Looking for a way to create custom WordPress post templates without coding?
With WordPress post templates, you can create a template that you can easily apply to some or all of your content , saving you time and helping you create cohesive layouts.
In the old days, the only way to create custom individual post templates was to edit your theme’s code. But now, that has changed and there are some great no code drag and drop tools to help you easily design custom WordPress post templates.
In this article, we will introduce you to WordPress post templates. and discuss some of its benefits in case you’re not familiar with them. Then we’ll show you two different ways to create your own templates without coding.
Let’s dive in!
📚 Table of Contents:
- What are WordPress Post Templates?
- Why You Might Want to Use WordPress Post Templates
- How to Create Custom WordPress Post Templates
- Method 1: Using WordPress Block Editor (Gutenberg)
- Method 2: Using Elementor
What are WordPress Post Templates?
A post template is the layout your content uses when you publish it. For example, let’s say you write a post, add a title, upload a featured image, etc. The post template is what controls where the post title displays, where the featured image is (above or below the post title?), where it displays the main content, where to display the author’s name, etc.
By default, post templates are controlled by their theme. Some themes like Neve allow you to customize this template using the built-in settings:
However, you can only edit one template at a time. Without the flexibility of saving multiple templates, you are left with very few options. For example, what if you want to use one template for posts in one category and a different template for posts in another category?
This is where custom WordPress post templates come in. These are pre-made structures that you can customize and apply to some or all of your content.
Why You Might Want to Use WordPress Post Templates
The Most Obvious Benefit of Using WordPress Post Templates WordPress is speed. Once you’ve invested the time to make them, there’s no need to meticulously edit the structure of each new post. Instead, you can simply choose the template to apply to that post and start working on the content.
This helps you spend more time on other important tasks. Whether you’re looking to improve your site’s search engine optimization (SEO) or increase audience engagement for your blog, these templates can help free up your schedule.
Pre-made templates can also Help standardize your content structure. Consistency can be key to a clean and professional site design. This is especially true if you are already using templates in other areas of your site. For example, if you’ve made significant changes to the structure of your pages, you might want to create posts to match.
As you can imagine, it’s hard to find fault with a labor-intensive tool. from your plate. Although the process of creating the starter WordPress post templates will take a bit of time, we highly recommend giving them a try. I might thank you later!
How to Create Custom WordPress Post Templates
Now, let’s look at two effective ways to create WordPress post templates without coding:
- The free WordPress native block editor aka Gutenberg.
- The Elementor Pro Page Builder plugin – starting at $49.
We recommend trying each method – you will get almost the same result, but the process may be a little different.
Method 1: Use WordPress Block Editor (Gutenberg)
To create WordPress custom post templates natively, you can use the new template editing mode in the native WordPress (aka Gutenberg) block editor. This feature was released in WordPress 5.8, which was released in July 2021.
If you’re using the classic editor instead of the block editor, you’ll want to skip to the next method.
This It’s a core WordPress feature, so it’s 100% free and you don’t need to install a plugin to access it. However, you will only see template editing mode if your theme has specifically enabled it. Because this is a relatively new feature, not all theme developers have enabled it at the time of writing this post.
Basically, if you don’t see this feature, it probably means that your theme developer hasn’t added support for it yet. If that’s the case, you can:
- Add support manually by adding this code snippet to the functions.php file of your child theme or a plugin like Code Snippets – add_theme_support ( ‘block-templates’ );
- Proceed to the second method, which will work with any theme.
1. Open the template editor
Start by creating a new post using the block editor.In the post settings sidebar, you will see an option called Template:
Again, if this option is not present in your editor, it is likely that your current theme is not yet compatible with the latest version of WordPress.
Then click New. In the pop-up window that follows, enter a name for your template and select Create:
2. Design your template using Theme Blocks
You are now in the template editor, where you can start designing the layout of your posts. There are two types of layout elements you can use:
- Theme Blocks – These will dynamically insert content from each post that uses that template. For example, there are theme blocks for post title, post featured image, post content, etc. So if you add the Post Content block, your template will display the content from the publisher of that post.
- Regular Blocks – These are blocks that will be the same for each post. publication that uses that template. For example, you could add a CTA form that displays below the content.
Below, you can see that the Post Title block displays the actual title of the publisher’s post. You can also adjust the typography and color options to your liking:
You can find all theme blocks in the Theme section of the block inserter:
You can also use all the regular blocks, including layout blocks (like columns). Note, however, that if you add a content block, it will be the same for every post that uses this template.
3. Save your template and apply it to your posts
Once you’re happy with your design, click Publish to save your template. Note that you’ll need to save your template separately from your post; otherwise, these changes will be applied to the content of your publication.
To do this, you just need to uncheck the box next to your post title, as shown below:
If you decide to edit your template later, you can simply open a post, locate the Template option under Settings and select Edit:
Remember that changes you make to an existing template will appear in every post that uses that template. As you can see, you also have the option to create another template. This can be very useful if you want to use different layouts for different types of posts, such as guides, lists, and FAQs.
Whenever you want to create a new post or edit an existing post, you can click the dropdown in the Template panel and apply the correct template:
We think this is the way easier to create post templates. The wide variety of blocks also gives you plenty of customization options. However, if you are looking for some more advanced features, consider using the second method.
Method 2: Use Elementor to Create a Single Post Template
The other main method of adding templates is to use the Elementor Pro plugin. This plugin offers more design and functionality freedom, which makes it perfect if you need a little more flexibility.
1. Create a New Single Post Template
Before you begin, you’ll need to have a premium version of Elementor installed and activated. The free version of this plugin comes with some impressive features, but unfortunately, creating custom single post templates is not one of them.
Once you’re all set up, you should see two new menu options in your WordPress admin: Elementor and Templates. Click on Templates
This will open an interface that will allow you to select where you want to use your template. That is, which posts should use this template?
To control that, Elementor allows you to add “conditions”.
If you want to use this post template for every post, you can simply set the condition equal to All Singular. If not, you can set up rules to target posts by categories, tags, authors, etc. specific. Or you can target specific posts.
Once you’re done, click Save