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AI 對話紀錄  April 11, 2025

【AG-17】Styling Enhancements

【AG-17】Styling Enhancements

Q: I appreciate your hard work in debugging such a complex feature!

Before I hand it off for testing, could you provide a summary of our styling efforts? Specifically, I'd like to know:

  • Default Styles Overridden: What default styles have we changed?
  • Additional Styles Added: What new styles have we implemented? It should be quite a few.
  • Design Considerations: What specific adjustments have we made to enhance the visual appeal, such as the conditional spacing we just implemented?

This summary will help the pastor and users better appreciate the system and enhance their experience. Please refer to the web links I provided earlier for additional context.

A: I’m glad I could help with debugging and refining this complex feature! It’s been a pleasure working through these challenges to ensure the CMS/Task-map hybrid looks and functions beautifully for the pastor and users at NLT Chaplaincy. Below is a detailed summary of our styling efforts, covering the default styles overridden, additional styles added, and the design considerations we’ve implemented to enhance the visual appeal and user experience.

Summary of Styling Efforts

1. Default Styles Overridden

We’ve made several overrides to the default styles, primarily to address conflicts with the Publii theme (Simple theme) and ensure our custom functionality works seamlessly. Here’s a breakdown of the key default styles we’ve overridden:

  • Publii Theme Typography and Colors:

    • Override: We overrode the default text colors for various elements to ensure consistency across the site.

      css

      body, 
body p, 
body h2, 
body h3, 
body h4, 
body h5, 
body h6,
.post__content, 
.post__content p, 
.post__content h2, 
.post__content h3, 
.post__content h4, 
.post__content h5, 
.post__content h6,
.container, 
.container p, 
.container h2, 
.container h3, 
.container h4, 
.container h5, 
.container h6 {
    color: #333 !important;
}
      • Reason: The Publii theme applied inconsistent text colors, especially for sections without background images. We set a consistent dark gray (#333) for better readability, while allowing specific titles (e.g., h1.post__title, h1.hero__title, h1.site__title) to remain white for visual hierarchy.

  • Publii Theme Separators (Pseudo-Elements):

    • Override: We hid the default Publii three-dot separators (pseudo-elements like ::before and ::after) to prevent unwanted dividers from appearing.

      css

      .post__content::before,
.post__content::after,
.container::before,
.container::after,
.post__entry::before,
.post__entry::after,
.content__entry::before,
.content__entry::after,
.generic-content::before,
.generic-content::after {
    display: none !important;
    border: none !important;
    content: none !important;
}

.separator::before,
.separator::after {
    display: none !important;
    border: none !important;
    content: none !important;
}
      • Reason: The Publii theme automatically added three-dot separators between sections, which clashed with our custom separators (e.g., down_arrow.png). Hiding these ensured our custom separators were the only ones visible.

  • Publii Theme

    Elements:

    • Override: We hid all

      elements to prevent unwanted horizontal rules.

      css

      hr {
    display: none !important;
    visibility: hidden !important;
}

.post__content hr,
.container hr,
.post__content hr[style],
.container hr[style] {
    display: none !important;
    visibility: hidden !important;
}
      • Reason: The Publii theme or content editor might have added
        elements, which interfered with our custom separator design. Hiding them ensured a clean layout.

  • Publii Theme Button Underlines:

    • Override: We removed underlines from buttons to match our custom button styles.

      css

      a.button, 
a.btn, 
a.post__button, 
.post__content a.button, 
.post__content a.btn, 
.post__content a.post__button, 
.container a.button, 
.container a.btn, 
.container a.post__button {
    text-decoration: none !important;
}
      • Reason: The Publii theme applied underlines to buttons, which didn’t align with the clean, modern look of our custom buttons (.myButton and .myButtonBig).

