Masonry Images and Random Content. Two New Components for Elements šŸŽ‰

Announcements
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Two New Components for Elements :tada:

One Free. One Dynamic. Both Available Now.

Weā€™ve just added two new components to the Elements Store, and they solve two very different (but very useful) problems.

  1. Masonry Images helps you beautifully lay out a folder of images in seconds.
  2. Random Content adds intelligent, performance-friendly dynamic content to your site.

Letā€™s dive in :backhand_index_pointing_down:

Masonry Images (Free)

Masonry Images is a brand-new component for Elements that lets you lay out an entire folder of images in a responsive masonry grid.

Because it works directly from a resources folder, itā€™s incredibly fast to set up and easy to maintain. Add or remove images from the folder and your layout updates automatically.

And yes this one is completely free :smiley:

:shuffle_tracks_button: Random Content (Launch Discount)

The second component is all about adding dynamic variation to your site.

Random Content allows you to add as many pieces of content as you like and display one at random on page load.

You can choose to power it JavaScript or PHP depending on how you want it to behave.

Even better, the component intelligently loads only the content required for that specific page load. It does not download unused content. That means no unnecessary payload and no hidden performance hit.

Itā€™s clean, efficient, and built properly.

Perfect for:

  • Rotating testimonials
  • Featured projects
  • Random promotions
  • Daily quotes
  • Hero section variations
  • and much moreā€¦

Itā€™s one of those components that feels simple, but once you start using it, youā€™ll find loads of creative use cases.

Random Content is available for $29, and to celebrate launch weā€™re offering 15% off for a limited time.

If youā€™ve been looking for a lightweight way to add dynamic behaviour to your Elements projects, this is it :raising_hands:

Built for Real-World Projects

Both components are designed to slot straight into your existing Elements workflow.

No bloat.
No unnecessary dependencies.
Just practical, flexible tools you can use immediately.

As always, your feedback helps shape what we build next so please let us know what you think :backhand_index_pointing_down:

4 Likes
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Thanks. Masonry looks great. I will try it later on tonight.

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@ben

Damn, you got me after all! I just canā€™t resist the Random Content component. That really is a tool I used a lot and loved in Foundry + Stacks.

But hereā€™s the question: Iā€™m guessing it doesnā€™t really work in combination with the CMS, does it?

Because in the CMS collection Iā€™m missing the option to set it up so it simply shows, for example, 10 random blog postsā€¦ the current filter settings feel a bit too limited.

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Oh, and in that context I also have a note / feature request for extending the Random Content component:

Timed content ā€” meaning the ability to define that content A is always shown Mondayā€“Friday, and content B on Saturday/Sunday.

Or even based on year, month, etc. ā€¦ just as an idea for an add-on to the add-on :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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Hi @ben just to reconfirm is it 20% on the Random Content component as you wrote above or 15% only as offered in the store currently?

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Sorry, thatā€™s a small typo. Itā€™s 15% off in the store.

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Masonry: Only jpg photos or webp as well? @ben @dan

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We might be able add that feature, Iā€™d have to have a think about that, but Iā€™m not sure that type of feature is ā€œRandomā€ :thinking: Sounds like more of a ā€œTimed Contentā€ :smiley:

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Thereā€™s no direct integration with the CMS in the Random Content component, however, thereā€™s noting stopping you from using Random Content within a CMS Collection or CMS Item.

Iā€™ve not tested that extensively here, but in theory it should work :slight_smile:

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Sorry for asking the same questions but, are captions available on the thumbs.

And if you add, delete or rearrange the photos in the list (folder), does the page automatically update.

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No, captions are not available in Masonry Images.

Yes, just rearrange, add, or remove images in the resources panel and the page will update instantly.

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So you have to buy the Pro version to get captionsā€¦.

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Masonry Images is a free component focussed on displaying images in a masonry grid.

Masonry Images doesnā€™t support displaying meta data or EXIF data for the images. You can, however, link the images using the resourceā€™s Link URL.

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I am desperately trying to upgrade my decades old Classic site to Elements.

But I am finding it difficult to replicate the functionality of the Classic Photo Album page which is the core of my site.

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webp photos didnā€™t work when I tried ā€¦ @ben Is it possible to fix this?

Masonry: A Lightbox would also be useful ā€¦ with a grey/blue dot for mobile.

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Nice additions.
My wishlist includes being able to open a modal window from a table cell.
Thanks

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Elements physically resizes images for export in the Masonry Gallery, and currently the app only support resizing of jpgā€™s and pngā€™s (as far as I remember). However, it is on our list to support resizing of webp images.

For now, Iā€™d recommend using JPGā€™s.

The Masonry component is just for laying out content. If you want Masonry and a Lightbox feature youā€™ll need to use the Gallery Pro.

Hope that helps!

1 Like
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Iā€™ve just taken a quick look at your site, and you can absolutely rebuild this in Elements. Would you like me to record a quick video showing you how Iā€™d rebuild it? Hopefully that would help get you up and running.

Let me know.

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I would love to see it. I am mainly interested in the photo album pages.

The site I refer to is similar to my profile site but either one.

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The Random Content component is a step in the right direction, however, it is limited. I currently use the ā€˜Dealerā€™ stack by Doobox which allows me to warehouse and randomly use over 500 images on the server. This versatility has remained one of the reasons why I havenā€™t yet ventured into the Elements world.

1 Like