What's the point of yet another ExtraContent stack? ExtraContent Plus boasts full compatibility with RapidWeaver 6 and above; so it includes help links and retina icons for the RapidWeaver addon manager. This ExtraContent stack has been engineered to overcome some of the limitations of the previous ExtraContent stack, like displaying the actual name or number of the container in Stacks edit mode. It will also behave better as your page loads and in instances where a user has disabled Javascript support.

Key features at a glance:

ExtraContent Plus has several useful features...
  • Toggle between embedding content in a theme FreeStyle banner or an ExtraContent container.
  • Because this is an 'inline' stack type, surplus settings are hidden.
  • Content will be hidden until the page is loaded (stops ugly shifting effects happening).
  • A user landing on your page with no Javascript support will continue to see the content, in the normal page flow.
  • The name / number of the container is always shown clearly in Stacks edit mode.
  • Ability to apply custom class names to your blocks of content.
  • A select menu is provided, to change the content type being embedded within the stack.
  • Colour-tag or comment your containers in Stacks edit mode for greater clarity.
  • Large content types (like images) are scaled responsively in edit mode, to prevent the display of scroll bars.

A drop-down select option is provided, allowing you to change the placeholder type shown within the ExtraContent Plus stack. This nifty little feature lets you directly-embed HTML, styled text or images; without needing to nest additional stack elements. This in return gives you a far tidier workspace in edit mode, and significantly less HTML markup in your completed Stacks page.

The tagging option lets you colour-tag your ExtraContent containers different colours, for improved visual organisation. For example in complex page layouts, ExtraContent containers relating to your header and banner region could be coloured green, and those relating to ExtraContent containers in your main content region could be colour-coded blue. Comments let you type tags or short descriptions after the normal name shown in edit mode.

Screenshot

A screenshot of the ExtraContent Plus stack in RapidWeaver edit mode...
 
Picture showing the ExtraContent Plus stack in RapidWeaver edit mode

Setup

Follow these instructions for using the ExtraContent Plus stack...
  1. Install the stack into RapidWeaver 5 or RapidWeaver 6 using the normal methods
  2. Each time you want to setup an ExtraContent or FreeStyle region in your page, open the stacks library and search 'extracontent'
  3. Drag and drop the ExtraContent Plus stack into your Stacks page
  4. In the ExtraContent Plus settings shown on the right in edit mode, change any of the settings relevant to your setup
  5. Place content or stacks within your ExtraContent Plus stack
  6. Preview the page to check everything is working as expected. Export or publish when done.

Important It's fairly commonplace to have separate on / off controls for some ExtraContent containers in your RapidWeaver theme settings. For example social bars and horizontal content containers frequently have settings to control their display. You may need to turn-on some containers in a theme, before your ExtraContent will display. This is typically done so that surplus containers not being used in a page are hidden from view.

Addon compatibility

ExtraContent Plus is compatible with most, but not all stacks and other RapidWeaver addons. Some addons employ complex animation effects or scripting which don't like to be moved on a page. As always, you should obtain free demo versions of stacks and other addons, before committing to a purchase. That way you can be assured and confirm everything will work as expected.

Theme compatibility

ExtraContent Plus will work with most third-party addon themes. However it should be noted that not all RapidWeaver themes include ExtraContent or FreeStyle banners and some may have slightly differing methods of handling this sort of thing. So it's always wise to consult with the documentation provided with your theme. Likewise some themes (like all ThemeFlood themes) provide a 'previewing' option in the theme style settings, so you can see exactly where every ExtraContent or FreeStyle banner container is located in your theme.
 

Contribute

If you find this stack element useful in your personal or commercial web projects; please consider making a small contribution towards ongoing support and updates. There are many different ways you can contribute to the Stacks4Stacks project, and benefits for doing so.