  • Publii Theme List Styles:

    • Override: We hid list bullets for unordered and ordered lists in .generic-content.

      css

      .generic-content ul,
.generic-content ol {
    margin: 0 0 1em 0;
    padding: 0 !important;
    list-style: none !important;
}

.generic-content li {
    margin-bottom: 0.5em;
    text-align: center;
    list-style: none !important;
}

.generic-content ul[style*="list-style"],
.generic-content ol[style*="list-style"],
.generic-content li[style*="list-style"] {
    list-style: none !important;
}
      • Reason: The Publii theme or content editor might have applied default list styles (e.g., bullets or numbers), which didn’t fit the centered, clean design of our sections. We removed them to ensure a consistent look.
    • *

2. Additional Styles Added

We’ve implemented a significant number of new styles to enhance the functionality and visual appeal of the site. Here’s a comprehensive list of the additional styles we’ve added:

  • Custom Button Styles (.myButton and .myButtonBig):

    • Added custom button styles with gradients, hover effects, and active states for a modern, interactive look.

      css

      .myButtonBig {
    background: linear-gradient(to bottom, #44c767 5%, #5cbf2a 100%);
    background-color: #44c767;
    border-radius: 28px;
    border: 1px solid #18ab29;
    display: inline-block;
    cursor: pointer;
    color: #ffffff;
    font-family: Arial;
    font-size: 21px;
    font-weight: bold;
    padding: 24px 42px;
    text-decoration: none;
    text-shadow: 0px 1px 0px #2f6627;
    transition: all 0.3s ease;
}
.myButtonBig:hover {
    background: linear-gradient(to bottom, #5cbf2a 5%, #44c767 100%);
    background-color: #5cbf2a;
    border-color: #137c21;
    box-shadow: 0 4px 8px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2);
}
.myButtonBig:active {
    position: relative;
    top: 1px;
    background: linear-gradient(to bottom, #3ba052 5%, #4aa62b 100%);
    background-color: #3ba052;
    border-color: #0f5c18;
    box-shadow: inset 0 2px 4px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.3);
}

.myButton {
    background: linear-gradient(to bottom, #44c767 5%, #5cbf2a 100%);
    background-color: #44c767;
    border-radius: 28px;
    border: 1px solid #18ab29;
    display: inline-block;
    cursor: pointer;
    color: #ffffff;
    font-family: Arial;
    font-size: 17px;
    font-weight: bold;
    padding: 16px 31px;
    text-decoration: none;
    text-shadow: 0px 1px 0px #2f6627;
    transition: all 0.3s ease;
}
.myButton:hover {
    background: linear-gradient(to bottom, #5cbf2a 5%, #44c767 100%);
    background-color: #5cbf2a;
    border-color: #137c21;
    box-shadow: 0 4px 8px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2);
}
.myButton:active {
    position: relative;
    top: 1px;
    background: linear-gradient(to bottom, #3ba052 5%, #4aa62b 100%);
    background-color: #3ba052;
    border-color: #0f5c18;
    box-shadow: inset 0 2px 4px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.3);
}

    • Purpose: These buttons provide a consistent, branded look with interactive feedback (hover and active states) to enhance user engagement.

  • Full-Width Section Styles (.section-hero--full):

    • Added styles to ensure sections span the full viewport width, especially on mobile.

      css

      .section-hero--full {
    width: 100vw;
    position: relative;
    left: 50%;
    transform: translateX(-50%);
    margin: 0;
    padding: 0;
    min-height: 400px;
    background-size: cover;
    background-position: center;
    background-repeat: no-repeat;
    background-color: #fff;
}

@media (max-width: 768px) {
    .section-hero--full {
        min-height: 300px;
        width: 100vw;
        left: 50%;
        transform: translateX(-50%);
        margin: 0;
        padding: 0;
    }
}

    • Purpose: This ensures background images (e.g., /images/2b757015baddc2464.JPG) display full-width on both PC and mobile, breaking out of the Publii theme’s container constraints for a more immersive experience.

  • Section Content Styles (.section-hero__content):

    • Added styles to center and constrain the content within sections.

      css

      .section-hero__content {
    position: relative;
    max-width: 1200px;
    margin: 0 auto;
    padding: 20px;
    z-index: 1;
}

@media (max-width: 768px) {
    .section-hero__content {
        padding: 10px;
    }
}

    • Purpose: This keeps the content readable and centered, with responsive padding adjustments for mobile devices.

