UPDATE: I removed Elementor from this site since this article was originally posted.
With Elementor, you probably just want to create one Post Template and stick to it throughout your site.
But you don’t have to!
Here’s what I did at the Inn, just to show you some of the possibilities.
Single Post Template #2
When I decided to make a second template that I would apply to some of my posts, I didn’t want it to look too much different from my original post template, so when it came time to choose the template for my template, I chose my original template!
In the list above, it was the one called Default Post Template. I named the new one Test Post Template (which also now shows in the list).
The only changes I made were at the top of a post where the Featured Image usually resides.
I added a section called an Inner Section, mainly just to see what it would do, because you can’t really tell from its name what its purpose is. (I also then deleted the original Featured Image section.)
As the icon for an Inner Section suggests, you get a 2-column area to work with. I changed it from the default 50/50 split horizontally to a 33/66 “structure” with the larger portion on the right.
Into that larger area I then inserted the Featured Image section. I put a Meta Data section on the left and played around with it a bit.
I put the custom text “Gary wrote this for you” instead of standard author line. I changed the date format and added the word “on” before it on the date line.
I deleted the lines that contained the time the post was written and the number of comments the post had received.
Then I got a little fancy and made the area “Fade In Up” which means the name and date lines initially are not in place but instead “fade in” lower than usual and slide up into their final position.
Deciding When to Use a Template
The last step in this process is setting up the conditions that will determine when posts will use this template.
Just before you save the final version of your template, you get to choose conditions that affect which posts (or other items) will use the template.
For this new Test Post Template, I chose to have it show up only when the Category is Analytics. I chose “Category” from a dropdown list. I then started typing in “Analytics” in the next conditions box and Elementor found that I had a category called archives that I could then select to fill that last box.
This selection then conflicted with my original Default Posts Template which I had said should be used for All my Posts.
So I had to edit that template and give it multiple conditions. I had it apply to each of my other Categories. (It doesn’t work, as you might at first think, just to Exclude this template from everything but Analytics. It’s a logic thing.)
The Final Result
So now if you click the Techie menu item and click any post the shows up (only one, as of this writing), you will see those differences I mentioned above.
You won’t see any differences – assuming you’ve visited here before, which you probably haven’t – in any of my other WP Inn posts.
Again, this isn’t likely to be something you want to implement on your site. But it’s nice to know you can, should the need arise.
