New features for use with Gutenberg editor
In early November, the UMaine and UMaine Machias websites were updated to include new features in support of our transition to the newer Gutenberg editor:
Hiding page titles
There is now a page option available to hide the default H2 heading on pages. If you primarily use our content blocks feature for advanced page layouts, this feature was already in place (a page using content blocks must have a heading manually added to the content). For pages using the newer Gutenberg editor, you now have the ability to hide the name of your page, which allows you to use a Gutenberg block at the top of the page with more advanced heading options.
To hide a page’s default heading: when editing a page, display the settings panel by clicking the gear icon in the upper right of the Gutenberg editor (this icon toggles that panel to display or hide). Within the settings panel, select the “Page” tab and scroll to the bottom of the panel. There will be a “Page Options” section where the “Hide page title?” checkbox is available. Checking that box will hide the default H2 heading on your page.
Important note: All pages on your website other than the home page should have an H2 heading at the top of the page for search optimization and web accessibility compliance. When turning off a page’s heading (or when using content blocks) it is important to add a text heading to the page to characterize the content on the page for site search.
Hiding sidebars on posts
The Gutenberg editor is also available on website posts; because posts are typically text-heavy content pieces, the page sidebar has been a part of the post template in order to narrow the column of text for readability. For those who want a cleaner reading experience for their posts, there is now a “Post Options” section in both the Gutenberg and Classic post editor where you will find a checkbox, “Hide sidebar.”
When a sidebar is hidden on a post, the content area for the post remains the same width, but is now more centered on the page with wider margins to each side.
Important note: If there is important content in your sidebar, hiding the sidebar is not advised.