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Summary Blocks

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Use Summary Blocks to display content from certain collection pages, such as blog posts or products, in a variety of layouts.

Summary Blocks are great for:

  • Highlighting collection items on your homepage.
  • Displaying blog posts or products in a layout that isn't available otherwise.
  • Changing the layout of your content without making drastic style changes.
  • Adding links to related content at the end of a blog post or product details page.
  • Creating recipe or content indexes.

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What content displays

Summary Blocks pull content from certain collection pages on your site. Before adding the block, add content to a supported collection page. You can use Summary Blocks to display:

Portfolio Pages and gallery sections aren't supported.

Album Pages aren't supported.

It's not possible to add content directly to a Summary Block. For the best display, add thumbnail images to every item that will display in the block.

Add a Summary Block

To add a Summary Block:

  1. Click Edit on a page or post, then click an insert point. For help, visit Adding content with blocks.
  2. Under Summary, choose Wall, Carousel, List, or Grid.

Block menu with the Summary Block options highlighted.

  1. Use the Content tab to choose your content.
  2. Use the Layout tab to change the layout and edit layout settings.
  3. Use the Display tab to set how content displays in the block.
  4. Click Apply to save your changes.

For more detailed information about each step, follow the sections below.

Choose the content

In the Content tab of the Summary Block editor, choose the page to feature in the block. As you click a page, you'll see its content populate the Summary Block. Keep in mind:

  • You can only feature content from one page in the Summary Block. However, you can add multiple blocks to a page to feature all of the content you want.
  • You can change the page that Summary Blocks pull content from at any time.
  • The title text links to the content directly. The thumbnail images also link to the content, except for Gallery Page and Project Page items on version 7.0, which open in a lightbox on the Summary Block page.

Summary Block layouts

There are four Summary Blocks, and their behavior is consistent across all sites. You can change the layout in the Layout tab of the Summary Block. As you choose a layout, you'll see a preview of it on the page. Here are examples of blog posts in each layout.

Wall Summary Blocks display items in a masonry style grid. Unlike the Grid layout, which displays items in even rows, the Wall layout displays items in offset rows based on the size of the content, creating a mosaic look.

Example of a Wall Summary Block.

Carousel Summary Blocks display a set number of items in a row, with navigation arrows in the top-right corner for scrolling through more content.

Example of a Carousel Summary Block.

List Summary Blocks display items in one column with thumbnail images on one side and text on the other.

Example of a List Summary Block.

Grid Summary Blocks display items in an even grid. Items with uneven lengths have space between them.Example of a Grid Summary Block.

Edit layout settings

In the Layout tab of the Summary Block, you can customize the size of and space between items. As you change the settings, you'll see a preview of your changes on the page. Your options depend on the layout.

Here are the layout options for Wall Summary Blocks:

Layout option Use this to
Column Width Change the width of columns in the block. This changes the number of items per row and the size of each item.

Gutter Width

 Change the horizontal space/padding between columns. Vertical padding/space between rows adjusts automatically depending on the items in the block, but doesn't correspond to this setting.
Text Size Set text to display Extra Large, Large, Medium, or Small. These settings affect the title text. The Extra Large setting also affects excerpt text.

Text Alignment

 Align text to the Left, Right, or Center of each item.
Metadata Position Set the location of the item metadata, like a date or author, to Above Title, Below Title, or Below Content. Select the type of metadata that appears in the Display tab.

Here are the layout options for Carousel Summary Blocks:

Layout option Use this to
Header Text

Add a custom title to display above the block. This way, you can avoid adding a separate Text Block.

Aspect Ratio

Select the aspect ratio for thumbnail images, which affects cropping. Select Auto to display thumbnails without cropping.
Items Per Row

Choose the number of items to display at a time. You can choose between 1 and 5.
Text Size

Set text to display Extra Large, Large, Medium, or Small. These settings affect the title text. The Extra Large setting also affects excerpt text.
Text Alignment Align text to the Left, Right, or Center of each item.
Metadata Position Set the location of the item metadata, like a date or author, to Above Title, Below Title, or Below Content. Select the type of metadata that appears in the Display tab.

Here are the layout options for List Summary Blocks:

Layout option Use this to

Aspect Ratio

Select the aspect ratio for thumbnail images, which affects cropping. Select Auto to display thumbnails without cropping.
Image Size

Set the size at which the items display. You can set the items to appear between 10% and 80% of the total width of the list.
Image Alignment

Align images to the Left or Right of the text.

Text Size

Set text to display Extra Large, Large, Medium, or Small. These settings affect the title text. The Extra Large setting also affects excerpt text.
Text Alignment Align the text to the Left, Right, or Center.
Metadata Position Set the location of the item metadata, like a date or author, to Above Title, Below Title, or Below Content. Select the type of metadata that appears in the Display tab.

