All Reference Articles

Post Type

Academic Programs Post Type

The Academic Programs post type allows you to easily create a filterable and searchable listing of programs offered. It also allows you to create individual program pages that are designed…

Block

Accordion Block

Use Cases The Accordion block is a sort of styled list that grants site maintainers the option to have information nested through a collapsible drop down. An example of several…

Site Settings

Adjusting Page and Post Visibility

Page and Post Visibility When building out content in a WordPress site, there will be times when the content does not need to be made public immediately. If a page…

Accessibility

Alt Text

Introduction: What is Alt Text? Alternative text (alt text) provides a written description of content for visually impaired users who may use a screen reader. Adding alt text for images…

Block

A part of the Immersive Template, the “Aside Widget” is a sleek alternative to standard “Fact” and “Pullquote” blocks. Instead of traditional center alignment, the “Aside Widget” affords site managers…

Block

Audio Player Block

This block allows content maintainers to embed audio content directly into their posts. This block is ideal for sharing a speech, a piece of music, or a conversation captured on…

Block

Big Fact Block

Use Cases The Big Fact block is another striking way that content creators can break up long bodies of text on a webpage. In addition to helping pace readers as…

Block

Blockquote Block

Overview Often confused with the Pull Quote and a Testimonial blocks, the Blockquote block is their lesser used cousin. A block quote is used to display an extended excerpt from…

Block

Button Block

Use Cases The Buttons block is a nice way to include styled hyperlinks on a page or post. Effective in grabbing a reader’s attention at the end of paragraph or…

Block

Button Spotlight Block

The Button Spotlight block is a visually engaging way to highlight a call-to-action (CTA) within the NC State Theme. It combines a bold button with optional supporting content to draw…

Site Settings

Compact Masthead Option

The Compact Masthead is a shorter and more streamlined masthead and menu option for sites within the premium tier of the NC State Theme. Multiple color options are available —…

Block

Contact Us Block

Use Cases The Contact Details block is helpful for content creators to provide users with relevant information on how a unit can be contacted, where they are located and the…

Block

Course Catalog Block

To get started using the block, insert the “Grad Catalog” block. You will then be presented with a settings panel asking for the catalog.ncsu.edu URL to the page with degree/program…

Post Type

Courses Post Type

The Courses post type allows you to manually populate available courses on your website. Courses are filterable and sortable by category, department and semester. An individual course page is also…

Creating and Editing Menus

Why Use Menus? Menus are useful for keeping a site better organized, and can be beneficial for users as it helps them navigate the site more easily. Many, if not…

Block

Email Signup Block

Use Cases An effective way for content creators to ensure repeat visitors to their site, is through the use of an email signup. Whether that be for a monthly newsletter,…

Block

Embed Block

Overview Including content from third-party platforms such as YouTube, Vimeo, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter can help you better tell your story to users. The Embed block makes it easy to…

Embedding Links

Embedding links on web pages is a fundamental aspect of building a website. and content creation. It contributes to seamless site navigation and user engagement. It is a crucial part…

Block

Events Block

Overview This block will display the next three events on your calendar. It can pull data from Localist (the main university calendar) or The Events Calendar plugin. The Events Calendar…

Block

Fact Row Block

This block is also available within the Enhanced News Add-on. Use Cases The Fact List Block is a useful tool for providing users with important information about a site while…

Block

Fancy Paragraph Block

You can choose either a 60:40 or 70:30 split between the paragraph and the supporting content. Supporting content block availability differs based upon what column size is selected. Available supporting…

Block

Featured Content Block

Use Cases The Featured Content block is a useful tool for pointing users towards important, and sometimes timely, pages and stories across a site. In addition to being an effective…

Block

Floated Fact Block

Use Cases The Fact block provides content creators with an additional way to add interesting information to their site. The Fact block should be used to draw attention to content…

Block

Floated Gravity Form

This block is only featured in the Landing Page Builder. Use Cases The Floated Gravity Form allows you to embed a colorful, eye-catching version of any Gravity Form on your…

Block

Floated Spotlight Block

Use Cases The Floated Spotlight block is useful for content creators to point users to another page or story that is relevant to the content they are already viewing. The…

