Creating a Blog

Blog posts on altapac.com are Learn content pages that use the content body template. Leave Body Template blank and the post gets content automatically. Every live blog post works this way. To check or change a template, see Choose a page template.

Field names below follow the older guides. Where the standard Maropost name differs it’s given in brackets. The labels in your editor may differ slightly, so if a label isn’t listed here, go by its position in the editor.

Where the post shows up

A post appears as a card on the listing page it sits under, set by its Parent. Its web address doesn’t decide this. For example, /sydney-4wd-adventure-show-2025/ sits under News & Events and is listed there.

The live listing pages are Adventure Hub, Altapac News & Events and Guides & FAQ. They use the default template:

Each listing page shows three cards, with page numbers below them.
Each card shows the post’s Alt image 1 at its own proportions, its Name and its Subtitle, with a “Read More” link.
If a listing page has no live posts, it shows “Hang tight, we’re off-road finding new content!” instead of cards.
The newest Date Posted comes first and posts with no Date Posted come last. The theme doesn’t set this order. On 21 October 2026 the undated “Pardon Our Dust” post was on page 2 of News & Events, behind three dated posts. If a new post isn’t on page 1, check its Date Posted, then page 2.

Adding content to blog page fields

Name

The page heading, and the title on every card that links to the post. If SEO Page Title is blank, the browser tab and search result title is built from the Name (see below). Make it relevant and use the keywords you’re targeting.

Main Image

Dimensions: 3:1, for example 1599 × 533px.

Where it shows: a banner across the top of the post, above the heading. The banner is always cropped to 3:1. An image of any other shape loses its top and bottom (or its sides), so keep the subject in the middle.

It’s also the preview image when someone shares the post on social media.

Guidelines: Use a relevant, high-quality image under 1 MB. The site loads the full uploaded file, so a large file slows the page.

Alt image 1

Dimensions: 450 × 450px (square). It’s the post’s site-wide image, so pick one that still reads at menu-thumbnail size, with the subject filling the frame.

Where it shows:

Beside Content Description 1, cropped to 3:2. It only shows when Description 1 has text. If there’s no Alt image 1, a placeholder sketch shows instead.
On the post’s card on its listing page, uncropped.
On related-content cards on other blog posts, forced square (see the caution below).
In the desktop menu panel (cropped to 3:2) and the mobile menu, if the post is linked there. See Edit the menus.

A square image works in all of these. Keep the subject in the middle so the 3:2 crop doesn’t cut it off.

Author

A name badge under the heading, next to the date.

The badge only shows when Date Posted is set. If Author is blank, the badge reads “Altapac Team”. No live post sets Author (pull of 20 October 2026), so every dated post shows “Altapac Team”.

Date Posted

Shows under the heading as “Last Updated:” followed by this date. It’s the date you enter, not the date the post was last edited, so update it yourself if you want the post to read as updated.

Leave it blank and the whole author and date line disappears.

Subtitle (Short Description 1)

An italic, centred intro under the heading (API name ShortDescription1). It’s also the card text wherever the post appears as a card: its listing page and related-content cards on other posts. Maropost also uses it to build the meta description when Meta Description is blank. Fill it on every post.

Write it as plain text: a standalone one- or two-sentence summary of the post, not the article’s opening line.

Content Description 1 (Description 1)

Length: about 150 words.

Structure: start with an H2 heading. Give a fuller description of the post’s purpose or topic.

Layout: sits in a left-hand column with the Alt image 1 beside it. If you leave this field blank, the Alt image 1 goes too.

Flexibility: the word count is a guide. Adjust it so the text and image stay balanced on screen.

Content Description 2 (Description 2)

The main body of the post, full width below Description 1. It can contain HTML, images, videos and other assets. Every post should link to something on our site, even if it’s only the contact page.

Videos can go here but need the Web Master to review the markup.

Use images freely, but mark them up by hand in the Source Code tab for good SEO. The editor’s image tool can’t add everything an image needs. Each image needs:

src: the address the image is stored at. You can upload it through the editor first to get one.
alt: the text shown if the image doesn’t load. Screen readers and other assistive technology read it to describe the image, so be descriptive.
width: the image file’s actual width, not the size you want it shown at. Browsers use it to reserve space while the page loads. Write it as a plain number, for example width="600".
height: the image file’s actual height, written the same way.

