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Lattice Plugin Setup

Documentation for the Lattice Plugin setup on Trellis.

First, get the zip file from the downloads section of your TrellisWP.com account, then upload it to the plugins screen in your WordPress admin.

Watch Intro to Feast Video

Add the "TRELLIS" license key for the Lattice Plugin.

Enable Lattice Settings

Once you have the Lattice plugin installed and activated, go to the Lattice Plugin Settings page to enable enable features that are useful for your site.

The Lattice Plugin is a toolkit of WordPress enhancements, as well as tools to help publishers run their site more efficiently.

You'll likely want to use mv_trellis_3x4_high_res for your FSRI blocks, but some sites will use the 1x1 (square) or 4x3 (horizontal) depending on preference.

Enable the Feast Layouts to access the Custom Post Template and Modern Sidebar.

Set up Modern Homepage

Head to the Lattice Plugin > Setup > Modern Homepage to 1-click create a homepage from a template:

The Modern Homepage layout helps improve both SEO and user experience by organizing posts by category, and adding content/context to help users navigate the site.

Review the blocks used at:

Set up Modern Sidebar

Navigate to the Dashboard > Lattice Plugin > Feast Layouts > Add New > Name it Modern Sidebar > then select Assign a Layout: Modern Sidebar

The sidebar should contain:

  1. an author-profile (this should be 300x300px and a JPG)
  2. trending recipes
  3. seasonal content

Important: the sidebar ad unit is one of the highest earning ad units, and all ad companies strongly recommend that you keep your sidebar short and minimal to maximize revenue.

Do not overstuff the sidebar.

Sidebar Author Bio

We introduced a custom block designed to better control the layout of the sidebar author bio, which should replace any previous versions you might have. See this video:

Editing Sidebar

There is a (edit modern sidebar) link available directly below the Modern Sidebar only when logged in as an admin (this is not visible to non admins). Click that link to take you to the block edit

Sidebar Headings

Use only h3s in the Modern Sidebar.

Just like the footer, the sidebar is distinguished by a hidden h2 on your site for accessibility. Any headings in the Modern Sidebar need to be an h3.

All <h2> in the Modern Footer are automatically downgraded to an <h3> for accessibility compliance

Do not use any headings lower than an h3 (h4, h5, h6).

Sidebar Trending Recipes & Seasonal Content

Displaying your trending recipes using the FSRI block adds reinforcing internal links to your top content, helping it perform better in search engines and surfacing your best content for your readers.

In addition to 4 "trending" recipes, we recommend having 4 "seasonal" recipes using the FSRI block upcoming holidays or events. This needs to be updated regularly, as the seasonal content or holiday changes.

A better option is to use the "Post IDs" section of the FSRI block to select 4 specific posts to display, which doesn't require editing the posts themselves.

Sidebar FSRI display

We recommend using half-width display on both mobile and desktop for the sidebar content:


5. Post template

The post template lets you create a template post that saves you time having to write a post from scratch. You can create multiple versions for different types of posts you may create, like:

  • a roundup of other posts
  • a review of a product, service or business
  • a standard template for your posts
  • a deep-dive guide on a niche topic

Check out the Post Template page for a full overview and setup instructions.

6. Scheduled Categories

Enable the Scheduled Categories to add a start date and end date field to your category pages. Once completed, you can use the Scheduled Category block to automatically show posts from the category whose date range contains the current day.

This is extremely helpful and time-saving by reducing the need for you to manually update your homepage and key landing pages to point to relevant content.

It improves SEO by linking to posts at the time of year that they should be ranking.

It improves user experience by providing them with content that's relevant to them at the right time of year.

See the Scheduled Categories page for full details and implementation.

Feast Plugin

When you're ready, you can upgrade to the full Feast Plugin and get a free migration from Trellis to Foodie Pro 5 and unlock:

  • Modern Categories which enable crafting high quality category pages
  • Modern 404 to help readers find relevant posts even when the current page doesn't exist
  • Image optimization via Shortpixel
  • Pagespeed optimization via WP Rocket
  • Improved internal linking with the Modern Previous + Next
  • 10+ WordPress core modifications to improve default performance
  • Continuous support for WordPress updates