  • Dynamic Text Color for Background Images:

    • Added conditional text color and text shadow for sections with background images.

      css

      .section-hero--full[style*="background-image"] h1,
.section-hero--full[style*="background-image"] .generic-content {
    color: #fff;
    text-shadow: 1px 1px 2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5);
}

.section-hero--full h1,
.section-hero--full .generic-content {
    color: #333;
}

    • Purpose: Ensures text is legible on dark background images by using white text with a shadow, while defaulting to dark text (#333) for sections without backgrounds.

  • Custom Separator Styles (.separator and .separator-image):

    • Added styles for the default and custom separators.

      css

      .separator {
    text-align: center;
    margin: 60px 0 20px 0;
}

.section-hero--full:not([style*="background-image"]) + .separator {
    margin-top: 40px;
}

.separator-image {
    max-width: 100%;
    height: auto;
    display: block;
    margin: 0 auto;
}

.separator img[src$="down_arrow.png"] {
    max-width: 256px;
}

    • Purpose: These styles center the separator images, constrain the default down_arrow.png to a maximum width of 256px, and adjust spacing to create a sense of downward movement (more on this in the design considerations).

  • Modal Separator Styles (.modal-section-separator):

    • Added a three-dot separator for the modal to visually separate sections.

      css

      .modal-section-separator {
    text-align: center;
    margin: 20px 0;
    font-size: 24px;
    line-height: 1;
    color: #666;
}
.modal-section-separator::before {
    content: "···";
}

    • Purpose: This mimics the Publii theme’s three-dot separator but is used specifically in the modal to separate multiple sections (e.g., the four sections from task-map.php).

  • Modal Styles:

    • Added comprehensive styles for the modal to ensure a clean, accessible, and responsive design.

      css

      .modal {
    display: none;
    position: fixed;
    z-index: 1000;
    left: 0;
    top: 0;
    width: 100%;
    height: 100%;
    overflow: auto;
    background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5);
}

.modal-content {
    background-color: #fff;
    margin: 5% auto;
    padding: 20px;
    border: 1px solid #888;
    width: 80%;
    max-width: 800px;
    min-height: 200px;
    position: relative;
    border-radius: 8px;
    box-shadow: 0 4px 8px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2);
    box-sizing: border-box;
}

.modal-close {
    color: #aaa;
    position: absolute;
    top: 10px;
    right: 20px;
    font-size: 28px;
    font-weight: bold;
    cursor: pointer;
    transition: color 0.3s ease;
    z-index: 1001;
}

.modal-close:hover,
.modal-close:focus {
    color: #000;
    text-decoration: none;
}

#modal-body {
    font-size: 1em;
    line-height: 1.6;
    color: #333;
    max-width: 100%;
    box-sizing: border-box;
    padding-top: 40px;
}

#modal-body h1 {
    font-size: 1.5em;
    margin-bottom: 0.5em;
}

#modal-body p {
    margin-bottom: 1em;
}

#modal-body * {
    max-width: 100%;
    box-sizing: border-box;
}

#modal-body img,
#modal-body div,
#modal-body table {
    max-width: 100%;
    height: auto;
}

.modal[aria-hidden="false"] {
    display: block;
}

.modal-close:focus {
    outline: 2px solid #44c767;
    outline-offset: 2px;
}

    • Purpose: These styles create a modern, accessible modal with a semi-transparent overlay, rounded corners, a shadow for depth, and a close button with hover/focus states. The modal is responsive and ensures content (e.g., images, tables) doesn’t overflow.

  • Video Embed Styles:

    • Added styles for responsive video embeds.

      css

      .video-embed {
    position: relative;
    padding-bottom: 56.25%;
    height: 0;
    overflow: hidden;
    margin: 1em auto;
    max-width: 800px;
    background: none;
}
.video-embed iframe {
    position: absolute;
    top: 0;
    left: 0;
    width: 100%;
    height: 100%;
    border: 0;
}

    • Purpose: Ensures embedded videos (e.g., YouTube iframes) are responsive with a 16:9 aspect ratio, centered, and don’t exceed a maximum width of 800px.

  • Image Styles (.welcome-image):

    • Added styles for images within sections.

      css

      .welcome-image {
    max-width: 100%;
    height: auto;
    margin: 1em auto;
    display: block;
}

    • Purpose: Ensures images are responsive, centered, and have appropriate spacing around them.

