Design issue Inconsistent block header in widget

[Wildcat Media]

Affected version

2.1

While trying to add widgets to the What's new: Overview section, I have found an inconsistency in formatting.

Each section of the What's new: Overview page has a block header. For the first widget, "Newest posts," a proper header is displaying. But on subsequent widgets I add, the header is different. The difference is that "Newest posts" has HTML of <h3 class="block-header">, whereas the others use <h3 class="block-minorHeader">.







So obviously, I would like to have them all match, to one or the other (all header, or all minorHeader). The samples here are from the default XF2 theme, "clean" with no modifications.

 

[Chris D]

This actually has to be more of a suggestion; technically it’s a design issue if anything.

There’s a rhyme and reason to the different headers and that boils down to the minor header being most appropriate for use in the sidebar. I’m sure you would agree that if the sidebar widgets on the forum list were all the full header, it might look a bit “heavy”.

Some widgets we expect people may want to use in non-sidebar areas. For those widgets we have added different variants that are more appropriate for non-sidebar areas.

From the ones pictured the profile post widget does have a “Full” variant so we’d recommend using that.

For anything else if the block styling doesn’t match where you’d like to use it then you’d need to add custom CSS to rectify that yourself.

 

[Wildcat Media]

I've been finding that out myself as well--I used a third party theme where the headers were consistent, yet the stock XF theme treated them as you've described. That was partly where I was getting confused.

One suggestion would be to apply the styling based on where the widget is located, adding the thicker header when used on a page and thinner when used in a sidebar, regardless of where a widget was designed to be used. If CSS will work, I may just try that instead, at least to get some consistency. I have a few things I really don't need in the sidebar, but would like to offer below the forum list or thread list.

(Hint to third-party developers--make us a dual-column widget add-on for use outside the sidebar. )

Down the road, though, I could see having specific widgets designed for use on a page or at the bottom of the forum listing, which would have different styling from sidebar widgets. In other words, one "new posts" widget with sidebar styling, and another for full-width.