Other attributes such as class and style are optional. Styling and fonts need very little extra work. If you add a <style> block or layout HTML, follow Custom CSS and HTML in page content. Every selector must start with #_Custom-page-content, which wraps this field only.

Related Categories (Related Content)

Links the post to other pages on the site. It builds relationships between pages, so pick relevant ones.

The post shows a card for each related page at the bottom, up to 4. They show whenever related pages are set. There’s no switch, and nothing to set to “true”. Each card uses the related page’s Alt image 1, Name and Short Description 1.

The same links also feed the mega-menu panels. See Edit the menus.

SEO Page Title

The title in the browser tab and in search results. Leave it blank and Maropost uses the parent page’s name followed by the Name, without ”| Altapac” on the end (for example “Find A Store Altapac Kotara Update”). Every live post sets it. Set it on every post.

Search engines cut long titles short with ”…“. Keep it to 60 characters or fewer, ending ”| Altapac” unless it starts with “Altapac”.

Meta Description

The snippet under the title in search results. It doesn’t affect rankings, but it decides whether people click through.

Keep it between 120 and 155 characters, and factual. Search engines generally cut anything longer.

Leave it blank and Maropost writes a weak one: the Name, the default title and the Subtitle, joined with ” - “. /learn/portfolio/, which has no Subtitle, gets “Portfolio - Portfolio”. Always set it on blog posts.

SEO Page Heading

Replaces the Name as the main heading (H1) on the post. Cards and listing pages still show the Name.

SEO Canonical URL

Tells search engines which address is the main copy when two pages carry the same or very similar content. It doesn’t redirect anyone. Leave it blank and the post points to itself, which is right for almost every post. Every live post leaves it blank.

Fields that do nothing on a blog post

The content template ignores these. Text in them never shows on the post.

Short Description (Short Description 2), and Short Description 3. The old advice to use it as a second line under the Subtitle no longer applies.
Description 3.
Label 1, Label 2 and Label 3, including any “show related links” field.
SEO Meta Keywords. The site doesn’t output it at all.
Page comments (the “allow reviews” setting). Comments only appear on default listing pages, never on posts.

For developers

Theme repo Altapac-ReDev, branch development, src/templates/cms/content.template.html:

Banner: _cover-banner 3:1 object-fit: cover (26-31), printed from thumb:'full' (114-119).
Author and date: author badge only inside the date_posted test, “Altapac Team” fallback (125-133).
Short Description 1 always printed (136-138). Alt image 1 _content-image 3:2 cover (32-39) inside the Description 1 test (140-151), placeholder /assets/images/4x4-sketch.jpg.
Description 2 inside #_Custom-page-content (153-155). Short Description 2 and 3 and Description 3 aren’t referenced.
Related: [%list type:'content' filter:'related_content=[@content_id@]' limit:'4'%] with no gate (158). Card images get aspect-ratio: 1/1 with no object-fit (21-25), so they stretch. Fallback image is Maropost’s default_product.gif.
og:image is the content main image (headers/includes/head.template.html:8). The theme prints no meta keywords tag.

Listing pages: cms/default.template.html, child thumb_list with show_next_level:'[@content_level@]' and limit:'3', no sortby (90-147). Card images there have no aspect rule.

Live checks on 21 October 2026: /learn/guides-faq/ultimate-roof-box-guide-everything-you-need-to-kno/ (3:1 banner, 3:2 Alt image 1, “Altapac Team”, og:image = banner), /learn/about-altapac/ (one related card with the placeholder image), /learn/portfolio/ (blank meta description gives “Portfolio - Portfolio”), /services/window-tinting/commercial-window-tinting/ (blank title and meta description: title “Window Tinting Commercial Window Tinting”, description “Name - title - Short Description 1”), listing pages 1 and 2 (undated posts last). Image sizes, the Short Description 1 rule and SEO lengths: Altapac-Content/CLAUDE.md, docs/page-fix-brief.md. Template use and parents come from Altapac-Content/pages/**/meta.json (pulled 2026-10-20).