WordPress Workflow: Pages, Elements, and Patterns

Estimated reading time at 200 wpm: 5 minutes

WordPress is the world’s most popular content management system. It provides the core software for a website, handling everything from publishing content to managing users. However, by default, its design and customisation options are limited.

Building a WordPress site with GeneratePress (GP) and GenerateBlocks (GB) is a highly effective way to create a fast, stable, and engaging presentation. For those new to the WordPress ecosystem, it’s helpful to first understand the role each component plays.

This is where GeneratePress and GenerateBlocks come in. GeneratePress is a lightweight and high-performance theme that provides the site’s foundational structure and appearance. It acts as the core framework, offering extensive customisation options through its own modular system. GenerateBlocks is a powerful plugin that extends the native WordPress block editor. It provides a small set of highly flexible and versatile blocks that can be used to build virtually any layout.

The most effective way to build with these tools is to understand how their core components function as a single, integrated system. While each component can be used individually, their collective power lies in a unified workflow that creates consistent, efficient, and scalable websites. Thirty minutes spent here could save hours down the road, and help to avoid the frustration of a wrestling match with manual customisation in WordPress.

You can’t just read this article and know what to do. This is not a tutorial. Those interested will need to find means of getting a WordPress site and spending many hours learning by experience.

The Three Core Components

A successful site build with this stack relies on three main building blocks that work together to create the final user experience.

Pages

Pages are the foundation of a website’s content. Think of a page or post as the main story you are telling. It is where all of the unique content is placed, such as an “About Us” page, a blog post, or a product description. The WordPress block editor serves as the canvas where all of this content is arranged and styled using the blocks from GenerateBlocks. The content on this canvas is specific to that one page, distinct from the consistent structural elements that surround it.

Elements

Elements are the structural framework of a website. They are dynamic content containers used to create consistent, reusable parts of a site, such as a custom header, a site-wide footer, or a call-to-action that appears on every blog post. Elements are designed to be hooked into specific locations within the theme and can be set to display or be excluded based on powerful rules. This allows for site-wide design consistency without needing to manually add the same content to multiple pages. A good analogy is a master template or frame that wraps around a page’s unique content.

Patterns (Local)

Patterns are pre-designed sections of content. They are groups of blocks that have been saved to be reused quickly. Think of a pattern as a template for a section, such as a pricing table, a services list, or a team member gallery. Patterns are a powerful workflow tool for speeding up the content creation process within a page’s main body. Once a pattern is inserted, its content is independent, meaning changes to one instance do not affect others. This is different from a synced block, which updates everywhere.

A Hierarchical Workflow for Static Site Design

Building a static site with GeneratePress and GenerateBlocks is most effective when approached with a clear, hierarchical sequence of operations.

1. Establish the Site-wide Framework with Elements: The process begins with creating the global components that will appear on multiple pages. Block Elements are used to build the main header and footer. For example, a header can be built to include a logo, navigation links, and a contact button. These are the “template parts” that define the site’s overall look and feel. The display rules are then set to ensure they appear consistently throughout the site. This step establishes the foundational structure.
2. Create Reusable Content with Patterns: Before building individual pages, standardised content sections are created and saved as Patterns. This includes sections like a “services” block, a “contact” form, or a team bio layout. These patterns act as building blocks, ready to be dropped into any page later on. Saving these sections one time saves countless hours of rebuilding.
3. Construct Individual Pages: The unique pages of the website are then built. The main content of a Page is assembled by inserting the previously created Patterns and adding unique text and media as needed. The site-wide Elements created in the first step will automatically frame this content, ensuring a cohesive design.
4. Integrate Elements and Patterns into Blog Posts: The workflow for blog posts follows the same principle, but with a specific focus on dynamic content.
   • Elements are used to create dynamic components that appear on all blog posts. For example, a Block Element can be set to display a custom author bio or a related posts section at the bottom of every post.
   • Patterns are used to add standardised sections within the blog post’s content itself, such as a call-to-action for a newsletter sign-up or a specific “key takeaways” box.

This hierarchical approach—from big-picture Elements to reusable Patterns to unique Page content—provides a clear and efficient pathway for building a professional and easily maintainable static site.

The Takeaway

Understanding the distinction between Pages, Elements, and Patterns is crucial for building with GeneratePress and GenerateBlocks. This knowledge allows creators to move beyond simply building a website; instead creating a logical, repeatable system. By using Elements for site-wide structure and Patterns for reusable content sections, the time spent building and maintaining a site is drastically reduced. This workflow empowers creators to produce consistent, professional designs without having to rely on complex code or cumbersome methods.