Boardwalk Block Guide

Article Group Block

Everything you need to set up and customize the Article Group block — from adding child blocks like article content, social sharing, and back buttons, to configuring color schemes and spacing for a polished blog reading experience.

About

An article is an individual blog post on your Shopify store. Articles live inside a blog and can contain written content, images, and other media. They are the foundation of your store's content marketing, helping you share news, tell stories, offer guides, and improve your search engine visibility.

In the Boardwalk theme, the Article Group block is a parent container that holds the main content area of an article page. It provides a shared color scheme and padding that all of its child blocks inherit. Inside the Article Group you can place blocks for the article body text, social sharing buttons, a back-to-blog button, standard theme buttons, and third-party app blocks. The content width is controlled by the section-level setting, and the Article Group centers everything within that width automatically.


How to Set Up the Article Group Block

Follow these steps to add and configure the Article Group block on your blog article pages using the Boardwalk theme.

1
Open the Theme Editor

In your Shopify admin, go to Online Store → Themes, find Boardwalk, and click Customize. Use the page selector dropdown at the top center of the editor and choose a blog article page (for example, Blog posts → Default blog post).

2
Add the Article Group Block

In the Theme Editor sidebar, click Add block inside your article section and choose Article group from the list. The block will appear as a container that you can fill with child blocks.

3
Configure Color Scheme and Padding

Click the Article group block in the sidebar. Choose a color scheme to set the background and text colors for the entire group. Adjust the top, bottom, and edge padding to control the spacing around the content area.

4
Add Child Blocks

Inside the Article Group, click Add block to insert child blocks. You can add the article content (body text), social share buttons, a back-to-blog button, standard buttons, or third-party app blocks. Drag and drop blocks to reorder them.

5
Customize Each Child Block

Click on any child block to open its individual settings. Each block has its own options for appearance, typography, and spacing. See the Child Blocks section below for details on each one.

6
Save and Preview

Click Save in the Theme Editor. Preview your article page to make sure the content, sharing buttons, and navigation are all displaying as expected.


Article Group Settings

These settings apply to the Article Group block itself and are accessible by clicking the block in the Theme Editor sidebar. They control the overall appearance and spacing of the content area.

Article Group Settings

Color scheme

Sets the background and text colors for the entire Article Group area. All child blocks inside the group inherit this color scheme.

Padding top

Controls the amount of space above the content area. Range: 0px to 100px. On mobile devices this value is automatically reduced to 75% for a better fit.

Padding bottom

Controls the amount of space below the content area. Range: 0px to 100px. On mobile devices this value is automatically reduced to 75%.

Edge padding

Controls the left and right spacing inside the content area. Range: 0px to 80px. This is useful for adding breathing room between the article text and the edges of the container.


Child Blocks

The Article Group accepts several types of child blocks. Each one adds a specific piece of functionality to your article page. You can add, remove, and reorder these blocks inside the group.

Article Content

Displays the full body text of your article. This is the rich text content you write in the Shopify admin article editor, including formatted text, images, videos, and embedded media. The width is controlled by the parent Article Group.

  • Padding top — Space above the article body. Range: 0px to 100px.
  • Padding bottom — Space below the article body. Range: 0px to 100px.

Note: The article content shown here comes directly from the article you create in the Shopify admin under Online Store → Blog posts. To edit the text, update the article itself — not the block settings.

Article Share

Adds social sharing buttons so readers can share your article on platforms like Facebook, X (Twitter), Pinterest, LinkedIn, Threads, Bluesky, Tumblr, and email. It also includes a copy-link button that copies the article URL to the clipboard with a confirmation popup.

  • Show label — Toggles a text label above the sharing icons.
  • Label text — The text displayed above the sharing icons when the label is turned on.
  • Share platforms — Individual toggles for Facebook, X (Twitter), Pinterest, LinkedIn, Threads, Bluesky, Tumblr, Email, and Copy link.
  • Icon size — Size of the social sharing icons. Range: 16px to 28px.
  • Gap — Spacing between the sharing icons. Range: 8px to 32px.
  • Padding top / bottom — Space above and below the sharing row. Range: 0px to 40px.
  • Color scheme — Optionally override the icon colors independently from the parent group.
Back Button

Adds a navigation button that links back to the parent blog's article listing. The link destination is automatically set to the blog URL — no manual configuration needed. A subtle top border visually separates it from the content above.

  • Button text — The label displayed on the button.
  • Button style — Choose from Solid, Outline, Ghost, or Text.
  • Size — Small or Medium. Only available when the style is Solid or Outline.
  • Full width — Stretches the button to fill the entire content width.
  • Show arrow — Displays a left-pointing arrow icon on the button.
  • Padding top / bottom — Space above and below the button. Range: 0px to 40px.
Button

A standard theme button block. You can use this to add any custom call-to-action link within the article content area, such as linking to a product, collection, or external page.

Theme Blocks

Any compatible theme-level block can be placed inside the Article Group. This gives you flexibility to insert other Boardwalk elements directly into the article content area.

App Blocks

Third-party Shopify app blocks can also be nested inside the Article Group. If you use apps that add content to article pages (such as related product widgets or newsletter signup forms), you can place their blocks here alongside your article content.


Key Features

Important behaviors and design details to be aware of when working with the Article Group block.

Inherited Content Width

The Article Group does not have its own width setting. Instead, it inherits the maximum content width from the section-level setting (--article-content-max-width). All child blocks are centered within this width automatically.

Color Scheme Inheritance

When you set a color scheme on the Article Group, all child blocks inside it automatically inherit that scheme. Some child blocks (like Article Share) have their own optional color scheme override if you need specific elements to use different colors.

Mobile-Responsive Padding

The top and bottom padding values you set on the Article Group are automatically scaled down to 75% on mobile devices. This ensures the spacing looks proportional on smaller screens without needing separate mobile settings.

Rich Text Article Content

The Article Content child block renders your article body with built-in typography styles. Headings, paragraphs, images, and blockquotes are all styled automatically. Images within the article are given rounded corners and responsive sizing.

Copy Link Confirmation

The Article Share block's copy-link button includes a built-in confirmation popup. When a reader clicks the button, the article URL is copied to their clipboard and a small "Copied!" message briefly appears near the button. This works without the need for a page reload.


Frequently Asked Questions

The Article Group is a flexible parent container that holds multiple child blocks — article content, share buttons, back buttons, and more — and lets you arrange them in any order. The Article Body is a self-contained block that includes the article text content, an optional back-to-blog link, and its own width and color settings all in one. Use Article Group when you want more control over the layout, and Article Body when you want a simpler all-in-one setup.
The Article Group inherits its content width from the section-level setting. To change the width, click the top-level article section in the Theme Editor sidebar (not the Article Group block) and look for the content max width setting there.
Yes. The Article Group supports app blocks, so you can add compatible third-party Shopify app content directly alongside your article text, share buttons, and other child blocks. Just click Add block inside the group and look for app blocks in the list.
The Article Share block only appears when there is an active article on the page. If you're previewing a template without selecting a specific article, the share buttons may not render. Make sure you are viewing an actual published article in the Theme Editor preview. Also check that at least one sharing platform is toggled on in the block settings.
The Back Button automatically links to the parent blog that the article belongs to. You do not need to set a URL manually. If the article doesn't belong to a blog (which is rare), the button won't appear.
Yes. The Comments block is a separate block that sits outside the Article Group at the section level. You can add an Article Group for the main content area and a Comments block below it for reader discussions. They work independently and do not conflict with each other.