Simple Content is the layout component of APB. It draws a grid of one to several columns and lets you fill the cells with rich text, images (one image or a small slideshow), a background, or a Region — an empty slot into which any other component can be inserted. Most multi-column pages are built with it.
What it is for
Whenever the page body is not enough: text beside an image, two or three text columns, a colored band with a heading, an accordion next to a paragraph, a call-out box. Simple Content provides the columns; the items provide the content; other components plug into its regions.
See it live on the example page APB Simple Content. Several other example pages (Carousel, Image Gallery, Tabs) use it to place a component beside text.
Structure
The component defines the grid. Its items are placed into the grid cells in order, left to right, then next row. There are four item types:
| Item type | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Content | A cell of rich text: headings, paragraphs, lists, inline images, links. |
| Images | A cell with one image or, when several are uploaded, a small slideshow of them, cropped to a chosen aspect ratio. |
| Region | An empty cell with an ID. Any component whose Target Placement matches that ID is moved into the cell. |
| Background | Not a cell in the usual sense: a color or image (optionally with parallax) applied behind the whole component, behind the items area, or as a colored block in one cell. |
Item titles are for editors only; none of them is shown on the page. Give each item a descriptive title (“Left text”, “Region 1”) so the items table stays readable.
Component settings
| Setting | Options | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Section Title / Show Section Title / Intro Text | — | — / No / empty | Heading and intro above the grid. See Section Title and Intro Text. |
| Target Placement | Body, Main Content Top/Bottom, Top region, Sidebars, Internal Placement 1–3 | Body | See Target Placement. A Simple Content can itself be placed in the region of another Simple Content. |
| Columns | 1 … 10 | 1 | Number of equal columns. See Columns and Column Gap. |
| Template | No template; for 2 columns: 50/50, 33/67, 67/33, 25/75, 75/25; for 3 columns: 33/33/33, 25/25/50, 50/25/25, 25/50/25, 20/40/40; for 4 columns: 25/25/25/25, 33/22/22/22, 22/22/22/33 | No template | Unequal column widths. Pick a template whose column count matches Columns; the numbers are percentages from left to right. |
| Column Gap | 0 … 60px | 0px | Space between cells. |
| Vertical Align | Stretch, Top, Center, Bottom, Inherit | Stretch | How cells of different heights line up in a row. Stretch makes all cells the same height (needed for background colors to fill the row); Center centers a short text beside a tall image. |
| Component Width | 25% … 100% | 100% | See Component Width. |
| Custom Class / Access Control | — | — | See Advanced settings. |
| Container Settings | — | 32px bottom margin | See Container Settings. For most backgrounds Container Settings is simpler than a Background item. |
Item fields
Content
| Field | Required | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Title | yes | Editor label only. |
| Body | yes | The rich text of the cell. |
| Vertical Align | yes (Inherit) | Overrides the component alignment for this cell. |
| Padding | no (0px) | Inner space of the cell, 0–60px. Needed when the cell has a background color. |
| Grid Column Span | no (Auto) | Make the cell span 2–5 columns or the full width — for a heading row above two columns, for instance. |
| Background Color | no | Fill color of the cell. |
| Description (internal) / Custom Class | no | Editor note / extra CSS class. |
Images
| Field | Required | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Title | yes | Editor label only. |
| Images | no | One or more images. One image is shown as is; two or more become a slideshow with arrows. |
| Aspect Ratio | yes (Landscape) | Landscape, Portrait or Square crop applied to every image in the cell (adjust the crops after upload). |
| Padding / Background Color / Custom Class | no | As for Content. |
Region
| Field | Required | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Region ID | yes | The anchor other components target. To use the standard placements, type exactly internal-placement-1, internal-placement-2 or internal-placement-3; the inserted component then selects Internal Placement 1, 2 or 3 as its Target Placement. |
| Active Region | yes (on) | Switch the region off to keep the cell but stop receiving components. |
| Padding / Background Color | no | As for Content. |
Background
| Field | Required | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Title | yes | Editor label only. |
| Background Type | yes (Content) | Section — behind the whole component including title and intro. Items — behind the grid only. Content — the item is itself a cell filled with the color/image (a colored block in the grid). Use at most one Section background per component. |
| Background Color / Background Image | no | Color and/or image. The image is scaled to cover. |
| Background Image Sizes | no (Large) | Which resized copy is loaded (Small … 2XL). |
| Height | yes (400px) | Minimum height of a Content-type background block (300px … 100vh). |
| Margin / Padding / Grid Column Span / Force Full Width | no | Spacing and span of the block; Force Full Width lets an Items background extend to the window edges. |
| Parallax, Orientation, Scale, Delay | no | Moves the background image slowly as the page scrolls (Up/Down/Left/Right); Scale enlarges the image so it has room to move, Delay smooths the motion. |
How to use it
Text beside an image:
- Click Add Simple Content. Set Columns to 2 and, if you want the image narrower, Template 67/33.
- Click Add new APB SC Content, write the text, click Create.
- Click Add new APB SC Images, upload the image, choose the Aspect Ratio, click Create.
- Set Vertical Align to Center and save.
Inserting another component in a column:
- In the Simple Content, add a Region item with Region ID
internal-placement-1. - Add the other component (Tabs, Accordion, Carousel, …) to the Page Builder as usual.
- In that component, set Target Placement to Internal Placement 1. Save: the component now renders inside the region cell.
Tips
- Item order equals cell order. Drag items to swap columns; no need to re-enter content.
- On small screens columns stack vertically in item order — put the most important cell first.
- Use Grid Column Span: Full Width on a Content item to add a heading row above a multi-column grid.
- Each Region ID can be used once per page; with three standard IDs you can host three inserted components per page. Any other unique ID also works if a designer targets it explicitly.
- Prefer Container Settings backgrounds for a plain band; use a Background item when you need parallax, a block inside the grid, or a background limited to the items area.
For site builders
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Module | apb_pb_simple_content |
| Paragraph types | apb_pb_simple_content; items apb_pi_sc_content, apb_pi_sc_images, apb_pi_sc_region, apb_pi_sc_background |
| Requires | apbuilder, Paragraphs, Entity Reference Revisions, Inline Entity Form, Field Group, Crop, Image Widget Crop, Better Formats, Color Field, Entity Access by Role Field, Field Formatter Class, Taxonomy Machine Name, core Image / Options / Taxonomy / Text |
| Own vocabularies | apb_tax_sc_template, apb_tax_sc_vertical_align, apb_grid_column_span, apb_image_sizes; crop types apb_image_landscape / _portrait / _square; image styles apb_image_* and apb_simple_content_bg_sm … _2xl |
| Shared vocabularies | apb_tax_columns, apb_tax_column_gap, apb_tax_width, apb_tax_target_placement, apb_tax_orientation, apb_tax_padding, apb_tax_margin, apb_tax_min_height |
| Front-end | apb_pb_simple_content/frontend: grid and template classes, Splide for image cells, simpleParallax for backgrounds, all driven by data-apb-sc-*. Region items render <div id="{Region ID}">, which core apb-placement.js uses as the placement target. |
| Container settings | Full profile on the component; cell backgrounds come from the items (apb_pi_sc_background), not from the shared container system. |
| Example page | /apbuilder_examples/apb-simple-content |