If a user is editing a page, they have the option to choose any page template for that page through the edit screen. Wordpress does not have that option for posts.
I installed the Sparkling theme and noticed that they were able to include layout options for the user to select on the posts edit screen.
How would I be able to do the same thing on my theme? Perhaps someone can guide me in the right direction.
I included a screen shot and circled the options I am trying to add to my theme:
Wordpress provides a template hierarchy which gives you the flexibility to create custom layouts for posts, pages, archives, etc. To create a custom layout for a specific blog post, you would name the template single-{post-type}-{slug}.php
You can find out more about the template hierarchy here
You can do this by creating a custom metabox. You can then use the selected value to choose your template part.
eg. if fullwidth is chosen:- get_template_part('template-part/','fullwidth'); where 'template-part/' is a folder and 'fullwidth' is file with .php extension. read more here
There are a lot of online generators to create a metabox if you want to skip the hassle of making one your self. Simply generate and paste the code in functions.php of your theme
check out https://jeremyhixon.com/tool/wordpress-meta-box-generator/
This option is likely added with post_meta. The panel option looks like it was was added with the add_meta_box.
Post meta is a common place to put additional data to posts in WordPress.
Post meta boxes are an easy way to show fields for this options to be displayed.
