Feature Content Blocks

Today I thought we’d discuss some of the content blocks we have available for our Standard Content module. Specifically, today we’ll discuss feature blocks. These are blocks of content specifically designed to focus attention on a special offer or featured section of your site. They are intended to be bright, colourful and graphic, with short, sharp titles and catchy summary copy, and will most likely be used on the homepage or section home pages of your site.

Basic Feature Block

In its simplest form, the feature block collects a title, image, copy and target link, and puts these together into a feature. You need to choose the image from resources, so you will need to have already uploaded the image in order to use it. The image will not automatically be re-sized, so you will need to size it yourself. This is intentional – we assume that you’ll create the image manually anyway, rather than simply uploading a photo, so you’ll be able to design the image to the correct size when creating it.

Background Feature Block

This slightly more complex block uses the picture as a background, rather than as one of the elements in the block. This allows the image to seem to flow around the title and text. In this case, you’ll design the background with space for the title, copy and link, and define in the content block where to place the copy. You will specify whether the copy should be on the left or the right, and how wide (in pixels) to make the space for the copy.

[caption id="attachment_285" align="aligncenter" width="490" caption="Background feature blocks used effectively on the MBA website"][/caption]

Rotating Feature Block

This new block is a javascript based content block that replaces our previous Flash slideshow block. The slideshow was a complicated thing to manage, but the rotating feature block is much easier to build, manage and use. Essentially, it allows you to add a small number of large images into the block, each with a title and a target URL. On the site, the block starts by showing the first picture, then after a few seconds that fades out, and the second picture fades in. The block continues to rotate through the images until stopped. A small thumbnail gallery is overlaid on the main block, and if the user clicks on a thumbnail, the rotation stops, and the corresponding image fades in. Obviously, clicking on the currently displayed main image will take the user to the target URL.

This is an excellent content block to use for a dramatic effect, and to promote between three and six products, events or other important things in a single space. You are able to use large, detailed images to drive your message home without clogging your page up with a mass of conflicting colours as all your blocks compete with each other.