Compatibility Issues with Classic TextBook Theme and Block Editor

  • Unknown's avatar
    kevinthesavvy · Member ·

    I am talking about the lack of the Full Width, No Sidebar Page Template option and the colorful tag cloud feature in the TextBook theme!

    Hello WordPress.com community,

    I’m currently using the TextBook theme on my WordPress.com site, which is a classic theme updated to be compatible with the new block editor. While this update has somewhat allowed for the use of modern features, I guess, it has also led to some limitations. Some features of the classic theme could have been removed, particularly the option to select full-width pages or templates without a sidebar.

    Since the TextBook theme was originally created as a classic theme and not a full block theme, it appears to be a double-edged sword with the update for block editor compatibility. The new Page Attributes section in the block editor does not provide a dropdown or option for users to choose specific page templates for the current page, such as “Default template,” “Cover template,” “Full width template,” or “Full Width, No Sidebar Page Template.” I see this is a feature demonstrated in the TextBook theme’s demo page, which I would like to replicate and you can see it here: Full Width Page (No sidebar).

    Additionally, I noticed in the theme’s description (by Automattic), under Widget Areas, there is an image showcasing a colorful tag cloud. I am curious about how to achieve this multi-colored tag display, as it would significantly enhance the visual appeal and organization of tags on my site.

    To summarize, my questions are:

    • Is the lack of template selection options for full-width pages without a sidebar in the Page Attributes a common issue for all classic themes updated for the block editor, or is it specific to certain themes like TextBook?
      And if possible, how can I do it?
    • How can I enable multi-colored tag clouds as depicted in the theme’s widget area description? I can’t see this option anywhere either in the Widgets area in the backend (wp-admin/widgets.php) or in the WordPress Customizer (wp-admin/customize.php).

    Any guidance or assistance in resolving this issue would be greatly appreciated.

    Thank you for your time and help!

  • mrfoxtalbot · Staff ·

    Is the lack of template selection options for full-width pages without a sidebar in the Page Attributes a common issue for all classic themes updated for the block editor, or is it specific to certain themes like TextBook?

    No, template selection should still be available as long as the original theme had different templates (which does not seem to be the case of the TextBook theme)

    And if possible, how can I do it?

    You can set one of your pages to be full width by leveraging the widget visibility feature and hiding all your sidebar widgets for that page, as seen below:

    How can I enable multi-colored tag clouds as depicted in the theme’s widget area description?

    I can confirm that the tag cloud is not showing colors at the moment but we are working on it.

    Don’t hesitate to contact us again if you have further questions or if there is anything else we can help you with.

  • Unknown's avatar
    kevinthesavvy · Member ·

    Hey mrfoxtalbot,

    Thanks a lot for getting back to me, and I’d like to chat a bit more about the TextBook theme quirks!

    1. Template Selection Confusion

    No, template selection should still be available as long as the original theme had different templates (which does not seem to be the case of the TextBook theme).

    I’m a bit puzzled here. The theme demo actually shows a “Full Width Page (No sidebar)” example, which you can check out right at: Full Width Page (No sidebar).

    The question is: if this layout/template is shown in the demo, how come the original theme doesn’t seem to offer/include this option for users to choose and use? I’m not sure if I’m really understanding the nature of this problem, but even when I switch back to the Classic view mode in the wp-admin interface and intentionally edit the page with the classic editor, the “Page Attributes” section indeed doesn’t show any page template options. Am I missing something?

    Using Quick Edit in WP-Admin backend interface. No Page Attributes.
    Using Classic Editor. No Page Template Options under “Page Attributes”.

    2. Widget Visibility Workaround

    Regarding your suggestion to leverage the widget visibility feature to achieve a full-width page layout by hiding all sidebar widgets, I acknowledge the viability of this approach. Thanks for the tip, it works! But with a bunch of widgets (and I might add more), doing this for every widget for each full-width page is really tedious, and feels like a lot of extra work. But still, that’s a way of doing it. Appreciate that!

    3. Colorful Tag Cloud

    Thanks for confirming that the tag cloud isn’t showing colors right now but that you’re working on it. That’s cool! Can’t wait to see it in action.

    Thanks again for your help, and looking forward to hearing from you soon!

    Cheers!

  • mrfoxtalbot · Staff ·

    if this layout/template is shown in the demo, how come the original theme doesn’t seem to offer/include this option for users to choose and use? I’m not sure if I’m really understanding the nature of this problem, but even when I switch back to the Classic view mode in the wp-admin interface and intentionally edit the page with the classic editor, the “Page Attributes” section indeed doesn’t show any page template options. Am I missing something?

    Admittedly, I hade to double check myself because I was also expecting that theme to have a full-width template but after inspecting the theme’s demo site, it turns out that theme does not have custom templates. If you compare the source code for the regular and full-width pages, you will notice they do not have an ad-hoc CSS classname for a different template (which would be expected)

    <body class="page-template-default page page-id-166 logged-in admin-bar no-customize-support wp-custom-logo wp-embed-responsive customizer-styles-applied header-image group-blog no-sidebar jetpack-reblog-enabled demo-site theme-menu-maximized">

    I am referring to this class: page-template-default

    doing this for every widget for each full-width page is really tedious, and feels like a lot of extra work. But still, that’s a way of doing it. Appreciate that!

    I agree with your that, while the widget visibility approach provides more flexibility, it can also be a lot of extra work to use.

    Thanks again for your help, and looking forward to hearing from you soon!

    Absolutely! We’re always happy to help :) Happy WordPressing!

  • Unknown's avatar
    kevinthesavvy · Member ·

    Hey mrfoxtalbot,

    Thanks a bunch for your speedy response! 🙌 Your insights really helped me wrap my head around the current template selection issue. And that workaround using widget visibility is indeed useful for this case. Genius! 🎩

    I’m low-key excited about that colorful tag cloud feature you’re cooking up. 🌈 I mean, I’m genuinely looking forward to it. Again, can’t wait to see it in action!

    Catch you later, Kevin 🫡👋

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