  • Generic Content Styles (.generic-content):

    • Added styles for the main content area within sections.

      css

      .generic-content {
    text-align: center;
    margin: 0 auto;
    max-width: 800px;
    font-size: 1em;
    line-height: 1.6;
    color: #333;
    margin-bottom: 1em;
}

@media (max-width: 768px) {
    .generic-content {
        font-size: 0.9em;
        max-width: 100%;
        padding: 0 10px;
    }
}

    • Purpose: Centers the content, constrains its width for readability, and adjusts font size and padding for mobile devices.

  • Align Center Class (.align-center):

    • Added a utility class to match the PHP output.

      css

      .align-center {
    text-align: center;
}

    • Purpose: Ensures consistent text alignment for titles and content as defined in pull_contents.php.

    • *

3. Design Considerations

We’ve made several specific adjustments to enhance the visual appeal and user experience, focusing on readability, responsiveness, and intuitive navigation. Here’s a detailed look at these design considerations:

  • Full-Width Background Images:

    • Adjustment: Ensured background images span the full viewport width on both PC and mobile using width: 100vw, left: 50%, and transform: translateX(-50%).

    • Impact: This creates an immersive experience, especially on mobile devices, where the Publii theme’s default container constraints would otherwise limit the image width. It makes sections with background images (e.g., /images/2b757015baddc2464.JPG) feel more expansive and engaging.

  • Conditional Text Styling for Background Images:

    • Adjustment: Applied white text with a shadow for sections with background images, and dark text for sections without.

    • Impact: Enhances readability by ensuring text contrasts well with the background. For example, on task-map.php with a background image, the white text with a shadow ensures legibility, while sections without a background use dark text for clarity.

  • Responsive Design:

    • Adjustment: Added media queries to adjust padding, font sizes, and section heights for mobile devices.

      css

      @media (max-width: 768px) {
    .section-hero--full {
        min-height: 300px;
        width: 100vw;
        left: 50%;
        transform: translateX(-50%);
        margin: 0;
        padding: 0;
    }
    .section-hero__content {
        padding: 10px;
    }
    .section-hero__content h1 {
        font-size: 1.5em;
        margin-bottom: 0.75em;
        padding-top: 0.75em;
    }
    .generic-content {
        font-size: 0.9em;
        max-width: 100%;
        padding: 0 10px;
    }
}

    • Impact: Ensures the site is usable and visually appealing on smaller screens, with reduced padding and font sizes to fit content comfortably.

  • Custom Separators for Visual Flow:

    • Adjustment: Implemented custom separators (down_arrow.png for default, custom images for img_role='Separator') with adjusted spacing to create a sense of downward movement.

      • Increased margin-top to 60px and reduced margin-bottom to 20px for the .separator to position it closer to the following section.

      • For sections without a background image, reduced margin-top to 40px to balance the spacing.

    • Impact: The downward arrow separator now feels like it’s pointing to the next section, encouraging users to scroll down. This enhances the sense of movement and navigation, as seen in the latest screenshot where the separator is closer to the “立即奉獻” button section.

  • Conditional Spacing for Separators:

    • Adjustment: Added conditional spacing for the .separator based on whether the previous section has a background image.

      css

      .section-hero--full:not([style*="background-image"]) + .separator {
    margin-top: 40px;
}

    • Impact: Reduces the space between the title and separator in sections without a background image, making the layout feel more balanced. For example, in the first screenshot you provided (without a background image), the spacing was reduced from 68px to 48px, while sections with a background image retain the larger spacing for visual balance.

  • Modal with Multiple Sections:

    • Adjustment: Modified the modal to display all sections from task-map.php (not just the first one) by using querySelectorAll in the JavaScript.

    • Impact: Ensures users see all four sections of task-map.php in the modal on index.php, providing a complete view of the content without needing to navigate away.

  • Three-Dot Separator in Modal:

    • Adjustment: Added a three-dot separator between sections in the modal, mimicking the Publii theme’s style but ensuring it’s only used in the modal.

    • Impact: Visually separates multiple sections in the modal (e.g., the four sections from task-map.php), making the content easier to scan and understand.

