Describe the problem you would like to solve
Our editors need a way to create simple, flexible, and dynamic NMI-based custom pages without requiring extensive customization and development. Currently, OJS blocks (including those created with the Custom Block plugin) can only be displayed in sidebar regions and cannot be rendered as standalone pages. While there currently aren’t a lot of core blocks that would benefit from this, we believe that, combined with the Custom Block plugin, this could become a powerful feature.
Describe the solution you’d like
Allow navigation menu items to present blocks as pages. For example:
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Editors create a Navigation Menu Item (NMI). Among the Navigation Menu Types available would be “Block” (or “Blocks”).
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Once selected, editors are given the option to select which block (or blocks) they would like to include in the standalone page and, using a UI identical to the “Sidebar” field options in “Website Settings”, are able to order them.
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The block content would be rendered in the main content area of a page and appear as a Navigation Menu Item.
This would allow existing block content to function as flexible, editor-managed landing pages.
Who is asking for this feature?
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Journal Editors
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Journal Managers / Administrators
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Technical Support staff assisting with site customization
Additional information
While not all core blocks would need this functionality, the feature becomes especially powerful when combined with the Custom Block plugin. It would enable journals to create curated content without modifying templates or developing extensive plugins. This represents a low-barrier enhancement to OJS’s content management capabilities and would extend the range of Navigation Menu Items from preset pages and static custom pages to dynamically generated ones.