TABLE OF CONTENTS



Version 1.5 (September 2020)


In Version 1.5 of the Groundplan Theme, we've focused on building in plenty of design flexibility with new flexible components and layouts, as well as enhanced integrations with Emma and Mailchimp, plus features for online and hybrid events, presale access codes and class wait lists. 

Home Page Flexible Content Blocks

We've migrated the home page map block to a new flexible content area for the homepage layout to enable new content block customization options on the homepage layout. (If you previously used a homepage map, you'll see your map moved to the new controls!) This flexible content area has similar content section controls to the "Story" landing page template – Blocks can be reordered flexibly to fill out the home page with your most important content.


There are currently two content blocks for this area with more coming soon (and let us know if you have a use for specific kinds of content on your homepage):

  • Partner Gallery 
    A scrolling gallery of Sponsor logos, with animation speed controls.



  • Maps
    Our previous event or location map block for tours, itinerant or pop-up performances


More Promo Design Options on the Homepage

We've added a "Flex" Promo Style (with support for 2-8 promos) to the homepage, which has the same promo flexibility as the landing page.  Like the landing page, this block now supports color and background texture customization.


Event Content Block Grid Layout (On Flex Page Layout)


On the flex page Event List component, you're now able to choose a "grid" layout for events.  This list showcases groups of events with more variety and a more visual format, while limiting the amount of information visible while browsing.  Customers are led to the event detail page when clicking an event.  You can also set the new Event Portrait Image on your events to use vertical images in this location.


Post List and Grid Content Blocks

You can now include a Posts content block with a post list of a category or curated set of posts on flex pages, displaying with either a grid format or list format. This can be a handy way to include promotional content to support a development campaign or educational program.



Event List Promos

You can now set Promos that appear between shows in Event Lists.


Full documentation for this feature can be found in this article: Sidebar, Footer, and Event List Promos.


When you Enable the Event List Search Bar (Groundplan Theme Settings >> Event Settings >> Event List Settings) you can now set quicklinks to help users quickly toggle between your monthly calendar and the event list view of your choice (these buttons also appear on the calendar page).

By default these are set to your calendar page and the All Events view, but you can override those links to direct customer to, for example, a season page.


We've added a flexible and styleable Link Cloud feature for the Landing Page Template. Used with a background image or video, you can route users to a wide variety of content including pages, event categories, calendars, and any link on your site.

If you'd like to enable this feature, you may want to contact Gameflow - we can help you stylize and customize the link cloud to create a unique branded experience.


Tray Popup Promo


You can now add a "toaster-style" tray popup promo on your Home and Landing pages. This is a tray that locks to the bottom of the screen, and is a good spot for a temporary call to action or promotion. It also won't trigger SEO issues because it doesn't block the user from using the rest of your site.


The design of the toaster popup is slightly different for classic layouts to visually match the rest of the page:


You can select the default 2-column layout, or select a 1-column layout which works well if you want to more content such as simple signup forms.

Your customers can dismiss the popup if they're not interested in the offer. That dismissal will be saved in the customer's browser for 2 months and then popups will return - this is designed to be a seasonal promotion.

Due to space limitations, the popup is not visible on mobile devices (this is a best practice for SEO).


To activate a popup, edit your Home or Landing Page, and click the new "Show Popup Promo?" and fill in the appropriate fields for your promotion.




You can set a delay time of the number of seconds that the tray should appear after the user first loads the page under Groundplan Theme Settings >> Footer >> Popup Delay.  The default is 2 seconds.


You'll also want to make sure you've set colors for the popup in Appearance >> Customize >> Theme Colors >> Tray Promo Text Color & Background Color.  We typically recommend using the same alert colors that you for your Marquee or Footer Copyright Background color.



Disable Sidebars


Flex pages (Default Template) now have an option to hide the sidebar, which centers the content on the page.  This can help focus attention on certain pages.


Presale Functionality 


If your ticketing system or class registration system doesn't already offer presale access code functionality (e.g. for subscribers or members), you can now enable presale functionality for specific events and classes.


