Custom Widget-Based Pages

One of the main ways your readers consume your content is by clicking into individual pages or categories on your site, such as News or Sports. Usually when they do this they'll see a list or a tile view of all the stories in that category. Another option you have is to build a unique page using Widgets, which allows you to create a custom page much like another homepage. This is called a Custom Widget-Based Page.

Here's an example:  https://fhntoday.com/category/sports/

You'll notice that in the example above, it looks much like a homepage, with different shaped widgets displaying categories as well as a unique header image, but it's not the homepage! It's the Sports category page. This school has brilliantly built out a quasi-homepage dedicated to Sports. You can do the same.

The Custom Widget-Based Page option allows you to build a unique page using widgets, rather than just displaying a list of stories or static content. 

Utilizing this option will give you the opportunity to set up your pages just like you would your homepage. When choosing this method, a subset of widget areas are created in the widget control panel to customize. That way you can create completely unique pages using all the same widgets you can use on your homepage! 

How to Create a New Custom Widget-Based Page

1. Hover on Appearance and click SNO Design Options.
2. Scroll down to find the Custom Page Layouts tab and click on it.
3. Click “Create New Custom Widget Page Layout,” give the page a name and hit “Done.”
4. Click on the button that says “The __ layout is empty. Add widget areas to this layout with the Site Designer.”
5. Within the Site Designer tab, click “Import starter page-based layout into the drag-and-drop editor.” You can either use the imported layout right away, or customize the widget areas. Make sure to click the blue Save All Design Options when done.
6. Hover on Appearance and click Widgets.
7. You should now see the new widget areas in the right hand side of this page that you just created within the Site Designer. 
8. Add widgets to these new widget areas by dragging and dropping, just like you would for your homepage.
9. Hover on Appearance and click Menus.
10. Select your new page from the Pages section and click Add to Menu to make it accessible to visitors on your website. Click Save Menu when done.
11. Visit your new page and make design adjustments as needed.

How to Connect or Reconnect your Page to a Widget-Based Layout

1. Click on the Pages tab on the left side of your dashboard.
2. Click on the title of the page you'd like to edit to open your page in edit mode.
3. Change the Template dropdown on the right side of the page to Widget-Based Layout.
4. Adjust the Connect to a Widget Layout dropdown that appears in the top right to the widget layout you want to appear on this page.
5. Click the blue Update/Publish button.
6. REMINDER: You can adjust the widgets on this page in the Widget Control Panel, and adjust the widget areas for this layout in the Site Designer.

How to Display Teasers on Hover for Pages in your Navigation Menus

If you are using the Menu - Bar element within your website’s header or footer and have the “Display teasers in menu for category-based menu items” setting activated, these tabs won’t initially display teasers for custom widget-based pages. To do this:

1. Click on Pages and select the page you want to edit.
2. On the right hand side of the page, select the category of teasers to display when the page is in a menu.
3. Click the blue Update button to save these settings.

How to Add a Custom Header Graphic to Widget-Based Pages

1. Click on Pages and select the page you want to edit.
2. On the right hand side of the page, click “Use the featured image of this page to replace the header graphic.”
3. Click “Set Featured Image” in the bottom right corner of the page to upload the graphic.
4. Click the blue Update button to save.