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NovaSpark Docs v1.0.0
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Single, Archive & Cover

Custom layouts for single posts, archive listings and the banner area at the top of a page.

These three types let you design the parts of a site WordPress normally draws for you: how one post looks, how a list of posts looks, and the banner above a page’s content.

Single Post and Page templates #

Building a single post template, start to finish.

Without a template, NovaSpark draws posts using one of three built-in styles, chosen at Theme Options → Blog Posts → Single Post:

ClassicTitle and meta above the featured image.
ModernA larger, more editorial arrangement.
OverlayTitle over the featured image.

For full control, build a Single Post/Page Global Block instead.

  1. Create the blockWith Section Type set to Single Post/Page.
  2. Build the layoutUse the NovaKit Post Elements widgets — Post Content, Post Meta, Post Terms, Post Share, Post Navigation, Post Author Bio and Comments.
  3. Assign itTheme Options → Blog Posts → Default Single Post/Page Template, or give the block Display Conditions to apply it to only some posts.

Include NovaKit Post Content. It is the widget that outputs the post’s actual writing. A template without it renders a beautifully styled empty article.

Widgets in a single template read from whichever post is being viewed, so you design once against a sample and every post uses it.

Archive templates #

Building an archive template, start to finish.

An archive is any list of posts — the blog, a category, a tag, a post type's archive. Built-in options live at Theme Options → Blog Posts → Archive: layout (Grid, List or Masonry), how many columns, and the gaps between them.

For a designed archive, build an Archive Global Block and assign it at Default Archive Template, per post type at NovaSpark → Post Types, or with a Display Condition. On the Post Types screen, Archive Template is the post type's own listing (/case-studies/) and Term Archive Template its category and tag pages (/industry/design/); left on Inherit, term pages use the Archive Template. Inside it, add NovaKit Loop Grid with Source → Current Query: it shows the posts of whichever archive the visitor is on, so one template serves every category. Its Posts Per Page sets how many each page shows; leave it empty to use Settings → Reading.

  1. Pick an archive to design againstIn the editor, open Settings → Template Preview and choose one — the blog, a post type's archive, or a category or other term. Save, then reload the tab: Loop Grid, Archive Title and the other archive tags show its posts. The preview button and View link on the Global Blocks screen use this choice too; with none chosen, they find real content from the block's conditions or the post type it's assigned to.
  2. Choose how visitors pageUnder Pagination: numbers, Previous / Next, both, Load More or infinite scroll. Every page is a real address (/page/2/), and with Without Reloading on, the cards swap in place.
  3. Design the empty stateA category with no posts still uses this template. No Results shows a message, a Generic template, or nothing; turn on Preview in Editor to design it.

Several loops on one page. A Loop Grid that is not Current Query pages through its own address parameter, named after its Query ID — ?apps-page=2 for apps — so two grids never move each other.

Two different things. The Archive template is the page around the list — heading, filters, spacing. The Card template is one item inside it. Set them separately.

Filters #

Give the Loop Grid a Query ID — apps, say — and type the same ID into each Filter, Search, Sort, Active Filters and Results Count widget that should work on it. They can sit anywhere on the page: a sidebar, above the grid, or one Filter per panel of a Nested Accordion. Several Filters narrow the grid together.

Every choice goes into the address — ?apps-industry=fintech,payments&apps-sort=title — so a filtered page can be shared, bookmarked and gone Back to, and the grid, its pagination and the other widgets update together without reloading. With Choose Several on, a Filter shows posts with any of the chosen terms, or with all of them.

The search results page has a template of its own: a Search Results Global Block. Build it like an archive, with a Loop Grid on Current Query and the Search Query and Results Count tags in its heading. Under Settings → Template Preview, type a word to design against its results. An Archive template never takes over the search page, so a site-wide archive does not show its posts there.

Page Cover #

Building a page cover, start to finish.

The Page Cover is the banner between your header and the page content — usually the page title, sometimes breadcrumbs or a background image.

NovaSpark draws a simple one by default. Configure it at Theme Options → General → Page Cover, or replace it entirely with a Page Cover Global Block assigned to Default Page Cover Template.

To switch it off everywhere, turn on Disable Page Cover in the same section. Individual pages can turn it off in their own Page Settings.

Choosing a template per post #

Two ways, in order of precedence:

  1. Page SettingsEdit the post and use its Page Settings box. This wins over everything else, and is the right tool for one-offs.
  2. Display ConditionsPut the rules on the template block itself — “use this for everything in the Case Studies category”. Better for whole groups.

Neither matching leaves the Theme Options default in charge. See Assigning a block for the full order.

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