There are a lot of neat things you can do with our long-awaited Block Builder feature, and we want to make sure you have all the tools you need to create stellar pages for your business!
This article will walk you through a couple best practices and tips for making the most out of the Block Builder.
Tip #1: Have back-ups of your content!
While our early access team has done a thorough job of testing and troubleshooting for any bugs, the block builder is still a new feature for MV and we want to be extra sure that you don't unintentionally lose content while you're learning how to use this new tool in your MV account.
Tip #2: Remember to remove placeholder video, images and text.
When you add a new block, it will automatically populate with some placeholder content: i.e. a video, image or text. You can delete these as you would in the text editor for lessons, blog posts etc. With images, you can also directly click on the image to replace the placeholder image with one of your own.
Tip #3: Make use of block repositioning
Any time you add a new block, it will automatically populate underneath any content you've previously created. However, if for example, you wanted to add a subheader above a previous section of body text, you do not need to delete the body text and recreate it under the subheader! Simply drag and drop the subheader block above your body text block and you are all set.
*At the time of writing this article, you must exit out of edit mode for all blocks in order to see the four arrow icon that will allow you to reposition your block order.
Tip #4: Make your page truly eye-catching and play around with the spacing of your blocks!
When you click on the gear icon in the top left corner of any block, you can adjust several different features:
Margin - The spacing above and below your block. We recommend setting this to a minimum of 20px for starters and playing around with it to adjust to the spacing you prefer.
Padding - The spacing around your content within the block. For starters, you can set the top and bottom to 10px and the sides to 8px. Again, you can adjust from here to fit your preference!
Background - You have the option to select Transparent or Color for this setting. Transparent is the same as your Body Background color for your MV account, which you can find under "Appearance" then "Branding," and will be the default setting for all of your blocks. Alternatively, you can really make your blocks pop and stand out by changing this to Color!
Text Color - This will default to your Body Text color for your MV account.
Rounded Corners - If you're using a background color for your block that is different from your Body Background color, then this will adjust the corners to "none", "small", "medium" or "large."
Remember if you need to start over with your design, you can reset to the default settings at any time by clicking "reset to defaults."
Tip #5: Keep a Preview Tab open next to the tab you where are editing your page
This will really help you decide how you want to edit your page visually, especially as you play around with margin and padding sizes. To see the latest changes you've made in your block editor, make sure to refresh the Preview page.
Tip #6: Make sure your page is mobile optimized
It's a good idea to view your page on a mobile device to ensure that anyone viewing your page from their cell phone will have a good user experience. You may need to adjust your padding and/or margin settings.
Pro tip: If you want your text to appear in a narrow column centered in the page, use a 3 block layout and leave out the left and right blocks rather than trying to increase the block padding to a pixel setting (e.g. 220) that is too large for mobile devices to support.
Bonus tip: Add some custom code to your page!
If you are comfortable working with advanced coding such as CSS, you can do so in the block builder! To add in custom code, select "Custom" from the "Add Content" dropdown menu. As with our last version of pages, you can also add Custom CSS and Custom Javascript in the Advanced section near the bottom of the page.
Like all of our other features, we are planning to add more bells and whistles over time - so if the current version of the block builder is missing an element you desire, please review our article to see if your request is coming out in one of our [planned additions to this feature]!
Other block builder articles you might also be interested in:
Questions? Reach out to us at hello@membervault.co, within our Facebook group, The MV Collaborative, or via chat support within your admin account (not sure how to log in? look up your account here).