[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #59759: Twenty Twenty-Four blog template ignores main query and breaks navigation

Fri Oct 27 17:17:07 UTC 2023

#59759: Twenty Twenty-Four blog template ignores main query and breaks navigation
-------------------------------------------------+-------------------------
 Reporter:  flixos90                             |       Owner:  (none)
     Type:  defect (bug)                         |      Status:  new
 Priority:  high                                 |   Milestone:  6.4
Component:  Bundled Theme                        |     Version:  trunk
 Severity:  normal                               |  Resolution:
 Keywords:  needs-patch 2nd-opinion has-         |     Focuses:  template
  testing-info                                   |
-------------------------------------------------+-------------------------
Changes (by flixos90):

 * keywords:  needs-patch 2nd-opinion => needs-patch 2nd-opinion has-
     testing-info

Old description:

> While recently testing the new TT4 default theme, I ran into a problem
> (reported in
> [https://github.com/WordPress/twentytwentyfour/issues/404#issuecomment-1781623974
> this GitHub comment]) from which I then noticed a more severe bug (also
> see
> [https://github.com/WordPress/twentytwentyfour/issues/404#issuecomment-1783156487
> another GitHub comment specific to this ticket]): The TT4 blog template
> is broken in an essential way that prevents using the blog as expected.
> * It always displays the 3 latest posts. This ignores the "Blog pages
> show at most" setting under Settings > Reading.
> * It ''always'' displays the 3 latest posts. In other words, if your site
> has more posts than configured to show per blog page and you navigate to
> e.g. /page/2/, you will still see the 3 latest posts, instead of the next
> page of posts.
>
> **Reason for the bug:**
> Both of these problems are happening because TT4 uses `inherit: false` in
> its `core/query` block used in the `home.html` template (via the included
> `posts-grid-2-col.php` pattern), which means the main query is ignored.
> While custom `core/query` blocks are of course fine to use, there should
> be at least one `core/query` block in every template that displays the
> expected content based on the URL (e.g. the specific page or post or list
> of posts). While there can be exceptions to that rule (e.g. a page with
> very custom layout), the main query should be respected especially for an
> essential WordPress feature like the blog.
>
> **Proposed solution:**
> It appears the custom query approach was taken to nicely split the 3
> posts displayed into two columns. While that is a creative design
> decision, unfortunately the way it's implemented doesn't work per the
> above, and most likely we won't be able to accomplish the same layout
> while using the current capabilities of the `core/query` block. However,
> given the breakage, I think we'll have to find another solution.
>
> I think we should reuse the same `core/query` and layout approach that is
> being applied in the TT4 `index.html` template (more specifically the
> `posts-3-col.php` pattern), since that template correctly relies on the
> main query to display posts in multiple columns. We may need to make a
> few adjustments while integrating that layout into the relevant section
> within the `home.html` template (potentially requires a slightly modified
> version of the existing pattern), but trying to use the existing
> `posts-3-col.php` pattern instead of the `posts-grid-2-col.php` pattern
> would be a good start.
>
> Alternatively, we could try to update `posts-grid-2-col.php` to make that
> layout work while relying on the main query, but we may get stuck in that
> effort by the current `core/query` block not supporting that, so it would
> be more risky especially given we are this late in the 6.4 release cycle.
>
> **A note on severity:**
> If we ship TT4 in this state, we will effectively ship a default theme
> which in its default configuration comes with a broken blog - and next to
> pages, posts are still the essence of WordPress content. So I think this
> needs to be prioritized for 6.4.

New description:

 While recently testing the new TT4 default theme, I ran into a problem
 (reported in
 [https://github.com/WordPress/twentytwentyfour/issues/404#issuecomment-1781623974
 this GitHub comment]) from which I then noticed a more severe bug (also
 see
 [https://github.com/WordPress/twentytwentyfour/issues/404#issuecomment-1783156487
 another GitHub comment specific to this ticket]): The TT4 blog template is
 broken in an essential way that prevents using the blog as expected.
 * It always displays the 3 latest posts. This ignores the "Blog pages show
 at most" setting under ''Settings > Reading''.
 * It ''always'' displays the 3 latest posts. In other words, if your site
 has more posts than configured to show per blog page and you navigate to
 e.g. `/page/2/`, you will still see the 3 latest posts, instead of the
 next page of posts.

 **Reason for the bug:**
 Both of these problems are happening because TT4 uses `inherit: false` in
 its `core/query` block used in the `home.html` template (via the included
 `posts-grid-2-col.php` pattern), which means the main query is ignored.
 While custom `core/query` blocks are of course fine to use, there should
 be at least one `core/query` block in every template that displays the
 expected content based on the URL (e.g. the specific page or post or list
 of posts). While there can be exceptions to that rule (e.g. a page with
 very custom layout), the main query should be respected especially for an
 essential WordPress feature like the blog.

 **Proposed solution:**
 It appears the custom query approach was taken to nicely split the 3 posts
 displayed into two columns. While that is a creative design decision,
 unfortunately the way it's implemented doesn't work per the above, and
 most likely we won't be able to accomplish the same layout while using the
 current capabilities of the `core/query` block. However, given the
 breakage, I think we'll have to find another solution.

 I think we should reuse the same `core/query` and layout approach that is
 being applied in the TT4 `index.html` template (more specifically the
 `posts-3-col.php` pattern), since that template correctly relies on the
 main query to display posts in multiple columns. We may need to make a few
 adjustments while integrating that layout into the relevant section within
 the `home.html` template (potentially requires a slightly modified version
 of the existing pattern), but trying to use the existing `posts-3-col.php`
 pattern instead of the `posts-grid-2-col.php` pattern would be a good
 start.

 Alternatively, we could try to update `posts-grid-2-col.php` to make that
 layout work while relying on the main query, but we may get stuck in that
 effort by the current `core/query` block not supporting that, so it would
 be more risky especially given we are this late in the 6.4 release cycle.

 **A note on severity:**
 If we ship TT4 in this state, we will effectively ship a default theme
 which in its default configuration comes with a broken blog - and next to
 pages, posts are still the essence of WordPress content. So I think this
 needs to be prioritized for 6.4.

--

Comment:

 **Testing instructions:**

 To replicate (use TT4 theme in its default configuration):
 1. Ensure pretty permalinks are enabled
 2. Ensure there are at least 5 posts on your website (content doesn't
 matter).
 3. On ''Settings > Reading'', configure "Your homepage displays" to a
 static page (choose any page) and also set a "Posts page" (e.g. to an
 empty page called "Blog" with `/blog/` slug).
 4. Set "Blog pages show at most" to 4.
 5. Navigate to `/blog/`. You'll immediately notice that this page looks
 like a home page. Instead of focusing on the blog, it starts with the demo
 content "A commitment to innovation and sustainability". That's the
 problem reported in
 https://github.com/WordPress/twentytwentyfour/issues/404 though and
 shouldn't be covered in this ticket here.
 6. Scroll down to where it says "Watch, Read, Listen". You'll see the 3
 latest posts, even though your site is configured to show 4 posts per page
 (which should be the case here since your site has 5+ posts).
 7. Navigate to `/blog/page/2/`.
 8. Scroll down to "Watch, Read, Listen" again. You'll still see the 3
 latest posts, even though you would expect the next set of posts to be
 displayed on this URL.

-- 
Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/59759#comment:1>
WordPress Trac <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/>
WordPress publishing platform