Body Templates

A Body Template is a full‑page body layout, built with the page builder, that replaces or wraps the content area for the requests a Template assigns it to (a custom 404, a landing body, an archive/blog layout, or a thin shell around a designed page). They live under Theme Builder → Body Presets and get the full builder palette.

When a Template assigns a Body to the current request, Theme Builder takes over the page render and produces: the header, the body content, then the footer — see How it renders for the exact mechanism (it differs slightly on native vs. foreign themes).

Replace vs. wrap

A Body behaves one of two ways depending on whether it contains a Post Content element:

The body…	…does this
contains Post Content	Wraps the queried page — it renders the page's own content inside the template layout. Safe to apply even to a fully built page.
has no Post Content	Replaces the content area — a full body layout (404, landing, archive cards). It deliberately never overrides a page you built yourself.

A built page is never replaced

If the queried post is itself a page‑builder page (you explicitly built it), a replacement Body does not override it. Use a Post Content body to wrap a built page; use a replacement Body for requests that don't have their own built content — 404, landing, and archive/list pages.

The Post Content pattern

The cleanest way to give a designed page your global chrome is not to rebuild the design inside a global body. Instead:

1. Build the page in the page builder as a normal Page — sections, columns, content.
2. Make a Body Template that contains only a Post Content element (the body is a thin shell).
3. Bundle + place with a Template: set that body + your header/footer, and Use On the page (or Front page).

At render time: header → (the page's own builder content, via Post Content) → footer. The design lives in the page; the body is a reusable layout shell you can share across many pages. This is the recommended workflow for a custom home page.

   Page (page builder)            Body Template              Template
   ┌───────────────────┐          ┌──────────────┐          ┌────────────────────────┐
   │  Hero              │          │ Post Content │   ◄───   │ Header: My Header      │
   │  Features  ────────┼───────►  │  (wraps the  │          │ Body:   Post-Content   │
   │  Pricing           │          │   page)      │          │ Footer: My Footer      │
   │  CTA               │          └──────────────┘          │ Use On: Front page     │
   └───────────────────┘                                     └────────────────────────┘

Three render modes

When a Body is a replacement (no Post Content), the wrapper decides how to render from the request:

Mode	When	How it renders
Single	is_singular()	The queried post is set up once; the body renders once and its dynamic elements (Post Title, Content, Featured Image, …) read that post.
Archive / list	a list request with posts (blog index, category/tag/term, post‑type, author/date archive, search)	The WordPress loop runs and the body is rendered once per post — a real list of cards. Pagination follows the loop.
Static	is_404() or an empty archive	The body renders once with no post (for 404 / landing layouts).

Loop Layout (archive cards)

When a Body is used as an archive/blog (the per‑post mode above), a Loop Layout box on the Body edit screen controls how the repeated cards are laid out:

• Columns — Auto (responsive) or 1–6 (collapses on smaller screens; 1 = a single‑column list).
• Gap — None / Small / Medium / Large.

These are ignored for single‑post and 404/static bodies (which render the body once).

Designed archive grids

The loop above renders your whole body once per post. For a designed archive — a hero, intro, then a grid of the archive's posts — drop a Posts element into a normal (non‑loop) body and turn on its "Posts for current page" source: it renders the posts of whatever archive / category / tag / search the visitor is on, instead of a fixed query.

Dynamic content in a body

Body Templates are normal builder content, so Dynamic Content elements and {{token}}s work inside them — a {{post_title}} or {{post_meta key="…"}} resolves against whatever post the request is showing. The part editors expose a Dynamic Content palette tab (Post Content, Post Title, Post Excerpt, Featured Image, Author, Date, Terms, Meta) and a Structure tab with the semantic Flexbox container. These tabs appear only inside the Theme Builder part editors (they're hidden on normal Pages/Posts, where there's no queried post to bind to).

Preview before you publish

Use the live preview to see a Body Template rendered against a real post — single, archive‑loop, or 404 — before you assign it.

See also

• Conditional assignment — assign a Body with a Template
• Dynamic Content — Post Content and the dynamic element family
• Flexbox — laying out a full‑page body
• How it renders — replace/wrap, the render modes, and theme‑independent rendering
• Guide: Design a custom 404 page