Ollie Guide Brainstorm

Guide 1: Getting Started with the WordPress Block Editor

Introduction

  • Welcome to the new WordPress experience
  • Why the change matters for your website
  • What to expect from this guide

The New WordPress Canvas

  • First you need a block theme, install Ollie
  • The top toolbar – high level what it’s used for
  • The right sidebar and its two tabs (Block and Page settings)
  • The left sidebar list view, drag and drop abilities
  • How blocks work as your basic building units

Essential Blocks for Beginners

  • Most sites/patterns are made up of simple blocks:
    • Text and heading blocks
    • Image and gallery blocks
    • Columns and groups
    • Button block
  • The power of patterns and how they pre-design these collection of blocks for you

Your First Page Build

  • Starting with a standard blank page and adding content blocks and arranging
  • Adding patterns to your page, modifying the content
  • Saving and previewing your work
  • Applying a template to your site
    • Using the full width template to build full width layouts
    • Using the Show Template feature to see the template in your editor

Tips and Tricks

  • Somewhat hidden features
    • List view and how it can reduce confusion on what you’re clicking on
    • Responsive design view
    • Options menu in top right
      • Top toolbar
      • Copy all blocks
      • Code Editor
      • Preferences to customize editor experience
  • Keyboard shortcuts to speed up your workflow

Resources

  • Community resources and support
    • Link to Ollie docs and video library
    • WordPress.org and support forums

Guide 2: Customizing Your Entire Site with Full Site Editor

Introduction

  • What is Full Site Editing?
  • How it differs from traditional WordPress themes
  • The benefits of a more no-code approach to site building

Understanding Site Editor UI

  • Quick overview of each page
    • Navigation
    • Styles
    • Pages
    • Templates
    • Patterns
  • Templates vs Template Parts
  • Header and footer customization
    • High level, no need to go deep into creating and editing navigation since this may change this year
  • Creating consistent branding across pages

Working with Global Styles

  • Choosing your color palette
  • Setting up typography
  • Creating reusable design elements
  • Making site-wide changes efficiently
  • Adding CSS via the Additional CSS panel and via the individual blocks Advanced panel

Template Editing 101

  • Modifying existing templates
  • Creating custom templates
  • Using template parts effectively
  • Managing responsive design

Best Practices

  • Planning your site structure
  • Maintaining consistency
  • Regular backups and testing

Guide 3: Building Professional Sites with Ollie and Ollie Pro

Introduction

  • Understanding WordPress patterns and their role in modern site building
  • How Ollie and Ollie Pro enhance the WordPress site editor
  • The benefits of a cloud pattern library
    • Doesn’t weigh down your site
    • New patterns and pattern updates available instantly

Working with Pattern Collections

  • Understanding the pattern library interface
    • Quick overview of UI
      • Toolbar (Bulk, sort, filter, grid)
      • Left sidebar on grid view
      • Left sidebar on detailed view
  • Exploring different pattern collections (Agency, Creator, Startup, Studio)
  • How style variations work with pattern collections
  • Dynamic patterns
  • Creating your own pattern
    • In page – turning a hero section into a pattern or synced pattern
    • In site editor – using pattern screen to create pattern

Creating Custom Themes

  • Leveraging child themes to create custom themes based on Ollie
    • List a few benefits of child themes in the block theme era
    • Helpful if you need to bulletproof changes for client projects or use version history
    • Helpful if you want to include a collection of bespoke patterns for clients
  • Intro to the Create Block Theme plugin that helps you turn site editor customizations into theme files.
  • Downloading patterns to your theme (note how you should only do this with a child theme)
  • Customizing the theme and then writing the changes via Create Block Theme