Global Elements | Use containers + unlink global

Global elements right now are single elements and not containers/sections like Oxygen allows.

They also don’t allow you to disconnect an instance of them.

I’d love to see both of these implemented as right now global elements are quite limited

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Hey @Deanphillips great mind thinks alike, I did submit a suggestion on the ideas board to be able to unlink a global element/template (in my case, similar to Elementor). It hasn’t been published yet to vote on but it does take a small time to do.

@timmse Can you kindly check to make sure I actually did submit it and it wasn’t just a dream :rofl:

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Hi Dean & Michael,

it is already on the idea board?

Best regards,
timmse

I see that, but am I missing something or can you not do sections/container based global elements?

What exactly do you mean by container/section based global elements? Can you perhaps explain this with an example? Just to make sure we are not talking past each other :slight_smile:

Sure thing! Just recorded a loom :smiley:

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You can save them as templates and reuse them on multiple pages etc.

For example, create a section or container once you have styled it added elements inside, etc. it then save it as a section template (right-click over the section > save as template). This can be re-used on pages. I am not sure by looking at the video if anything else is missing (function-wise).

The issue we face at the moment is, if you decide to use that template anywhere else on the site then all changes are applied to all copies of that template.

Oh strange, I’m unable to get “section” templates to be linked to other places on the site (long video on this here)

For example: Create a section template, and drop it in somewhere, the content is editable and any changes you make (other than classes) aren’t synced to elsewhere you dropped the template in.

Of course if you edit the template itself and drop that in, the new changes are reflected when you drop it in again, but once again aren’t reflected in anywhere you dropped it in previously, because it’s not a reusable section/part.

How can we create a section/group of elements that’s changes can be changed one place and updated elsewhere? (Like global elements but for entire sections)

Hey Dean,

You can save a “section” as a template and reuse it wherever you like with the “save as template” option you’ve mentioned in your video.

You can use templates in two different ways:

  1. You can insert your saved template within the template element, behaving like a “global section”. This means, if you change something at the template, it will update everywhere when it is inserted with the template element.

  1. You can insert the template independently by clicking the template icon in the upper right and choosing insert template. This way, the template gets inserted directly as individual elements. So changing the template (in Bricks > Templates) will not affect it.

I hope this helps!

Best regards,
timmse

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Ah I didn’t realise there was a difference between the two template options (folder vs sidebar). Thanks so much for your help :smiley:

You’re welcome. It took me a while at the beginning as well to find the template element and to understand what it is for :smiley:

Using the section template in templates helps, but it’s still not the best solution.

The way Oxygen works with Reusable is ideal, as the template can be used anywhere on the site as a Single, and any changes made to the template are replicated across the site.

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Just picking this back up briefly, is this the suggested route then for Bricks to use reusable sections?

For me, still, the ‘global’ option is somewhat pointless, limited and a messy way of working as currently you need to save all the elements individually out, to be able to use them globally and this makes things super messy.

I just want to save this block say, and use it elsewhere, but it saves literally just the frame…

http://recordit.co/TPWLPlxgib

Also adding this in to another page, then makes the contents of the global section appear, but higher up the page, and reversed?? That seems like a bug, right? (I will submit if confirmed)

https://recordit.co/wM4CW1aEDm

@timmse - so you’re saying, save it as a template, then add that back in, and edit the template itself in order to make that reusable? I built another site in Bricks earlier in the year and don’t remember such troubles, maybe it’s just me though!

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Addition:
When there is a template element used on a page, having the option to edit the current template will be an excellent option as we don’t need to open the template folder and look for the template to edit.

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I’m not sure if I understand this correctly - but the Global Template (Save as template → use Template element to show template) seems to show the CONTENT as well, while I just want the settings and everything to be there, but change the content.

Also it seems that a Global Element saves just the element itself and nothing inside - but I can’t turn a set of elements (in a div or col) into a section. In this use case, attempting to use template (as a set of elements) within a query loop. A similar issue to what @robp is experiencing.

EDIT: I’ve just tried to save a collection of elements within a div as a template, and tried to showcase that Template using the template element, but the Template element is only pulling in PAGE templates which is totally bizzare.

Edit 2: I’ve had to go into the Folders and open the Template that I just saved (the div collection of elements) and set the template type to Section before I could use it elsewhere. While I achieved my goal, it’s obvious there are glitches, and also it’s not intuitively labeled or placed - and how to differenciate between “global” and “template”. I’d prefer the “global” to be removed, and just use the Class system for global styling, and Templates for such collections of elements to be global.

Edit 3: While the above solution in Edit 2 may work for some - it hasn’t in my use case, as it’s not pulling in the data from the Query Loop properly. It’s unusable for dynamic use cases as of this moment.

I was stumped for some time trying to convert containers/sections to global elements as per @Deanphillips original post. But this works.

Not a bad way to do it as it places it as a fixed/locked element in the structure panel.

Thanks @timmse

Additionally:
Add an option to view the template feature image.

I am currently having over 50 ‘re-usable templates’, it is hard to remember the names. If the thumbnail shows besides the template name, would be really helpful.

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I think it needs to behave like O2’s methods to be really useful. Not that I want to go back to O2! :stuck_out_tongue:

Need to be able to choose if you want the original or the original editable. We need to be able to choose if we are editing the source with this include or only this copy.

Global Elements only save the selected element and nothing inside. Not that useful either.

Please put this on the Road Map.

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Add this fearure request it’s very useful!

When using this method in a query loop iget weird bugs with featured images. any one had some similar experience ?

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