fix(block-theme): load block styles when needed by laurelfulford · Pull Request #4555 · Automattic/newspack-plugin

laurelfulford · 2026-03-10T00:24:25Z

All Submissions:

Have you followed the Newspack Contributing guideline?
Does your code follow the WordPress' coding standards and VIP Go coding standards?
Have you checked to ensure there aren't other open Pull Requests for the same update/change?

Changes proposed in this Pull Request:

This PR fixes a weird issue that seems to have started happening after I wiped my test site: blocks like the social links block from the Author Profile block aren't loading CSS on the front-end.

Looking at the code I think this makes sense -- it's checking to see if we're on a Collections page before loading. What I don't get is how it worked for me in the first place. I'm not sure if my test site was in a weird state before (like had a Collections block in the template), or is somehow in a weird state now. I did have a pretty mangled template, so it could be the former, but I wish I could get it back to check.

This PR adds a check for blocks in the content as well. I'm open to other approaches, too, if there's a better way - maybe removing the check entirely?

Also I'd be interested if this is working for anyone else? I'm so confused 😂

Closes NPPD-1348

How to test the changes in this Pull Request:

On a page/post without a Collections block, add an Author Profile block.
View on the front-end; note that the social links have bullets.
Apply this PR.
Confirm the styles now look right on the front-end.
Smoke test things like Collections or other blocks in the Newspack Plugin block

Other information:

Have you added an explanation of what your changes do and why you'd like us to include them?
Have you written new tests for your changes, as applicable?
Have you successfully ran tests with your changes locally?

Copilot

Pull request overview

Updates frontend asset loading for Newspack blocks so dist/blocks.css is enqueued when a post/page actually contains Newspack block markup (fixing missing frontend styling like Social Links bullets when using Author Profile blocks).

Changes:

Refines Blocks::should_load_block_assets() to load styles on Collections archives/singles.
Adds a singular-page content check intended to detect whether any Newspack block is present before enqueuing blocks.css.

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miguelpeixe

The logic for the should_load_block_assets() method follows (both in trunk and in your PR), but even when returning false (trunk), blocks.css was loading in the frontend for me.

I tried commenting out this bit, but nothing changed:

newspack-plugin/src/blocks/my-account-button/class-my-account-button-block.php

Lines 86 to 91 in 5082b55

    
           wp_enqueue_style( 
        
           	'newspack-blocks-frontend', 
        
           	Newspack::plugin_url() . '/dist/blocks.css', 
        
           	[], 
        
           	NEWSPACK_PLUGIN_VERSION 
        
           );

)

Then I learned it was this:

newspack-plugin/src/blocks/my-account-button/block.json

Line 55 in 5082b55

"style": "file:../../../dist/blocks.css"

WP will automatically enqueue assets declared in the block.json file if the page renders it. So it's possible that in your tests, you always had the My Account button block rendering and enqueueing the CSS.

laurelfulford · 2026-03-19T14:37:22Z

Ohhhh thanks @miguelpeixe! That makes sense -- I have had that block active most of the time 🤦‍♀️

So glad I'm not completely losing it! 🎉

github-actions · 2026-03-19T14:37:42Z

Hey @laurelfulford, good job getting this PR merged! 🎉

Now, the needs-changelog label has been added to it.

Please check if this PR needs to be included in the "Upcoming Changes" and "Release Notes" doc. If it doesn't, simply remove the label.

If it does, please add an entry to our shared document, with screenshots and testing instructions if applicable, then remove the label.

Thank you! ❤️

# [6.36.0-alpha.1](v6.35.1...v6.36.0-alpha.1) (2026-03-19) ### Bug Fixes * **access-rules:** normalize rules to individual OR groups ([#4584](#4584)) ([40a7259](40a7259)) * apply max-width to add payment method iframe ([#4575](#4575)) ([de27bb5](de27bb5)) * **block-theme:** ensure content gate contents inserted in time for styles to be rendered ([#4539](#4539)) ([2be2f3b](2be2f3b)) * **block-theme:** load block styles when needed ([#4555](#4555)) ([ec4c70b](ec4c70b)) * **block-theme:** migrate newspack-theme modal checkout fixes ([#4557](#4557)) ([6eb5f48](6eb5f48)) * **content-gating:** allow for metering with paid access only ([#4571](#4571)) ([e2d8e01](e2d8e01)) * exclude Jetpack Swiper CSS from perfmatters unused CSS feature ([#4538](#4538)) ([0d64190](0d64190)) * guard against null, but enumerated, storage keys ([adcec53](adcec53)) * **integrations:** integrations settings registration ([#4573](#4573)) ([a4d90c2](a4d90c2)) * json_decode and notice style fixes ([#4531](#4531)) ([8fc6ada](8fc6ada)) * use correct is_enabled method ([#4564](#4564)) ([6396e41](6396e41)), closes [#4541](#4541) ### Features * **alert-manager:** failure pattern detection ([#4527](#4527)) ([9a0bb3d](9a0bb3d)) * alerting system ([#4511](#4511)) ([1df65a0](1df65a0)) * **content-gate:** default block patterns ([#4540](#4540)) ([4852a9a](4852a9a)) * **content-gate:** display matching gates in post editor ([#4572](#4572)) ([eb275eb](eb275eb)) * **content-gating:** group subscriptions members in my account ([#4543](#4543)) ([202781a](202781a)) * **content-gating:** i3 designs for Metered Countdown + Content Gifting ([#4526](#4526)) ([ba5b4ee](ba5b4ee)) * **group-subscription:** invite email and acceptance flow ([#4546](#4546)) ([ac50a98](ac50a98)) * **integrations:** add integrations settings framework ([#4541](#4541)) ([735e640](735e640)) * **integrations:** refactor metadata for integration specific selection ([#4544](#4544)) ([eb747fc](eb747fc)) * new `getAll()` method to fetch all reader data from store at once ([fbe68db](fbe68db)) * new `getAll()` method to retrieve all items from the reader data store ([b7d6664](b7d6664)) * **reader-activation:** add integration health check system ([#4550](#4550)) ([4993f21](4993f21)) * **yoast:** add Bluesky contact method registration ([#4554](#4554)) ([aa143d7](aa143d7))