Wait List Functionality for Classes


We now support alternate Wait List signup links when your classes sell out.


Emma and Mailchimp Add-ons for Gravity Forms

We now include add-on integrations for Emma and Mailchimp for use with any custom forms you build, so that you can opt-in respondents as part of a form submission.  

To get started, follow the Emma or Mailchimp setup steps referenced in our Gravity Forms documentation.


Other Updates in v 1.5

  • "Open in a New Tab" settings are now honored for Home Carousel Slide Targets, Flexible Promo Blocks, Event List Promos, and Secondary Menu Items.  (Best practice is to only open in a new tab when you move the customer offsite, but this typically does NOT include ticketing sites like PatronManager which track analytics on  customer experience.)
  • You can now choose from 2 layout options for Article Detail pages with Videos - "Large" videos in the header or "Medium" videos in the main column.  If set to Medium, the article detail would only display a title or header image in the header.  This option Post Detail Video Size is set in Groundplan Theme Settings >> Post Settings.
  • Posts have a new setting to Hide Social Sharing for that post, e.g. when there are union rules around recorded content and how the content is used.
  • Added a setting (in Groundplan Theme Settings >> Post Settings) to customize the "Read More" detail button text globally.
  • Fixed a bug with sorting People by term when including multiple People Types in a single People Content Block.
  • The Post Category description field now displays when set on the Category page, and uses a WYSIWYG editor.
  • Fixed an issue to support the Social Share option on tabbed and non-tabbed pages - this option previously only applied to legacy tabs.
  • On Category pages, you can now choose either the default sorting by date posted, or you can select your own manual order for posts to display.  This can be used to create curated video pages and more.
  • You can now choose to disable the overlay gradient for page, post, person, and event headers (which is in place for ADA compliance). You'd then need to manage the brightness in your Header Image to make sure it's at least as dark as #666666 on all devices to have enough contrast with the white header text.
  • You can now enable category navigation on Blog / Category pages.
  • On each Event Category (Genre, Series, Season) you can now select whether you want to display Current and Upcoming events (default), Past Events only, or All events.
  • Pages with Video Player headers no longer display the page title over the player.
  • If you enable venues on the calendar layout, online events and classes will no longer display a venue, just the "Online Event" label.
  • Improved support for Facebook Video in Post Headers.
  • Improved Homepage responsiveness when the marquee is active, including a setting to reduce homepage carousel height for some customized headers.
  • When you resize the home page to mobile sizes and back, the carousel now re-initializes itself to keep the user experience consistent (this was rare customer behavior, but common in testing).
  • Event Filters on the Event List layout now visually indicate whether a filter is active (black text) or inactive (lighter grey)
  • For one-night only events and classes, we now automatically display the start time of the performance in the format "h:mm pm" on events and event summaries.   You can still manually override this format if you like.
  • Reformatted some back end field layouts to make them more readable and to provide more editing space.




  • Fixed a bug where classes and events were not always appearing and sorting by date on the related Person detail page.
  • You can now customize promos on each class.
  • You can now include a gallery of images or testimonials on classes, OR you can set either on the course / curriculum level to set the default for all classes in that course.
  • Added a Default Class List image in addition to a default event list image when the Education Add-On is enabled.
  • You can now choose whether "Display Venue Info" on each Event Detail page should default on or default off, and you can set a default heading for that section, allowing you to control the venue directions section globally for all new events.  Set a default setting in Groundplan Theme Settings >> Event Settings >> Event Usability Features
  • Fixed a bug with People landing page Header Images.
  • The temporary Emma popup functionality has been deprecated - we now recommend embedding or linking to an Emma form instead.
  • Removed unused gallery controls from the Grid / Festival calendar.
  • Fixed a bug that limited the number of results when filtering event lists by venue.
  • Enabled the Disclaimer / Custom Note field for Classes
  • Added support for larger sold out messages and custom button text for events.
  • Released Education Add-On v 1.3.0
  • Released PatronManager Add-On v 2.0.1


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