The Object Level

The Object Level refers to specific design objects as well as single images of grouped objects.

Rather than all the images in a gallery appearing in the one item post, a specific portfolio Item is created for each image.

The reason for this is that images on their own lose their links and other information when shared on social media. Sharing a portfolio item allows the website address and other details to also be shared, meaning more traffic back to the site.

Also, every Object Level portfolio item also carries the rest of the Series it belongs in. This is an advantage when a viewer is transferred to the page from a social media post or pin: they immediately see the things they have come for – i.e. “more like that one”.

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Creating an Object Portfolio Item

To create an Object Item, find an earlier one and clone it.

You can do this by selecting ‘Copy to a new draft’ in the ‘Publish’ box on the right. You can also do this with the page in View mode (top right) or by selecting ‘Clone’ in the Quick Edit.

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Portfolio Tags

Find the Portfolio Tags box on the right.

– Type the name of the series here in the tag box

– Click ‘Add’

This will create the new tag to be used on all the Object items for the series. If the tag already exists, start typing it and it should appear, to be selected.

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Set Featured Image

Then set the Featured image*. The dialogue for this is at the bottom of the right-hand column.

Featured images are automatically dropped from a Portfolio item when it is cloned.

– Click on ‘Set Featured Image’

At this stage, it’s a good idea to sketch a grid of the order you want the images to appear. It is best to work backwards, starting by creating the object item to appear at the bottom right of the portfolio. That way you won’t have to edit any dates/times to get the items to appear in the right order.

– Select your image in the Media Library

– Double-check the following:

• file size (under 100kb)
• pixel width (1142px)
• the title
• caption details, including the title in italics (<em>title</em>)
• Alt text (including your name and copyright)

This last should be auto-reader friendly

– Copy the caption to the clipboard (Ctrl+C), so it can be used in the Item post title

(This is assuming you are working in sequence and have set the caption in XNView before uploading the image.)

– Click on Set Featured image

This will return you to the the Item Editor.

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This is a good time to save your changes:

– Click the ‘Update’ button at the bottom of the ‘Publish’ box

Item Title

– Copy the caption text into the Title field, at the top of the edit view (Ctrl+V)

– Amend the title as needed

Each Object Level portfolio item should bear a unique title, so that there can be no ambiguity when viewers refer to it when making enquiries. It also needs to be easily recognizable, so the title should start with the Series name (eg. ‘2 to Form’) and then a unique number or other brief identifying words. Try to be consistent across the series.

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Permalinks and slugs

Below the title is the Permalink, where you edit the slug. It is important to look for this when an item has been cloned, as it will otherwise carry the old slug with a ‘-2’ suffix.

– Rename it with the series name and its number in the series or an abbreviation of the object identifier

Again, be consistent – it will make it easier later when you are looking for the item.

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The WPBakery Page Builder

For the first item in a series, you will need to edit the top section. When viewing Object items on the site, the series information appears below the large featured image and above the small portfolio images.

Description text

– Hover the mouse over the first column

– Click on the green pencil that appears

– Edit your descriptive text in the left column, or copy in text prepared earlier.

It might be a good idea at this point to copy your descriptive text to the clipboard, to use in the Excerpt field.

– Select a suitable portion of the text and copy (Ctrl+C).

– Select ‘Save changes’

– Scroll down the page to the Excerpt box

– Paste in the text (Ctrl+V)

I haven’t been able to work out yet how exactly the Excerpt is used. But it’s probably worth populating it as you go, rather than having to do all the pages later when we find out more about it.

If you are looking to edit the Item subheading, it is accessed from the Parameters and Options section. See below.

Available From – Stockist links

To edit the ‘Available From’ information in the right-hand column, you may need to add another stockist. So, before editing, Update the page, open a new tab and navigate to the ‘Stockists’ page.

– Find the link you want and right-click over it

– Select ‘Copy Link Address’.

Return to the Object Item tab and select the green pencil over the ‘Available From’ column.

– Select the store name text and click on the ‘insert/edit link’ button.  

– Best to click on the little cog to the right, which will bring up a clearer dialogue:

– Paste the address into the URL field

– Update the store name

– Tick the ‘Open link in new tab’ checkbox.

This way the site will still be there later, after the view has finished with the stockist, so the viewer can continue browsing, or add it to their Favorites.

– When done, select ‘Add Link’

– When finished editing the section, select ‘Save Changes’

– Then click Update

The Portfolio Items element

Below the two columns of text is a single-row element called Portfolio Items

– Hover the mouse and click on the green pencil

–Select ‘Build Query’

– Go to the ‘Taxonomy’ field

– Start writing the name of the Portfolio tag you created for this series

The tag name will appear, possibly with some other options – make sure you use the correct one, and that it also includes ‘(portfolio-tag)’.

NB: Don’t try placing tags in the ‘Tag’ field – this doesn’t work.

When done, select ‘Save changes’

*If any items fail to appear in the Portfolio Items section, it is often because a Featured image has not been set.

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Other edits

For the first item in a series, you will also need to edit the Subtitle.

This appears in the Parameters and Options box:

General Details > Item Details

Also here is the ‘Prev-Next Navigation’ tab

Set the Previous and Next Items according to where you want the Series to sit in The Design Series page.

The ‘Custom Archive URL’ sets the address for the portfolio link icon in the bottom centre of the page: 

For all Design Series items, this should be ‘http://szilverworks.com/#design’.