Here are the layout options for Grid Summary Blocks:

Note: Gallery Page and Project Page images in this layout open in lightbox slideshows. Clickthrough URLs disable the lightbox.
Layout option Use this to

Aspect Ratio

 Select the aspect ratio for thumbnail images, which affects cropping. Select Auto to display thumbnails without cropping.
Column Width Change the width of columns in the block.
Note: Items in Grid Summary Blocks are left-aligned, and a narrow Column Width may cause extra space on the right side of the block.
Gutter Width Change the space/padding between items.
Text Size

Set text to display Extra Large, Large, Medium, or Small. These settings affect the title text. The Extra Large setting also affects excerpt text.
Text Alignment Align the text to the Left, Right, or Center.
Metadata Position

Set the location of the item metadata, like a date or author, to Above Title, Below Title, or Below Content. Select the type of metadata that appears in the Display tab.
Tip: Summary Block caption styles are vary depending on your site.

Edit display settings

In the Display tab of the Summary Block, you can set what content displays and how. As you change the settings, you'll see a preview of your changes on the page.

All layouts include the following options: 

Display option Use this to
Number of Items

Set the number of items to display in the block. You can display up to 30 items.

Show Title

Set the item titles to display in the block. Uncheck to hide the item titles.

Show Thumbnail

 

Set the item thumbnail images to display in the block. Uncheck to hide the item thumbnail images.

When displaying Gallery Page or Project Page items, the image displays in the block. When displaying blog posts, events, or products, the block will pull the first available image on this list:

  1. Item thumbnail (for a blog post, product, or event)
  2. Image Block (in a blog post or event)
  3. Gallery Block (in a blog post or event)

 

Show Excerpt

Set the item excerpts or descriptions to display in the block. Uncheck to hide the item excerpts or descriptions.

When displaying blog posts, the excerpt displays in the block. When displaying events, Gallery Page images, products, or Project Page images, the item description displays in the block.

Primary Metadata

Choose information to display most prominently with each item:

  • Depending on the item, you can select Date Posted, Category, Tags, Author, Location, Comments, or None.
  • Placement of this information varies by layout.
  • If an item doesn't have the metadata you select, it won't display with the item. For this reason, we recommend filling out all fields in every collection item if you want this information to display in the block.
Secondary Metadata

Choose additional information to display with each item:

  • Depending on the item, you can select Date Posted, Category, Tags, Author, Location, Comments, or None.
  • Placement of this information varies by layout.
  • If an item doesn't have the metadata you select, it won't display with the item. For this reason, we recommend filling out all fields in every collection item if you want this information to display in the block.
Category Filter
  • If you only want to display content in a certain category, enter or select the category filter in this field.
  • We recommend adding categories to all items if you want this information to display.
  • For any collection except Store Pages on version 7.1, you can manually enter multiple categories separated by commas. Don't include a space after the comma: category1,category2,category3
  • For Store Pages on version 7.1, it's not possible to select multiple categories to display. Use the tag filter instead.
Tag Filter
  • If you only want to display content with a certain tag, enter the tag filter in this field.
  • We recommend adding tags to all items if you want this information to display in the block.
  • You can manually enter multiple tags separated by commas. Don't include a space after the comma: tag1,tag2,tag3
Featured Filter
  • Use this option if you want to use the Summary Block to promote or display featured items, like featured posts.
  • For this to work, the items you want to display in the block must have the Featured option enabled in the Options tab in the item editor.

Item-specific options

Depending on the type of collection items you display in your Summary Block, you may see additional options.

Collection type  Additional display options
Blog Page

Show Read More Link - This option only appears if Show Excerpt is enabled. When this is checked, Read More links display under post content and above metadata.
Events Page

Event Timeframe - Select which events to display in the block: past events or upcoming events. To display both past and upcoming events, add two Summary Blocks with their own Event Timeframe selected.
Products Page

Show Price - When checked, product prices appear under product titles.

Enable Product Quick View - When checked, enables Product Quick View.

Style Summary Block text

Your Summary Block style options depend on which version of Squarespace your site is on.

Fonts

The title size follows your site's global fonts. To change the font family and title size:

  1. Open the Summary Block editor.
  2. Click Layout and check the Text Size.
  3. In the Home Menu, click Design, then Fonts.
  4. Under Global Text Styles, set the font family in Paragraphs. The font family follows your Paragraphs setting regardless of the Summary Block's text size.
  5. Set the font size in Headings or Paragraphs based on the Summary Block's text size:
    • Extra Large - Heading 2
    • Large - Paragraph 1
    • Medium - Paragraph 2
    • Small - Paragraph 3

Colors

You can style text colors in the block. To change the colors:

  1. In the Home Menu, click Design, then click Colors.
  2. Click Section Themes, then click the pencil icon on the chosen theme.
  3. Under Summary Block, change the colors with these tweaks:
    • Header Text Color
    • Title Color
    • Excerpt Color
    • Read More Color
    • Primary Metadata Color
    • Secondary Metadata Color

Use Site Styles to set the Summary Block Title Font and Summary Block Title Color in these template families:

  • Adirondack
  • Avenue
  • Aviator
  • Bedford
  • Momentum
  • Montauk
  • Pacific - Title Font and Title Color

It's not possible to change the size of the Header Text that appears above the block in the Carousel layout.

Summary Blocks on mobile

Summary Blocks on mobile may display differently than on a computer, depending on the layout.

Wall Summary Blocks display in a stacked layout, but images retain their individual aspect ratios.

Carousel Summary Blocks retain their carousel layout and display two items at a time.

List Summary Blocks display the same on mobile.

Grid Summary Blocks display in a stacked layout.

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