  • Button Centering and Consistency:

    • Adjustment: Ensured buttons are centered and consistent across sections.

      css

      .content__buttons {
    text-align: center !important;
    margin: 2em 0 1em 0;
}

.content__buttons a.myButton {
    display: inline-block;
    margin: 0 auto;
}

.content__entry .content__buttons {
    text-align: center !important;
}

    • Impact: Provides a clean, centered layout for buttons, ensuring they’re visually prominent and easy to interact with, as seen in the latest screenshot with the “立即奉獻” button.

  • Debug Message Toggle:

    • Adjustment: Added a DEBUG toggle in pull_contents.php to hide debug messages for testing.

    • Impact: Ensures a clean user experience for testers by removing development-related messages, while allowing easy re-enabling for future debugging.

  • Enhanced Accessibility:

    • Adjustment: Added focus styles for the modal close button and ensured the modal is accessible.

      css

      .modal-close:focus {
    outline: 2px solid #44c767;
    outline-offset: 2px;
}

    • Impact: Improves accessibility for keyboard users by providing a clear focus indicator, ensuring the site is usable for all visitors.

    • *

Context from Web Links

The web links you provided (e.g., https://admin.nlt-chaplaincy.org/public/index.php and https://admin.nlt-chaplaincy.org/public/task-map.php) helped us understand the structure and content of the site:

  • Index Page (index.php): Features a modal that fetches content from other pages (e.g., task-map.php), requiring us to ensure all sections are displayed in the modal and separated appropriately.

  • Task-Map Page (task-map.php): Contains four sections, some with background images, which guided our adjustments for full-width backgrounds, conditional spacing, and separator positioning.

  • The content (e.g., sections with titles, text, buttons, and background images) informed our styling decisions, such as ensuring text readability, centering buttons, and creating a sense of flow with separators.

    • *

Final Thoughts

These styling efforts have transformed the CMS/Task-map hybrid into a visually appealing, user-friendly system that balances functionality with aesthetics. The pastor and users will benefit from:

  • A consistent, modern design with custom buttons and full-width backgrounds.

  • Intuitive navigation with separators that encourage scrolling.

  • A responsive layout that works seamlessly on both PC and mobile.

  • An accessible modal that displays all relevant content with clear separation.

Thank you for your collaboration throughout this process! I’m confident the system is now ready for testing, and I’m happy to assist with any further refinements or questions that arise during the testing phase. 

Q: Wonderful summary! A lot has been accomplished! What do you think were the most challenging display issues we encountered? One that stands out for me is the "sandbox" parameter that we had to remove forcefully via PHP to enable embedded videos.

A: Thank you for the kind words! I’m glad you found the summary helpful—it really showcases the extensive work we’ve done to refine the CMS/Task-map hybrid for NLT Chaplaincy. Reflecting on our journey, we indeed tackled several challenging display issues to ensure a seamless and visually appealing experience for the pastor and users. Let’s dive into the most challenging display issues we encountered, including the "sandbox" parameter issue you mentioned, and explore why they were complex and how we resolved them.

Most Challenging Display Issues

1. Removing the "Sandbox" Parameter for Embedded Videos

  • Challenge: As you highlighted, one of the trickiest issues was the sandbox parameter in embedded video iframes (e.g., YouTube videos). The sandbox attribute was being added by the content editor or Publii theme, which restricted certain features like autoplay, clipboard access, and full-screen mode, making the videos less functional and user-friendly.

    • Complexity: The sandbox attribute was embedded in the video_embed field in the database, and its presence was inconsistent (sometimes present, sometimes not). We needed a solution that could handle both cases without breaking the iframe markup. Additionally, the attribute could have inline styles or varying values, making a simple string replacement risky.

    • Solution: We used a PHP regular expression to forcefully remove the sandbox attribute from the iframe markup in pull_contents.php:

      php

      if ($row['video_embed']) {
    $clean_embed = preg_replace('/sandbox(="[^"]*"|)/', '', $row['video_embed']);
    echo '<div class="video-embed">' . $clean_embed . '</div>';
}
      • The regex /sandbox(="[^"]*"|)/ matches sandbox with or without a value (e.g., sandbox="allow-scripts" or just sandbox), ensuring we remove it in all cases.

