Signocore Slate adds its own blocks to the block editor and ships a library of ready-made sections and page layouts inside the theme. Both follow your global colors and fonts, so a pattern looks like the rest of your site the moment you insert it.
Signocore Slate blocks
The theme's blocks are in the block inserter under Slate Blocks. Their block names start with slate/, which is what you see in the code editor view and in Signocore Slate → Block Visibility.
Layout
| Block | Name | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Row Layout | slate/rowlayout |
A full-width or contained row with columns, backgrounds, overlays, dividers and spacing |
| Section | slate/column |
A container that styles a group of blocks, used for the columns inside a row |
| Spacer / Divider | slate/spacer |
Vertical space with an optional divider line |
| Split Content | slate/splitcontent |
Media on one side and content on the other |
| Show More | slate/show-more |
Hides part of the content behind a button that reveals it |
Text and media
| Block | Name | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Text (Adv) | slate/advancedheading |
A heading or paragraph with its own font, size per device and colors |
| Buttons (Adv) | slate/advancedbtn |
One button or a row of buttons with hover styles and icons |
| Icon | slate/icon |
One or more icons |
| Icon List | slate/iconlist |
A list with an icon as the bullet |
| Info Box | slate/infobox |
A box with an icon or image, a title, text and a link |
| Image (Adv) | slate/image |
An image with more size, ratio and style controls than the core image block |
| Gallery (Adv) | slate/advancedgallery |
Galleries as a grid, masonry, carousel or slider, with lightbox and captions |
| Image Overlay | slate/imageoverlay |
An image with text shown on top of it |
| Video Popup | slate/videopopup |
A thumbnail that plays a video in a popup |
| Table (Adv) | slate/table |
A table with styling for rows and cells |
| Table of Contents | slate/tableofcontents |
A list of the headings on the page, with links to each |
| Google Maps | slate/googlemaps |
A map of a location you type in |
Interactive
| Block | Name | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Accordion | slate/accordion |
Panes that open and close. Each pane can hold any blocks |
| Tabs | slate/tabs |
Content split across tabs |
| Advanced Slider | slate/slider |
A slider with a background image and content on each slide |
| Countdown | slate/countdown |
A timer that counts down to a date |
| Count Up | slate/countup |
A number that counts up or down to a value |
| Progress Bar | slate/progress-bar |
A progress bar that fills to a value |
| Testimonials | slate/testimonials |
Customer quotes as a grid or carousel |
Posts, forms and site
| Block | Name | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Posts | slate/posts |
A grid of posts from the query you choose |
| Post Grid/Carousel | slate/postgrid |
Posts as a grid, masonry or carousel with more layout control |
| User Info | slate/userinfo |
Details about a user, such as the post author |
| Form (Adv) | slate/advanced-form |
Contact and signup forms. Forms are stored under Signocore Slate → Forms |
| Header (Adv) | slate/header |
A header or footer built from blocks. Headers are stored under Signocore Slate → Headers |
| Navigation (Adv) | slate/navigation |
A menu built from blocks. Menus are stored under Signocore Slate → Navigations |
| Search (Adv) | slate/search |
A search field or search icon |
| Site Identity | slate/identity |
Your logo, site title and tagline |
Some blocks exist only inside another block, such as Tab inside Tabs or Single Button inside Buttons (Adv). They do not show up in the inserter on their own.
To remove blocks you never use from the inserter, go to Signocore Slate → Block Visibility. See Block visibility.
Block defaults
When you style a block the way you want it, you can make that style the starting point for every new block of that type.
- Select the block and open its settings in the editor sidebar.
- Open the Block Defaults panel and click Save as default.
New blocks of that type now start with those settings. Blocks you already added keep their current look, and text or images in the block are not saved. The Block Defaults panel is visible to administrators only.
To reset or move block defaults, open the Slate Blocks Controls sidebar from the editor's options menu. It has Reset Block Defaults and Import/Export Block Settings.
The pattern library
The theme folder contains more than 600 section patterns, such as heroes, pricing tables, testimonials and contact sections, and around 40 full-page layouts. The library is part of the theme, so theme updates can add patterns.
There are two ways to insert a pattern.
From the Design Library
- In the block editor, click Design Library in the top toolbar. An empty Row Layout block also shows a Design Library button.
- Choose the Patterns tab for sections or the Pages tab for complete page layouts.
- Filter by category or type in the search field.
- Click a pattern to insert it.
From the WordPress pattern inserter
The section patterns are also in the standard block inserter. Open the inserter, choose Patterns and pick a category such as Hero, Call to Action or Pricing Table. Full-page layouts are only in the Design Library.
After you insert a pattern, it is ordinary blocks. Change the text, swap the images and adjust the design like any other content.
Your own patterns
Save sections you reuse as patterns under Slate Patterns:
- Go to Slate Patterns → Patterns and click Add Pattern.
- Build the section with blocks and give it a title.
- Assign Pattern Categories, Collections or Pattern Keywords to make it easy to find.
- Publish it.
Published patterns appear in the Design Library's Patterns tab and in the WordPress pattern inserter next to the bundled ones. Slate Patterns → Library shows how many bundled and custom patterns you have.
To edit a bundled pattern, first copy the library into your own patterns: go to Slate Patterns → Settings and click Import disk patterns to CPT. Patterns you already copied are skipped, so running it again is safe.
Share patterns between your sites
One Signocore Slate site can offer its own patterns to your other Signocore Slate sites.
On the site that shares:
- Go to Slate Patterns → Settings.
- Turn on Enable Pattern Hub Server and click Save settings.
- Under Access keys, click Generate new key and copy the key.
On the site that receives:
- Go to Slate Patterns → Settings.
- Under Connected libraries, enter a Label, the other site's Site URL and the Access key.
- Choose how often to refresh under Cache refresh: Daily, Weekly or Monthly.
- Click Connect library. The connection is tested before it is saved.
Only patterns you created are shared. The bundled library is not, because every Signocore Slate site already has it. Each remote site uses its own key, and you can revoke a key at any time.
Pattern images and privacy
Pattern markup is stored in the theme folder on your server. Preview images and the example photos and videos inside the patterns are not: they load from Signocore's CDN at cdn.signocore.com. This happens while you browse patterns in the Design Library or the WordPress pattern inserter, so your browser contacts the CDN while you work in the editor.
When you save a page that contains pattern images or videos, Signocore Slate imports them into your media library, attaches them to the page and points the blocks at your own copies. Published pages then load them from your server.
Note: The import only runs when the user who saves the page is allowed to upload files. If a contributor saves the page, the images and videos keep loading from the CDN until an editor or administrator saves it again.
Background videos in patterns are imported the same way, so a published page does not load them from the CDN either.
To load pattern media from your own copy of the CDN, define the SLATE_LIBRARY_CDN_BASE constant in wp-config.php with the address of your copy. It must serve the same files at the same paths.
define( 'SLATE_LIBRARY_CDN_BASE', 'https://media.example.com/themes/slate' );