Uses existing template parts in the theme to dynamically build a custom page layout, per page. An options page allows you to define your template part directory (if you wanted to keep these template parts separate from other template parts) and the template part prefix you are using.
Check out the wiki for full documentation!
Note: With saved layouts, the name you pass to the do_action must match exactly the way it is saved on the options page. So, if your layout was instead named "my saved layout", you would need to pass it to the do_action with the spaces intact.
The page builder will, by default, use the template parts that were set on the page when you set them on the Edit page screen. However, if no template parts were defined on the individual page, you can also set Global Template Parts that will load on all pages that don't have their own, individual template parts defined.
You can leave the Global setting to "- No Template Parts -" to not define any global template parts if individual page-specific template parts weren't set.
Saved layouts are used when there is no layout set for that page (or post) with Global layouts used as a generic fallback. You can set a saved layout to be the default layout for all posts of a type or you can call them specifically when you add the do_action to your theme template files.
Dynamically add template parts within the Edit Page screen and reorder those components.
The results are saved to post meta on the page and visible as soon as you save the page.
Why is there an empty "- No Template Parts -" (or multiple) template in the saved layouts after I save the options?
I can't remove a saved layout after I've created one.
It's so close to being exactly what I need in many projects. Unfortunately: The WP repo version is behind the documentation. Can't get rid of the Default area or default "Posts" template part. Changed file structure to try to get around an issue, and suddenly there was no output, despite back-end settings being correct. It's just not usable in development, which is very sad indeed. I'm not bothered by the fact it hasn't been updated in a year, because it still works. I think they could just bump the compatibility without much or any work.
"WDS Simple Page Builder" is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.
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added post type support beyond just pages. Options page now allows you to check which post types you want to use the page builder on, and the page builder metabox will appear on the Add New/Edit page for those post types.
switched to using get_queried_object instead of get_the_ID to get a post id when checking the existence of post meta for cases when a loop is not being used or the action is fired outside the loop.