Brine 7.0 Blog Page & Categories

Hi there, I'd like my blog page to look exactly like this: https://asteriastudio.com/blog/

But I'm unsure what it takes. Do I need code, or is this just a series of different types of blocks?

I think I understand the concept of blog categories and I've created an unlinked Blog Post Archive page already, but I just want to know what's involved in getting my page to look like this, with the most recent post featured really beautifully, front-and-center, and all past blog posts forming a grid underneath it.

I also really love the Categories strip across the screen with clickable icons (see screenshot). Is this something that needs coding?

Any and all insights are very appreciated! 🙂

7 minutes ago, amuzz said:

I'd like my blog page to look exactly like this: https://asteriastudio.com/blog/ But I'm unsure what it takes.

The page you've linked is a WordPress site, not Squarespace. That said, if you've added categories to your posts, you can create links to these categories in any text element, including Text Blocks.

You can feature a blog post by adding a Summary Block (set Number of Items to 1) and placing it in a Page Section above the other posts. 

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Yes, thank you. I added a featured blog post section, and I know about links.

But I'm looking for ideas on how to make my blog page look as much like the one on the Asteria site as possible? As pictured, the featured post has a right-hand white box (or some other color) with text and a Read More button underneath. 

Also, how exactly can I create that Categories bar? Is this not possible in Squarespace? Thank you.

Also, text boxes don't allow for colorized backgrounds, do they?

 The categories bar would not be that hard to make, it looks like a simple text block shaped to the right size with text or button URL links in the block, each connected to a category URL would work. 

Thank you I will try this!  Still looking for ideas on the featured image that looks like the one above. Thanks everybody for your input! 🙂

1 hour ago, amuzz said:

how exactly can I create that Categories bar?

I created one with Text Blocks in a Page Section:

1 hour ago, amuzz said:

I'm looking for ideas on how to make my blog page look as much like the one on the Asteria site as possible...the featured post has a right-hand white box (or some other color) with text and a Read More button underneath.

This is possible with Custom CSS, once you've added the Summary Block to the page.

This looks beautiful. Thank you! Are you editing in 7.1? I am unable to edit the text box in this way. There aren't color options within my on-page editor. 

I successfully created a text box with hyperlinked text. But I just read that background colors are unsupported in 7.0 😕  (see screenshot)

So I guess I'm out of luck?

Now that I know I can't edit the background color (see attached screenshot) can I have a bit more info on what it would take to create a featured blog post that looks like the one below? I'd settle for this, too, as I think it looks good. And this is a Squarespace site so I'm hoping I can do this?? Thank you!

Again, I'd like to create a read-more button (instead of a link) within my text box, much the same as this person wanted to do. (Topic was closed in the forum without a solution.) 

The closest way to do what you want is to use Summary block items with a read more button and arrange the excerpt box to be poster-like.  They are very changeable using custom CSS, although I don't know if you can make them exactly like the ones you posted. Paul can answer that for us both. I use summary blocks and have changed them from the 7.0 default. I can change the shape and move the text to either side or below, several things using CSS if you care to look:

derrick's random views

OK thank you. Looking fwd to Paul's response, too. In the meantime, would you kindly elaborate on the following in terms of a how-to? Thanks again!

Quote

use Summary block items with a read more button and arrange the excerpt box to be poster-like

3 hours ago, amuzz said:

Are you editing in 7.1? I am unable to edit the text box in this way.

Yes, sorry. I missed the mention of Brine and 7.0 in the title 🫣 and so assumed that your site was built on the latest version.

You can of course update (for free) to the latest version to take advantage of all the newer features on v7.1 🙂.

It will be much more difficult to achieve what you want on v7.0 and will require more code as you'll need to use Summary Blocks for the actual blog. You can use CSS to add a background colour but it all adds to the complexity.

Regarding the featured post, as an example, this is a Summary Block, set to Grid mode, with image and read more link, showing one post, with some CSS added:

1 hour ago, paul2009 said:

with some CSS added

Hi, Paul. Thank you! I think that what you've created could work really well for me, and it looks great. How would I obtain the css for it? And in terms of updating to 7.1, I'd probably want to hire someone do to this, the right way, for me. (I don't trust myself lol) Just wanted to make that one aesthetic change my blog page ATM.

@Lesum I would LOVE this stuff to be done! Do you need access to the site? Can you also handle migrations to 7.1? Let's talk more?