out below – in hopes i do not confuse any further. Please let me know if you have any questions.

For example:

/example-site-folder/ – has the display name – Example Site Folder.

/example-site-folder/options – options block is set here to get above display name on all interior pages

/example-site-folder/interior-page.html – display name displayed in masthead/banner – Example Site Folder

/example-site-folder/subfolder/interior-page.html – display name displayed in masthead/banner – Example Site Folder

/example-site-folder/subfolder/another-sub-folder/ – has display name – Another sub folder

/example-site-folder/subfolder/another-sub-folder/options – options block is set here to get above display name for  /another-sub-folder on all interior pages from here on out

/example-site-folder/subfolder/another-sub-folder/interior-page.html – display name displayed in masthead/banner – Another sub folder

 

Next Steps:

Publish any interior pages using the interior page template in your redesign site to catch this update.

Updated Secondary Nav Released

If you have not noticed by now, the updated Secondary Navigation is now available in the new redesign templates

** You will need to republish any and all sn-config files you may have in your redesign site to grab the updated structure.

A couple notes on this.

  1. We have extended the navigation to 3 levels instead of just 2.
  2. There is no limit on the amount of items in the 2nd or 3rd sublevels of the menu. HOWEVER, please be mindful of how long your menus get vertically filled with navigation items in regards to forcing users to have to scroll down to view the whole sub menu on smaller laptop screens. We are hoping that providing this extra level will allow everyone to take a second look at their site hierarchy and organize their material into a user friendly experience.
  3. A sub menu only kicks in if there are pages/folders (besides an index, sn-config, and options block) set to display in the nav, within the main folder at hand,
  4. The new structure removes having main level items as buttons, which forced these to be links in the submenu. A menu item that has a submenu now is directly linkable from that primary level it is on, no more need for duplicate text. A separate button still remains with only the Arrow within. This is left for accessibility purposes/functionality.
  5. Link text uses the Display Name field in the meta area of a page. There is a 70 characters limit on the nav item link text. This is NOT enforced on the Display Name field itself when entering text, but enforced on publish. PLEASE be mindful of this. If you Display Name is longer than 70 characters, it will get chopped. This limit should allow, still, a solid length of text, and keep your link text to no more than 3 lines.

Please publish, test your navigation, and let me know if you experience any issues or have any concerns.