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Content Blocks Builder – Create block, variation, repeater block with carousel, grid, accordion, popup, off-canvas layout

Content Blocks Builder – Create block, variation, repeater block with carousel, grid, accordion, popup, off-canvas layout

Description

Content Blocks Builder (CBB) is a tool that helps you create custom blocks, variations, styles, and patterns directly in the Block Editor without using a code editor.

WordPress, with its Gutenberg Block Editor, provides a robust foundation for building websites. However, when you need something more specific or unique features that are not available in the default blocks, you have to build custom solutions or explore third-party options. CBB is designed to help you create those unique layouts and features easily, eliminating the need to seek out third-party plugins.

The core feature of CBB is to create custom blocks by grouping core blocks or third-party blocks into a container block. This container block offers native features such as typography, colors, spacing, border, etc., along with a bunch of custom advanced features that help you create common layouts such as grid, carousel, accordion, modal, off-canvas, etc. You can also create repeater blocks to display repeating content that works similarly to the ACF repeater field. For more information, please check out the detailed guide about CBB blocks.

The goal of CBB is to help you build a complex website with WordPress using only core blocks and native Gutenberg features with any block theme.

Key Features

  • Manage custom blocks: Create, edit, copy, import, and delete custom blocks.
  • Create repeater blocks like ACF repeater fields that support grid, carousel, accordion, and vertical stack layout
  • Advanced block support features: Modal, off-canvas, toggle content, sticky, etc.
  • Manage block variations & block styles: Create, edit, copy, import, and delete block variations. It works on any block.
  • Manage block patterns: Create, edit, copy, import, and delete custom block patterns.
  • Enhance the Query Loop block: Add grid, carousel layouts, and advanced filter and sorting settings.
  • There is a library of pre-built blocks, variations, styles, and patterns
  • Load Google Fonts easily with a few clicks
  • Import/export custom blocks, variations, and patterns from/to other sites

Why choose CBB?

  • CBB adheres to Gutenberg, making it user-friendly and easy to use. If you are familiar with the Block Editor then you are already familiar with CBB.
  • CBB uses core blocks to build container blocks, ensuring it’s fast, clean, flexible, bloat-free and code-free.
  • Sites built with CBB are easier to maintain as most tasks are accomplished through the Block Editor. You don’t need to know React to create a complex block or maintain a code repository for it.

How does it help?

Below are some video tutorials that demonstrate how you can use this plugin to build your sites:

Create a card block, a grid repeater block, and a carousel repeater block

Create a banner slider for your site directly on the Editor

Create a custom blog page

Create a featured posts section

Create a glow-hover effect button variation

More video tutorials

Create custom layouts

You can create common layouts with CBB such as grid, carousel, accordion, and vertical stack. CBB includes 5 built-in layout blocks: Advanced Group, Grid, Carousel, Stack and Accordion. You can use them or build your custom blocks easily.

Watch the video tutorial to create a simple responsive grid using the built-in Grid block.

Create a similar layout by creating a custom grid block.

Watch the video tutorial to create a banner slider using the built-in Carousel block.

Watch the video tutorial to create a FAQ section using the built-in Accordion block.

Create popup, off-canvas, and toggle content

With the toggle content feature, you can build a popup, off-canvas, toggle content easily and you can put anything in there.

Watch the step-by-step video tutorial to create modal, off-canvas content.

Create a responsive header with hamburger menu and search bar toggle.
Create a notification bar.
Create a video popup.
Create a cookie popup.
Create an off-canvas content.

Enhance the Query Loop and other blocks

CBB provides a bunch of advanced features to add style to custom blocks like responsive width, height, spacing, border, box-shadow, transform, alignments etc. And by wrapping around other blocks, you can add those features to other blocks as well.

Create a custom blog page
Create a banner slider using the Query Loop block.
Create a carousel of posts using the Query Loop block.
Create a blog layout with overlay style using the Query Loop block.

Create block variations, block styles, and block patterns

CBB helps you create custom variations, styles, and patterns directly in the Block Editor without using WordPress API.

Create variations and styles for the core image block.
Create variations for any block.
Create patterns.

Google Fonts

This feature does a really simple job, it loads a font for headings text and another for the body text from more than 1000+ Google Fonts easily with a few clicks. If you are worried about GDPR compliance, there is an option to load fonts from Bunny Fonts instead of Google Fonts.

How to use Google Fonts and be GDPR compliant.

Which theme should I use with this plugin?

It is compatible with all Gutenberg-ready themes, but our recommended themes are default themes such as Twenty Twenty Four, Twenty Twenty Three, Twenty Twenty Two, or Astra theme.

How does it work with other blocks/plugins?

This plugin works with all third-party blocks but we recommend using single-block plugins for lightweight and performance. We also develop several single block plugins, that work great with this plugin, please see them in the below section.

Design library

We have already included a library of block patterns for you to quickly use or customize to fit your design. There is a popup inserter in the block editor for you to find and insert patterns with a few clicks.

How to use the pattern inserter popup.

Browse the Design Library to see what the plugin can do for you.

Block and Variation library

Besides the pattern library, we have built an external library of content blocks and common block variations. All of the blocks/variations in this library have been created by CBB directly in the Block Editor. With a few clicks, you can easily import blocks or variations into your site. You use them directly or customize or learn from them.

Watch some video tutorials to learn how to use the library:

Import the particles background block.
Import the basic header block.
Import the Query Loop variations.
Import the arrow buttons.

