Template and pages not syncing

  • Unknown's avatar
    foodiebiarritz · Member ·

    I have set up a ‘front page’ template, it’s almost as I want my homepage to be, i have assigned it as the homepage in design customisations, and it is showing on the site preview fine. But when I then make a page from this template, it is completely empty. Do I need a page, or I can just use the template for the homepage? It’s a bit confusing.
    I’m also having issue with the post template. I made some edits to the template, then when I checked my existing post (only have 1 so far) it showing my edits from the template, but when I go into the post itself to edit it, these changes aren’t there.
    What’s the deal, it seems pretty buggy. This is the first time I’ve used WordPress.
    I’m on the free plan until I’m happy with the CMS, could that be affecting the functionality?
    Thanks to anyone that can help.

    WP.com: Yes
    Jetpack: No
    Correct account: Yes

    The blog I need help with is: (visible only to moderators and staff)

  • staff-totoro · Staff ·

    Wow, you’ve been busy in the 5 days since you got here; your site is looking really good so far!

    I have set up a ‘front page’ template, it’s almost as I want my homepage to be, i have assigned it as the homepage in design customisations, and it is showing on the site preview fine. But when I then make a page from this template, it is completely empty. Do I need a page, or I can just use the template for the homepage? It’s a bit confusing.

    From what I can see your live site now is the same as what I see in the editor here: https://wordpress.com/site-editor/foodiebiarritz.wordpress.com

    To clarify, the site editor is a fairly new way of working with WordPress sites, but WordPress.com has been around for a long time so there is some reverse-compatibility considerations in play as we transition. The homepage is one of those, and on older WordPress themes the Home page was something that you added content to in in the page editor, since these themes do not have a way to edit the template directly.

    Your theme uses the site editor though, so editing the homepage contents directly in the Frontpage template is just fine. In this scenario the “Home” page is blank, and something of a holding container. If the page template is set correctly for this page (I can confirm it is) then it will show the contents of the template directly.

    I’m also having issue with the post template. I made some edits to the template, then when I checked my existing post (only have 1 so far) it showing my edits from the template, but when I go into the post itself to edit it, these changes aren’t there.

    I noticed you edited your Single post template to add images to it. One thing it will help to clarify here is that changes you make to the template do not appear in the editor. But also, the images you added in the template… those will appear on every blog post. That is why you see them repeated twice, since you added the same images in the post directly, as well as in the template.

    If it is your intention to be able to set different images in each post, this is an area where I’d recommend setting up those image blocks in the post editor directly, the place where you write your new posts. The images you added in the template would be the same for every blog post (they would not change) so I think you will want to remove them from there. Instead you may want to consider creating the initial formatting to add to the start of each blog post as a “reusable block” that you can then convert into a standard block and edit for that page instance only: https://wordpress.com/support/wordpress-editor/blocks/reusable-block/

    What’s the deal, it seems pretty buggy. This is the first time I’ve used WordPress. I’m on the free plan until I’m happy with the CMS, could that be affecting the functionality?

    Firstly credit where it’s due, you’re using these tools to a pretty high degree, editing multiple page templates, and creating a very competent-looking site. Some of the observations you’ve made so far are because of this, which is commendable. :)

    As I hinted above (and the “Beta” label on the site editor suggests) site editing is a very new way of interacting with WordPress sites, but it does have some rough spots and reverse-compatibility considerations that will improve as the tools evolve. Upgrading will add functionality that your site does not have currently — to upload plugins and 3rd party themes for example — but the tools you are using now are largely unlocked even on a free site.

    If you’re feeling stuck we’re happy to answer any questions you have. Keep up the good work!

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