Using Summary Blocks

Use Summary Blocks to display your content (blog posts, products, gallery or project images, or events) in a variety of layouts.

Summary Blocks are great for:

Highlighting blog posts, gallery images, events, or products on your homepage.
Displaying products or blog posts in a layout that isn't available in your template.
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 item page.
Creating recipe or content indexes.

Watch a video

Add a Summary Block

Tip: Summary Blocks pull content from other pages. Before adding the block, add content to a Blog Page, Events Page, Gallery Page, Products Page, or Project Page. 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.

To add a Summary Block:

Click Edit on a page or post.
Click an insert point or the + icon. For more details on these first steps, visit Adding Blocks.
Under Summary, select Wall, Carousel, List, or Grid.

Block menu with the Summary Block options highlighted.

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

For more detailed steps, follow the sections below.

Select the content

In the Content tab of the Summary Block editor, select the Blog Page, Events Page, Gallery Page, Project Page, or Products Page to feature in the block. As you select a page, you'll see its content populate the Summary Block. Keep these tips 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.
Album Pages aren't supported at this time.

Summary Block layouts

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

WallCarouselListGrid

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.

WallCarouselListGrid

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 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 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	Select the number of items to display at a time. You can select 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 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 set by the template.

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 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: Item thumbnail (for a blog post, product, or event) Image Block (in a blog post or event) 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 images, project images, or products, the item description displays in the block.
Primary Metadata	Select 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 boxes in every blog post, event, gallery image, or product if you want this information to display in the block.
Secondary Metadata	Select 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 boxes in every blog post, event, gallery image, or product if you want this information to display in the block.
Category Filter	If you only want to display content in a certain category, enter the category filter in this box. We recommend adding categories to all items if you want this information to display. You can manually enter multiple categories separated by commas. Don't include a space after the comma: category1,category2,category3
Tag Filter	If you only want to display content with a certain tag, enter the tag filter in this box. 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 posts. For this to work, the posts you want to display in the block must have Featured Post checked in the Options tab in the Blog Post Editor.

Note: The Summary Block can't open items in a new window. To open images in a new window, consider using the Gallery Block instead.

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 - When 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.