Introduction

Adding a full-bleed hero section to your Squarespace blog posts can dramatically enhance their visual appeal. While making an image in a Squarespace blog post full width can be achieved with a little CSS, moving an image to the hero section (top of the page) with an overlaying blog title and meta is a little more involved and requires some JavaScript.

Even with the upgrade to Squarespace 7.1 and the introduction of the fluid engine, the blog section still uses the older 7.0 layout engine. This limitation prevents the use of the fluid engine's advanced layout capabilities, which means you can't natively create a full-bleed section with an overlay.

The solution to this problem is a custom enhancement using JavaScript and CSS. This tutorial will walk you through the three steps required to implement this feature on your Squarespace blog. The following guide assumes you have some basic HTML, CSS, and JavaScript knowledge.

Benefits of a Full Bleed Hero Section

A full-bleed hero image spans the entire screen width, providing a striking visual that can captivate visitors from the moment they land on your post. The Blog post title and meta overlay this image, including a transparent overlay to accent the text. This approach offers several benefits:

• Enhanced Visual Appeal: A large, high-quality image can significantly improve the look of your blog.

• Improved User Engagement: Eye-catching visuals can keep visitors on your site longer.

• Professional Aesthetic: Gives your blog a polished, modern look.

Prerequisites

Before diving into the tutorial, ensure you have a basic understanding of the following:

• HTML structure

• CSS styling

• JavaScript fundamentals

A Step-by-Step Guide

Preparation

This enhancement will move the first image on your blog post to create the hero image. When creating a new blog post, make sure you insert an image to use for the hero. 

While in edit mode, you will see this image in the body of the post and the hero section so that it can be edited or changed. Upon previewing, this image will disappear from the body and only show as the Hero image underneath the Title and meta of the post.

Step 1: Accessing the Code Injection Section

First, you must determine where to place the custom code enabling the full-bleed hero section. Depending on your needs, you have two options:

• General Code Injection: Use this option if you want all blog posts in all blogs on your site to have this enhancement. Adding the code here will apply the hero image effect site-wide.

• Post Blog Item Code Injection: Use this option if you want to apply the hero image effect to a specific blog in cases where you have more than one. This allows for customization on all individual posts in that blog without affecting other posts in other blogs.

Here's how to navigate to the Code Injection section in your Squarespace settings:

1. Log in to your Squarespace account.

2. Go to the Pages panel.

3. Navigate to Website Tools > Code Injection

Here’s how to navigate to the Post Blog Item Code Injection:

1. Log in to your Squarespace account.

2. Go to Pages

3. Navigate to the Blog you wish to enhance.

4. Click on the Blog setting icon, then navigate to  Advanced > Post Blog Item Code Injection.

Step 2: Adding the JavaScript Code

Copy and paste the following JavaScript code into the Code Injection section or the Post Blog Summary Code Injection section. This script will locate the first image in your blog post and use it as the hero image.

Note: Don’t forget to place this code between an opening and closing script tag: <script> and </script>.

Step 3: Adding the CSS Code

Next, you'll need to style the hero image using CSS. Add the following CSS code to the Custom CSS or the Post Blog Item Code Injection:

Note: Don’t forget to place this code between an opening and closing style tag: <style> and </style> or make sure it is placed in an exsiting style tag.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

If you encounter any issues, consider the following solutions:

• Missing Elements: Ensure that the elements targeted by the script exist on your page.

• Incorrect Image Paths: Verify that the image paths are correct and accessible.

• CSS Conflicts: Check for conflicting CSS rules that might affect the appearance of the hero image.

Advanced Customizations

For those looking to enhance their hero images further, consider the following advanced customizations:

• Responsive Design: Use media queries to adjust the hero image for different screen sizes. This script looked fine in my implementation and did not require any further mobile customizations

• Additional Styles: Add more CSS rules to style the banner content, such as different fonts, borders, or animations.

Conclusion

Adding a full-bleed hero section to your Squarespace blog posts is a great way to enhance their visual appeal and engage your readers. Following the steps outlined in this tutorial, you can easily implement this feature in all your existing and future posts.

FAQs about implementing this enhancment

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