github-actions · 2026-03-19T18:23:18Z

🎉 This PR is included in version 6.36.0-alpha.1 🎉

The release is available on GitHub release

Your semantic-release bot 📦🚀

# [6.36.0](v6.35.2...v6.36.0) (2026-03-30) ### Bug Fixes * **access-rules:** normalize rules to individual OR groups ([#4584](#4584)) ([40a7259](40a7259)) * apply max-width to add payment method iframe ([#4575](#4575)) ([de27bb5](de27bb5)) * **block-theme:** ensure content gate contents inserted in time for styles to be rendered ([#4539](#4539)) ([2be2f3b](2be2f3b)) * **block-theme:** load block styles when needed ([#4555](#4555)) ([ec4c70b](ec4c70b)) * **block-theme:** migrate newspack-theme modal checkout fixes ([#4557](#4557)) ([6eb5f48](6eb5f48)) * **content-gating:** allow for metering with paid access only ([#4571](#4571)) ([e2d8e01](e2d8e01)) * exclude Jetpack Swiper CSS from perfmatters unused CSS feature ([#4538](#4538)) ([0d64190](0d64190)) * guard against null, but enumerated, storage keys ([adcec53](adcec53)) * **integrations:** integrations settings registration ([#4573](#4573)) ([a4d90c2](a4d90c2)) * json_decode and notice style fixes ([#4531](#4531)) ([8fc6ada](8fc6ada)) * use correct is_enabled method ([#4564](#4564)) ([6396e41](6396e41)), closes [#4541](#4541) ### Features * **alert-manager:** failure pattern detection ([#4527](#4527)) ([9a0bb3d](9a0bb3d)) * alerting system ([#4511](#4511)) ([1df65a0](1df65a0)) * **content-gate:** default block patterns ([#4540](#4540)) ([4852a9a](4852a9a)) * **content-gate:** display matching gates in post editor ([#4572](#4572)) ([eb275eb](eb275eb)) * **content-gating:** group subscriptions members in my account ([#4543](#4543)) ([202781a](202781a)) * **content-gating:** i3 designs for Metered Countdown + Content Gifting ([#4526](#4526)) ([ba5b4ee](ba5b4ee)) * **group-subscription:** invite email and acceptance flow ([#4546](#4546)) ([ac50a98](ac50a98)) * **integrations:** add integrations settings framework ([#4541](#4541)) ([735e640](735e640)) * **integrations:** refactor metadata for integration specific selection ([#4544](#4544)) ([eb747fc](eb747fc)) * new `getAll()` method to fetch all reader data from store at once ([fbe68db](fbe68db)) * new `getAll()` method to retrieve all items from the reader data store ([b7d6664](b7d6664)) * **reader-activation:** add integration health check system ([#4550](#4550)) ([4993f21](4993f21)) * **yoast:** add Bluesky contact method registration ([#4554](#4554)) ([aa143d7](aa143d7))

github-actions · 2026-03-30T20:00:10Z

🎉 This PR is included in version 6.36.0 🎉

The release is available on GitHub release

Your semantic-release bot 📦🚀

fix: load block styles when needed

cf7ce3f

laurelfulford requested a review from Copilot March 10, 2026 00:24

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of laurelfulford March 10, 2026 00:24 View session

Copilot AI reviewed Mar 10, 2026

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Comment thread includes/class-blocks.php Outdated

fix: tweak block name to check for

20a73e8

laurelfulford marked this pull request as ready for review March 10, 2026 00:32

laurelfulford requested a review from a team as a code owner March 10, 2026 00:32

laurelfulford added the [Status] Needs Review The issue or pull request needs to be reviewed label Mar 10, 2026

miguelpeixe approved these changes Mar 18, 2026

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github-actions Bot added [Status] Approved The pull request has been reviewed and is ready to merge and removed [Status] Needs Review The issue or pull request needs to be reviewed labels Mar 18, 2026

laurelfulford merged commit ec4c70b into trunk Mar 19, 2026
11 checks passed

laurelfulford deleted the fix/enqueue-blocks-without-collections branch March 19, 2026 14:37

github-actions Bot added the needs-changelog label Mar 19, 2026

adekbadek pushed a commit that referenced this pull request Mar 23, 2026

fix(block-theme): load block styles when needed (#4555)

4c8681a

laurelfulford removed the needs-changelog label Mar 26, 2026

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fix(block-theme): load block styles when needed#4555

fix(block-theme): load block styles when needed#4555
laurelfulford merged 2 commits intotrunkfrom
fix/enqueue-blocks-without-collections

laurelfulford commented Mar 10, 2026 •

edited

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	wp_enqueue_style(
	'newspack-blocks-frontend',
	Newspack::plugin_url() . '/dist/blocks.css',
	[],
	NEWSPACK_PLUGIN_VERSION
	);

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laurelfulford commented Mar 10, 2026 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

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laurelfulford commented Mar 10, 2026 •

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