# Guide: contents beside

> A full five-chapter reference article with descriptive contents links and a short note in the left rail. Longer prose, a checklist, a photograph and a practical recap demonstrate the layout over a realistic reading distance. Core blocks only, with editable sample content and no plugin required. Inherits your theme’s colours and typeface.

Canonical: https://patternpaste.com/pattern/article-guide-sidebar.html
Section: Single articles
Access: Included in Pattern Paste access.
Needs: Requires a block theme on WordPress 6.7 to 7.0. Classic themes and page builders are outside our supported setup. Adaptive patterns use the block theme’s colour, spacing and typography presets; styled variations declare their own colours or type.
Blocks: button, buttons, column, columns, group, heading, image, list, list-item, paragraph
Keywords: article, blog, post content, Longer guides, Reference articles

Promise: Identical markup in every theme.

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## The signature moment: a short contents rail gives the guide a second left edge

A full five-chapter reference article with descriptive contents links and a short note in the left rail. Longer prose, a checklist, a photograph and a practical recap demonstrate the layout over a realistic reading distance.

## Where to paste it

Paste into a post or page's content area. This is an editable content pattern,
not a Single Post template. Your theme supplies the post title, date and site
header; this payload has no duplicate h1 or dynamic post-context requirement.
It works with ordinary core blocks and needs no companion plugin.

## What it inherits

The theme supplies the typeface, heading leading and weight, link treatment,
and spacing scale. Colours use contrast and base fallback chains ending in
core black and white. Incidental uppercase labels start with role-label.
Structural borders use currentColor. No accent carries text.

## What it decides

The composition and its relative widths are authored. Body copy uses the
medium preset with a readable clamp fallback and 1.6 line height. Section
headings use x-large; smaller headings use large. All headings state their
own ink chain. Narrow groups keep the theme's content measure.
Columns stack below WordPress's mobile breakpoint; automatic grids reflow
according to their minimum track width. There is no fixed-height reading area.

## Display type

Small labels and narrow supporting copy keep a clamp from 15px to 16px.
Uppercase labels use 0.08em tracking. No heading uses a display size outside
the theme's ladder.

## What to change first

Replace the sample text, then add or remove complete sections in List View.
Replace any example photograph through the Image block. Photographs in the
payload are included public source URLs with descriptive alternative text;
no foreign attachment ID travels with them. Edit the alternative text to
match your replacement. Check long headings and paragraphs on a phone.

The contents uses hand-edited core button links with matching heading anchors. It is
not sticky and does not track the current section. Update links and anchors
together; use unique anchors if pasting more than one copy into a page.

## Sample content

The sample is a complete guide to making a home workspace in a shared room. Its contents rail is manually edited, non-sticky and does not track the current chapter. Keep the anchor links in sync when editing the five chapters.

## Contrast and verification

All reading text, labels and links are held to 4.5:1. Large headings are held
to 3:1. The scoped verify:pattern run checks editor validity at both supported
WordPress targets, responsive layout, colour contrast and theme renders.
The verification sheet is under `.wp-verify/sheets/article-guide-sidebar/sheet.png`.