This document defines the editorial and technical standards used to maintain long-term stability, portability, and clarity across PenOdyssey websites and content. These standards exist to protect existing design investments while preventing future dependency on specific themes, plugins, or proprietary tools.
Guiding Principles
- Content longevity takes priority over visual novelty.
- Design decisions must remain reversible.
- Existing layouts are preserved; new dependencies are avoided.
- Tools serve content, not the other way around.
Core Rule: No New Blocks
No new content may be created using non-core WordPress blocks.
This rule applies to all new pages, posts, and future content additions. Existing pages that already use non-core or theme-specific blocks are explicitly grandfathered and will not be rewritten solely to enforce this rule.
Approved (Allowed) Blocks
The following WordPress core blocks are approved for ongoing and future use. These blocks are theme-agnostic and remain compatible across WordPress environments:
- Paragraph
- Heading
- List
- Quote
- Image
- Gallery
- Columns (core)
- Buttons (core)
- Spacer / Separator
- Group (core)
- Table (used sparingly)
Prohibited Blocks (Going Forward)
No new content may introduce blocks provided by themes or plugins, including but not limited to:
- Theme-specific layout or row blocks
- Advanced gallery, tab, accordion, or icon blocks
- Dynamic content or AI-generated layout blocks
- Blocks labeled with plugin or theme names
If a block displays a plugin or theme name in the editor, it is not permitted for new use.
Editing Existing Pages
Existing pages that contain non-core or theme-specific blocks may be edited under the following conditions:
- Text edits, corrections, and updates are permitted.
- Links may be updated or repaired.
- Images may be replaced or optimized.
The following actions are not permitted on existing pages:
- Adding new non-core or theme-specific blocks
- Duplicating theme-based layouts into new pages
- Creating reusable patterns from theme-based blocks
Pre-Publish Safety Check
Before publishing new content, editors should perform a quick verification:
- Open the List View in the block editor.
- Scan for block names.
- If any block displays a plugin or theme name, remove it before publishing.
Exceptions
Exceptions to these standards are expected to be rare. If advanced layout behavior is genuinely required, the exception must be documented prior to publication, including the reason and the tool used.
Intent of This Standard
These standards do not reject past design choices. They preserve them.
The intent is to ensure that PenOdyssey content remains readable, editable, and portable for years to come, regardless of theme changes, plugin availability, or platform evolution.
Design may evolve. Content must endure.