Best layout for article listing page?

[Some French Dude]

Below are 3 layout samples of 2 blogs about natural health and one blog about blogging.
Has anyone in the MD community noticed if one layout type (not limited to the 3 samples below) is more effective than another for blogging?

I find the first one kind of old-school but at the same very neat, clear and effective. I know where I am, what to look at and I have a clear view on the different topic of the articles I can read. How easy is it to do that with MD? I may not be fully up-to-date with MD, but are there today a list of preset layout we can choose from?

 

[Alex]

Glad to see your name come up today @Some French Dude!

The first screenshot you posted is definitely the winner in my eyes as it lists the title and excerpt very simply and even more importantly, is easy to scan so you can find all kinds of content at a glance.

You may want to try out the new "Docs" loop in MD5.2.1 (MD > Site Design > Content > Archives) as it creates a similar layout with the post thumbnail, though now seeing your screenshot I may make a tweak to make the image align with the description text only:

 

[Some French Dude]

@Alex, glad to see my name is welcome.

We share the same preference: First screenshot.
You are right, the tweak would greatly improve the layout. The devil is in the details, right?
Did you also notice the border around the thumbnails?

And the size and shape of the thumbnail? Not sure if a standard MD user can set that easily to mimic the first screenshot.

How to be informed once it's done?

 

[Alex]

These are good suggestions, I have written them down for an MD design update I'm working on. Stay tuned.

 

[Some French Dude]

@Alex , what is the update on this?
I would like to improve the layout of my site and be able to mimic the first layout we both gave our preference to.

One additional question: Instead of only dysplaying the firt lines of the post in the excerpt, is there an existing or simple way to select the part of the post we would like to display as the teasing excerpt?

Thank you.

 

[Alex]

One additional question: Instead of only dysplaying the firt lines of the post in the excerpt, is there an existing or simple way to select the part of the post we would like to display as the teasing excerpt?

Yes, you can copy the text you wish to use as the excerpt and paste it into the "Excerpt" meta box.

 

[Some French Dude]

Thanks @Alex.
What about the layout discussion we had above?

How can I get a layout like the following for my Article page, that is, the page listing my blog posts?

 

[Some French Dude]

Hi @Alex, can you

These are good suggestions, I have written them down for an MD design update I'm working on. Stay tuned.

Can you help out here? Thank you.

 

[Alex]

Hi @Alex, can you

Can you help out here? Thank you.

The "Docs" loop is still your closest solution without further customization.

 

[Some French Dude]

This is how it looks:




...VERSUS:




@Alex , how do you think we can improve this?

I think the "Docs" loop does not credit/reflect the quality of MD as well as my posts. It is not aligned, and not engaging.
As an example, here is one of my post: The engagement comes from a clear focus on the title. Then, a nice image (Pinterest style) appears in the first 25% of the post when you scroll down.

Simple, Effective Blog Layout:
The layout of "Heather's site" above is a classical one for many blog, especially in the Affiliation market. It has proven to be very effective and your extremely positive comments confirms it:

The first screenshot you posted is definitely the winner in my eyes as it lists the title and excerpt very simply and even more importantly, is easy to scan so you can find all kinds of content at a glance.

Maybe I misinterprated your reply from last January, but I had thought MD would offer the same template:

These are good suggestions, I have written them down for an MD design update I'm working on. Stay tuned.

Thank you.

 

[Alex]

@Alex , how do you think we can improve this?

Under the same Loop settings you can enable the "excerpt" text and also change the read more button. You have the option to show a byline in this loop too, and I suggest you add it to show after headline.

 

[Some French Dude]

1 - I'm not interested in showing the date (a date is never a good addition to evergreen content) and author (always me), but I tried implementing your suggestion:

No change (after clearing the cache, I need to mention).

---------
My main request is for the layout including the thumbnails both for:

2 - The main Post block:


How can I integrate a thumbnail into this without changing the style of my post layout/style (No feature image. Please see the description of my post layout in my previous message above if need be).

3 - Also, how to get the side Posts being presented like this (without the dates):

 

[Some French Dude]

I have kept refreshing this page 20 times per day since Wednesday. I'll go ans prepare a herbal tea.

 

[Some French Dude]

@Alex can someone in the team please provide guidance for my 3 questions above? Thank you.

 

[Alex]

Ah, I see the Docs loop needs a little more work to be fully connected to these options. Sorry about that. But you can still get it to work currently if:

1) You add excerpt text to the "Excerpt" meta box
2) Featured image thumbnails will show up if a post has a featured image loop

When I go clean it up so it acts more like the other loop options I should be able to make a couple of design tweaks to it as well, to give us a closer look to the screenshots you're posting.

3 - Also, how to get the side Posts being presented like this (without the dates):

That's a custom widget, would make a good suggestion thread.

 

[Some French Dude]

1) You add excerpt text to the "Excerpt" meta box
2) Featured image thumbnails will show up if a post has a featured image loop

Ok for 1).

For 2), what is a featured image loop? What's the difference with the Feature Image?
Are we talking about the standard feature image here:



If so, as I mentioned above, this is not part of my website branding guideline to integrate a feature image. As I said, I want people to put their full focus on the textual headline. Then I display a Pinterest-style/size image in the top 30% of my post.

Was this clear for you in my earlier explanation or is it clear now? Based on that, how can I do to integrate a thumbnail to my blogpost previews with MD?

When I go clean it up so it acts more like the other loop options I should be able to make a couple of design tweaks to it as well, to give us a closer look to the screenshots you're posting.

Shal I understand here that we should be able to have this! Yeeeahhh! Again, and even if I know you don't like committing to deadlines, I also need to know how to schedule the different phases on my side. Is this something to expect in the coming weeks? Or by the end of July? Thank you.

That's a custom widget, would make a good suggestion thread.

Do you want me to post something about it in the suggestion thread? OR does someone in the MD manage that process?

 

[Alex]

For 2), what is a featured image loop? What's the difference with the Feature Image?

A featured image is a post thumbnail as you said it. You can upload the image and set the position to "Don't show image" in the Featured Image extras meta box, and the thumbnail will still show on the archives page.

Do you want me to post something about it in the suggestion thread? OR does someone in the MD manage that process?

The suggestions forum is open to anyone, just please read this guide before you make a post.