Block

Form Block

Overview The Form block works with the Gravity Forms plugin. It allows you to embed a Gravity Form on a page. The block itself is simple. It allows you to…

Block

Giving Form Block

Use Cases The Giving Form block utilizes the Advancement Online Giving Link Builder to embed a gift intake form directly into a WordPress site. This block can be an effective…

Block, Third Party Plugin

Gravity Forms

Introduction Gravity Forms is a powerful tool used to create professional looking forms embedded directly into a WordPress page or post. The easy to use form building platform helps to…

Gravity Forms Slate Integration

You can submit prospective student leads to Slate by creating a Gravity Form on your site. The information below discusses how to implement this integration on your site.

Block

Heading Block

Overview Heading blocks are used on almost all types of pages. Most web users do not read everything on a web page word-for-word. Rather, they skim to try to find…

Block

Highlight Block

One of the most flexible blocks within NC State Stories, the Highlight block allows an author to link out to related stories, supplemental information and resources, or other online resources…

Site Settings

Homepage Configuration

Overview A custom-looking homepage can be easily built through creative configuration of regular theme blocks and special homepage blocks. Changing the Page Template The homepage uses a different page template. To change…

Block

Icon Links Block

Use Cases The Icon Links block can be a useful alternative to the Link List block, Featured Content block, and Button block when trying to display an assortment of various…

Block

Image Block

Source Images contained within the image block may be sourced from 3 different locations: Uploads from one’s computer (which will be placed in the Media Gallery for reuse) Existing images…

Image Format and Size

Formats The format of an image refers to the filetype. The most common filetypes are: .jpeg/.jpg, .png, and .gif. The filetype, size, and resolution are all contributing factors to the…

Block

Image Grid Block

Overview This block allows you to display images in a grid format of one image across or two images side-by-side. You can add as many rows of images as you’d…

Block

Instagram Feed Block

The Instagram Feed block is a good option for displaying visual content from an Instagram feed, as well as driving users to view and engage with Instagram channel content. This…

Jump Links

Jump links, or anchor links, refer to links that direct to specific parts of a page, rather than the entire page itself. This may be useful for linking to elements…

Block

List Block

While this is a fairly straightforward block, it can be an important part of your content. When interspersed with paragraph blocks, it can help users more easily skim your content…

Third Party Tool

Localist Calendar Widgets

Keeping one’s audience up-to-date about campus events on the web can be a challenge. And building web content that displays this information in a clear and concise manner can be…

Block

Magazine Preview Block

The Magazine Preview block is specially created for showcasing other content within a selected Magazine issue. Upon selecting a magazine issue to show posts from, this block will automatically populate…

Block

Media Divider Block

Use Cases The Media Divider block is best used to break up large bodies of text while simultaneously making a page more interesting to the reader. The Media Divider block…

Menu Display Locations

The items contained within all menus can be edited by navigating to the main Menu page, found via the Dashboard > Appearance > Menus. From here, multiple menus may exist…

Block

Newswire Feed Block

Use Cases The Newswire Feed block allows content maintainers to more easily set up a feed of posts from Newswire directly on their web pages. Similar to the Posts Feed…

Post Type

Non-Credit Programs Post Type

The Non-Credit Programs post type allows you to create a filterable and searchable database of programs that do not lead to credit towards an academic degree. The post type is…

Page and Post Metadata

Search Engine The search engine meta description represents the blurb of text that will appear when search engines return that particular page as a search result. Describe the purpose of…

Page Header Options

With the NC State theme, there are three header options available: Default, Split, and Floating Box. Each header is treated as the page title. The page title is the beginning of…

Block

Paragraph Block

There isn’t much to a paragraph block, but it plays an important role nonetheless within your web pages. The bulk of your content will be within paragraph blocks. Basic formatting…

Block

Parallax Divider Block

This block allows you to add a visually bold statement on top of an image. A parallax effect occurs when the user scrolls down the page. This striking alternative to…

Patterns

With patterns, you can save sets of blocks to use later on any page or post on your site. This can mitigate the repetition of adding the same groups of…

Block

Photo Gallery Block

Use Cases The Photo Gallery block is a useful tool for displaying a set of photos in a gallery format. This block is easy to navigate and affords site maintainers…