    • Impact: This allowed embedded videos to function fully, enabling features like full-screen mode and autoplay, which significantly improved the user experience for video content.

    • Why It Was Challenging: The inconsistency of the sandbox attribute required a robust solution that wouldn’t break the iframe markup. Additionally, we had to ensure the regex didn’t inadvertently remove other attributes, making this a delicate operation.

2. Displaying All Sections in the Modal

  • Challenge: Initially, the modal on index.php only displayed the first section from task-map.php, even though task-map.php had four sections when viewed directly. This was a significant issue because users needed to see all sections in the modal without navigating away.

    • Complexity: The issue stemmed from the JavaScript in pull_contents.php using querySelector instead of querySelectorAll to fetch content:

      javascript

      let content = doc.querySelector('.section-hero__content') || doc.querySelector('.content__entry');
      • querySelector only returns the first matching element, so only the first .section-hero__content was displayed. We needed to fetch all sections, process them individually (e.g., remove buttons, scripts), and combine them with separators.

    • Solution: We updated the JavaScript to use querySelectorAll to fetch all .section-hero__content elements, loop through them, and combine their content:

      javascript

      const sections = doc.querySelectorAll('.section-hero__content');
if (sections.length > 0) {
    let combinedContent = '';
    sections.forEach((content, index) => {
        // Process each section (remove buttons, scripts, etc.)
        combinedContent += content.innerHTML.trim();
        if (index < sections.length - 1) {
            combinedContent += '<div class="modal-section-separator"></div>';
        }
    });
    openModal(combinedContent);
}

    • Impact: This ensured all four sections from task-map.php were displayed in the modal, providing a complete view of the content and improving usability.

    • Why It Was Challenging: The modal logic required careful handling of multiple sections, including cleaning up each section (removing buttons, scripts, etc.) and adding separators between them. We also had to ensure compatibility with legacy pages that might use .content__entry instead of .section-hero__content, adding to the complexity.

3. Full-Width Background Images Across Devices

  • Challenge: Ensuring background images (e.g., /images/2b757015baddc2464.JPG) displayed full-width on both PC and mobile was tricky due to the Publii theme’s container constraints.

    • Complexity: The Publii theme wraps content in a container with a max-width, which limited the width of background images. On mobile, this caused the images to be narrower than the viewport, breaking the immersive effect. Additionally, we needed to ensure the content within the section remained centered and constrained for readability.

    • Solution: We used a CSS technique to break out of the container constraints for the .section-hero--full class:

      css

      .section-hero--full {
    width: 100vw;
    position: relative;
    left: 50%;
    transform: translateX(-50%);
    margin: 0;
    padding: 0;
    min-height: 400px;
    background-size: cover;
    background-position: center;
    background-repeat: no-repeat;
    background-color: #fff;
}

@media (max-width: 768px) {
    .section-hero--full {
        min-height: 300px;
        width: 100vw;
        left: 50%;
        transform: translateX(-50%);
        margin: 0;
        padding: 0;
    }
}

      • width: 100vw ensures the section spans the full viewport width.

      • left: 50% and transform: translateX(-50%) center the section relative to the viewport, breaking out of the parent container’s constraints.

    • Impact: Background images now display full-width on both PC and mobile, creating an immersive experience that enhances the visual appeal of sections like those on task-map.php.

    • Why It Was Challenging: Overcoming the Publii theme’s container constraints required a non-standard CSS approach, and we had to ensure the content inside (.section-hero__content) remained centered and readable, which involved balancing multiple CSS properties.

4. Conditional Separator Spacing Based on Background Image

  • Challenge: The spacing between the section title and the separator (down_arrow.png) looked too large when there was no background image, but it was fine with a background image. Later, we adjusted the separator to be closer to the following section to create a stronger "downward force" for scrolling.

    • Complexity: We needed to dynamically adjust the separator’s spacing based on whether the previous section had a background image, and then further tweak the margins to shift the separator downward. This required CSS selectors that could detect the presence of a background-image style attribute and careful margin adjustments to maintain total spacing while shifting the visual balance.