Learn CBB

Check out the documentation at contentblocksbuilder.com.
Watch all tutorials on Youtube.
We’re still recording video tutorials, so please subscribe to our YouTube channel to get a notification when new videos are released.

Pro version

The professional version adds more advanced features to your content such as:

  • Custom CSS Editor
  • Copy/Paste styles from one block to another across domains
  • Support multiple edit styles
  • Parallax, infinite scrolling, and zooming effects for background image
  • Advanced features for the carousel layout like entrance animations, advanced effects, customized pagination, navigation…
  • Advanced features for the toggle content layout(modal, off-canvas) like custom entrance animations, delay time, and closed state saving.
  • Advanced features for the sticky content.
  • Add custom JS, custom CSS and external scripts and stylesheets for blocks
  • Add custom CSS for custom variations
  • Reveal animation effects

Watch our video tutorials to see how the Pro version can help you build advanced features for your sites:

Create a custom block for the image zooming effect like Medium using an external script.
Create a page title bar with a parallax background effect.
How to create an animated heading block.
How to create a Back To Top block.
How to create an image compare block.
Create a custom variation/style for the core button block.

Go premium to unlock advanced features with CBB Pro.

If this plugin is useful for you, please do a quick review and rate it on WordPress.org to help us spread the word. I would very much appreciate it.

Other plugins

Please check out my other plugins if you’re interested:

  • Meta Field Block – A block to display a meta field, custom field as a block on the front end, supporting ACF fields. It can also be used in the Query Loop block.
  • SVG Block – A block to insert inline SVG images easily and safely. It also bundles with more than 3000 icons and some common non-rectangular dividers.
  • Icon separator – A tiny block just like the core/separator block but with the ability to add an icon to it.
  • Breadcrumb Block – A simple breadcrumb trail block that supports JSON-LD structured data.
  • Block Enhancements – A plugin to add more useful features to blocks like icons, box-shadow, transform…
  • Counting Number Block – A block to display a number that has the number-counting effect.
  • Better YouTube Embed Block – Embed YouTube videos without slowing down your site.

The plugin is developed using @wordpress/scripts.

Installation

How to install it from wordpress.org

Please see the video tutorial to install it from your site dashboard:

How to install it manually

  1. Upload the plugin files to the /wp-content/plugins/content-blocks-builder directory, or install the plugin through the WordPress plugins screen directly.
  2. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ screen in WordPress

FAQ

Why do you need this plugin?

To change the way of creating sites with WordPress from the legacy Classic Editor to the new Gutenberg Block Editor.

Who needs this plugin?

This plugin is made for developers or designers but anyone familiar with the Block Editor can use it.

Is there a built-in design library?

Yes, there is a library of production-ready block patterns.

Is this another block library?

No. It’s like a tool to create custom layouts for core or third-party blocks without coding. However, it provides five custom block types: Grid, Carousel, Stack, Accordion and Advanced group.
Besides the five above block types, we have built an external library of content blocks and common block variations. You can easily import and use them in the plugin.

Which themes does it support?

It is compatible with all block-based themes and some popular classic themes like Astra, but our recommended themes are default themes such as Twenty Twenty Four, Twenty Twenty-Three, Twenty Twenty-Two, and Astra theme. If you find it doesn’t work with your theme, please let us know. We’ll work on it.

Reviews

September 26, 2024 1 reply
5/5, but some words worth to put:In general experience: I love… few things – the rest is just mess I can’t even as a developer to turn off.What I love / like: Grid Block – it’s almost perfect and far away from other plugins offer the same I can develop features NOW that comes in next few releases to WordPress (like: lock binding, easy pattern creation etc.) What I really hate: Pattern library: it could be add-on – not bundled thing in this plugin – for infos for devs like CBB button in toolbar could be a filter to turn it off. Disable native plugin’s blocks like carousel – for now it’s possible by another plugin installation (with some random problems). Freemius – I understand it, but still it’s the only one plugin I use and contains “Freemius” inside. Maybe it’s worth to switch to own flow (i love the Misha did it and has tutorials how He made it: rudrastyh.com). Best,Paul
August 12, 2024 1 reply
Got it for the repeater/template functionality. Works great and is easy to use!
December 18, 2023 1 reply
Flexible, clean, fast – perfect! Thank you so much for this plugin.
January 27, 2024 1 reply
Great plugin.You can access a lot of parameters and easily customize the blocks + the pattern library is nice and very helpful.
March 9, 2023 1 reply
I’ve used this plugin multiple times to add sliders on sites. A fantastic way to loop posts/tags/categories into lists and sliders.I ran into a error, and support was on it in minutes to solve the issue and release a fix.
Read all 12 reviews

Contributors & Developers

“Content Blocks Builder – Create block, variation, repeater block with carousel, grid, accordion, popup, off-canvas layout” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.

Contributors

Changelog

2.6.12

Release Date – 02 October 2024

  • Added – Settings builder for carousel premium effects like creative and coverflow
  • Added – Presets for creative and coverflow carousel effects
  • Improved – Carousel preview in the editor
  • Improved – Override css rule in the Bootstrap’s carousel-item class if the theme is based on Bootstrap
  • Updated – Tested up to WP 6.6 for replacing slot & fill in the edit-post with editor
  • Added – A new filter to allow disabling the pattern inserter button: ‘add_filter( ‘cbb_has_pattern_inserter’, ‘__return_false’ )’

View all changelog