Block

Post Search Block

This block adds a search field for users to search entries within a specific post type. The block allows content maintainers to choose which post type should be searched. It…

Block

Posts Feed

Overview When building out a page you may want to include timely related news content. The Posts Feed block allows you to display the latest news from a specific set…

Block

Pull Quote Block

Overview Many news posts and stories have memorable quotes and phrases that deserve additional attention. This content can be put into a pull quote so that it receives additional from…

Block

Quote Block

Overview Quotes from students, faculty, alumni and others affiliated with the university allow you to provide a different, third-party perspective to your website’s users. The Quote block provides an opportunity…

Block

Resources Post Type

This feature of the NC State Theme allows content maintainers to create filterable and searchable databases. It is the most generic of all the post types included within the NC…

Block

RSS Block

This easy to use block allows content maintainers to easily embed content from RSS feeds by simply copying and pasting in the URL of their favorite RSS source. Share numerous stories from…

Block

Sandwich Narrative Block

While the main post content sets the stage and gives full details on a particular topic, the Sandwich Narrative block allows users to present a secondary, short-but-relevant story embedded directly…

Setting Up Google Tag Manager

Google Tag Manager helps you include and manage snippets of code on your site. These snippets are often used for analytics and advertising services. As more and more of these…

Sidebars

Sidebar navigation is automatically triggered based on the structure of the main menu assigned to the ‘Website Navigation’ display location, as well as the ‘Sidebar Start Depth’ settings option. Within…

Site Search

To configure the search box for your site, go to NC State Settings within the Dashboard of your site. The General section for the NC State Theme will have a box…

Block

Slate Form Embed Block

The Slate Form Embed block makes it easier to embed Slate form code within pages. In some cases directly copying and pasting the embed code can be unsuccessful because of…

Third Party Plugin

Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed Plugin

With its super simple setup, the Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed plugin, when used in conjunction with the Instagram Feed block, is the quickest and easiest way to display your…

Smash Balloon: Instagram Feed Pro

With its super simple setup, the Smash Balloon: Instagram Feed Pro plugin, when used in conjunction with the Shortcode block, is a quick and easy way to display your unit’s…

Block

Split Container Block

This special homepage blocks sit within a container known as a Split Container block. Two of of the blocks can be put in the Split Container block because each block…

Block

Spotlight Block

Use Cases The Spotlight block provides content creators another visually interesting way to breakup long bodies of text while pointing their users to additional relevant content. The Spotlight also affords…

Starter Content

Certain templates come with a suggested layout of blocks that can be easily populated and edited for your specific needs. Available on certain templates, the starter content system includes a…

Block

Sticky Form

This block is only featured in the Landing Page Builder. Use Cases Visible to users on mobile devices only, the Sticky Form allows you to add an expandable form to…

Block

Table Block

Use Cases The Table block is a sleek, easy to use table builder. Creating tables from directly within WordPress has never been easier with Gutenberg. Create stylized tables to deliver…

Accessibility, Block

Table of Contents Block

Use Cases The Table of Contents block can enhance the overall experience of visiting a webpage. Certain webpages benefit from the inclusion of a table of contents. In particular, pages…

Tabular Data

Table Block For relatively simple data, such as a set of columns each with named headings, the Table Block is easy to use, update, and understand. By default, the Table…

Block

Text Links Block

Overview The Text Links block is most often used immediately below a paragraph block, and it provides a way to link out to resources that may have been discussed in…

Third Party Plugin

The Events Calendar

Third Party Plugins

Many websites use the same plugins because of their flexibility and ease of use. Below are several plugins that are often used on NC State websites. Gravity Forms Gravity Forms…

Block

Thumbnail Gallery Block

Overview This block allows you to display many photos in a condensed amount of screen space. This is useful for cases where a large number of images are available for…

Block

Timeline Block

This unique block grants content maintainers the ability to build out custom timelines on their posts. Add as many dates as needed to outline a specific period of time and…

Block

Vertical Video Block

This block allows you to embed a YouTube video that has a vertical orientation. The block also allows you to include a title and teaser copy to introduction and position…

Block

Video Block

The Video block can be used to create a clean video embed on a WordPress site. In addition to embedding the video, the Video block allows for a customizable thumbnail…