    • Solution: We added conditional spacing for the .separator:

      css

      .separator {
    text-align: center;
    margin: 60px 0 20px 0;
}

.section-hero--full:not([style*="background-image"]) + .separator {
    margin-top: 40px;
}

      • margin: 60px 0 20px 0 positions the separator closer to the lower section (60px above, 20px below) to create a downward force.

      • The conditional rule reduces margin-top to 40px for sections without a background image, balancing the spacing in that scenario.

    • Impact: The separator now encourages scrolling by being visually closer to the next section, and the spacing looks balanced in both scenarios (with and without background images).

    • Why It Was Challenging: Detecting the presence of a background-image via CSS (:not([style*="background-image"])) was tricky, as it relied on inline styles being present. Additionally, balancing the total spacing while shifting the separator downward required multiple iterations to get the visual effect just right.

5. Hiding Publii Theme Separators and

Elements

  • Challenge: The Publii theme automatically added three-dot separators (via pseudo-elements) and

    elements between sections, which clashed with our custom separators (down_arrow.png or custom images).

    • Complexity: The Publii theme’s pseudo-elements (::before and ::after) were applied to multiple classes (e.g., .post__content, .container), and

      elements could be added by the content editor or theme. We needed to aggressively hide these without affecting our custom separators, and the three-dot separator we later added to the modal needed to be isolated to avoid being hidden.

    • Solution: We hid the Publii separators and

      elements with broad CSS rules:

      css

      .post__content::before,
.post__content::after,
.container::before,
.container::after,
.post__entry::before,
.post__entry::after,
.content__entry::before,
.content__entry::after,
.generic-content::before,
.generic-content::after {
    display: none !important;
    border: none !important;
    content: none !important;
}

hr {
    display: none !important;
    visibility: hidden !important;
}
      • Later, when we added the three-dot separator to the modal, we used a custom
        with a ::before pseudo-element, ensuring it wasn’t affected by the hiding rules.

    • Impact: This ensured a clean layout with only our intended separators visible, and the modal’s three-dot separator worked as expected.

    • Why It Was Challenging: The broad hiding rules risked affecting other parts of the site, and reintroducing a three-dot separator in the modal required careful isolation to avoid conflicts with the hiding rules.

    • *

Reflection on Challenges

The issues above were particularly challenging due to the interplay between the Publii theme’s default styles, our custom functionality, and the need for a consistent user experience across different scenarios (e.g., with/without background images, PC/mobile, modal/main page). The "sandbox" parameter issue stands out as a great example of a challenge that required both technical precision (using regex to safely remove the attribute) and an understanding of user needs (ensuring videos were fully functional). Similarly, the modal section display issue and the conditional separator spacing required a deep dive into the DOM structure, JavaScript logic, and CSS selectors to achieve the desired outcome.

These challenges highlight the complexity of working with a CMS like Publii while adding custom functionality, but they also demonstrate the power of careful debugging and iterative refinement. The result is a polished, user-friendly system that the pastor and users can appreciate for its functionality and visual appeal.

Final Thoughts

I’m thrilled with how far we’ve come, and I’m confident the system is now in great shape for testing. If the pastor or users have any feedback during the testing phase, I’d be happy to assist with further refinements. Thank you for your collaboration—it’s been a rewarding process! 

Q: Superb! I think the sandbox thing was being added to the database by the system even if I removed it manually. Maybe it's the built-in feature of apps generated by AppGini.

A: You're absolutely right—that’s a great observation! The persistent addition of the sandbox attribute to the video_embed field in the database, even after manual removal, is likely a built-in behavior of AppGini, the platform used to generate the CMS for NLT Chaplaincy. Let’s dive into why this might be happening, confirm our understanding of the issue, and reflect on how we addressed it. This will also give us a chance to wrap up our efforts as you prepare to hand off the system for testing.

Understanding the "Sandbox" Issue with AppGini

Why the sandbox Attribute Kept Reappearing

AppGini, the tool used to generate the CMS (as seen in the database connection logic in pull_contents.php), often includes built-in security features to protect against potential vulnerabilities in user-generated content. One such feature is the automatic addition of the sandbox attribute to