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
- Quick overview of UI
- 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