How To Use The Off Canvas Builder

Last Update: April 12, 2024

The Off Canvas Builder allows you to create a huge range of Off Canvases for your Avada website. An Off Canvas is basically a panel that is positioned outside of the viewport that appears when activated. With this tool, you can create a wide range of popups, sliding bars, and even flyout and push menus.

To get started with Off Canvas, head to Avada > Off Canvas. Here, you create your Off Canvas items, as well as configure how they work, and the conditions under which they operate. Read on to find out more about this very versatile builder, and watch the video below for a visual overview.

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How To Create A New Off Canvas

The Off Canvas Builder is found at Avada > Off Canvas, from the WordPress sidebar, or from the menu on the Avada Dashboard. This is where you create and manage all your Off Canvas creations.

To get started, simply give your new Off Canvas a name, and click on Create New Off Canvas. Depending on whether you have Avada Builder Auto Activation turned on or not in the Avada Builder Options (Avada Dasboard > Options > Builder Options) you will be taken directly to the Avada Builder, or alternatively, the WordPress editor. In that case, simply click on your choice of builder, either Avada Builder, or Avada Live to start building.

In either case, the first thing you see is a choice to either Add a Container and start building from scratch, or to open Avada Studio. and import a prebuilt Off Canvas.

Avada Studio is a great place to start. There is a range of prebuilt Off Canvas items here you can use, and these come fully designed and pre-configured. Simply select the one you want and it will be imported ready for you to customize. This is a great way for you to familiarize yourself with the different types of Off Canvases that can be made, and also how to configure them.

If you choose instead to build an Off Canvas from scratch, simply select your starting Container/Column combination and get building. You have the full range of Avada Design Elements to build with.

Building And Configuring An Off Canvas

Creating an Off Canvas comes in two concurrent stages, building and configuring. The content comes from the Builder, and you can add anything at all into your Off Canvas using the Avada Builder. You have the full range of Design Elements at your disposal. The Off Canvas Builder can be used to create Popups, and a range of Sliding Bars and Flyout and Push Menus, but the reality is that these are simply off canvas panels, and you can add anything you want to them.

Configuration happens via the Off Canvas Options, found in the Avada Page Options panel position. In Avada Live, this is on the Sidebar and is active while you are building, and in Avada Builder, it’s at the bottom of the page. As mentioned, the configuration and build process happen concurrently, as some of the Off Canvas Options will also affect the look of the Off Canvas. Let’s go through the full range of configuration tabs.

Off Canvas Option Tabs

Settings Tab

The Settings Tab is simply where you name the Off Canvas, and its slug, and this is generated automatically when you create your Off Canvas initially. Unless you want to rename your Off Canvas, you won’t need to do anything here.

Page Title
Slug

Preview Tab

On this tab, you can configure Dynamic Content options for the dynamic preview.

View Dynamic Content As – Make a selection to view dynamic content as a specific item.
Select (Dynamic Content Type) – Choose to select specific content for dynamic preview. Leave Empty for random selection.
Preview – Click to render the dynamic preview.

General Tab

This is the main configuration tab for your Off Canvas. Here, you control the type of Off Canvas (Popup or Sliding Bar) and adjust its width, height and various other alignment options. There are unique options for each Off Canvas type, which you can see below.

General Tab – Popups

Off Canvas Type – Select Off Canvas type. Choose from Popup or Sliding Bar.
Width – Set the width. Enter value including any valid CSS unit, ex: 800px.
Height – Select the height. Choose from Fit With Content, Full Height, or Custom Height.
Horizontal Position – Set the horizontal position, start and end depend on your website direction. Choose from Start, Center, or End.
Vertical Position – Set the vertical position, start and end depend on your website direction. Choose from Top, Center, or Bottom.
Content Layout – Defines how the content should be positioned. If block is selected it will not use flex positioning and will instead allow floated elements. Choose from Column, Row or Block.
Content Alignment – Defines how the content containers should align. Choose from Flex Start, Center, Flex End, Space Between, Space Around, or Space Evenly.
CSS Class – Allows you to add a class for the column.
CSS ID – Add a unique ID to the wrapping HTML element. This ID will used in Off Canvas link.

General Tab – Sliding Bar

Off Canvas Type – Select Off Canvas type. Choose from Popup or Sliding Bar.
Default State – Set the default state. Choose from Closed or Open.
Positon – Set the position of the sliding bar. Choose from Top, Right, Bottom or Left.
Transition – Set the transition of the sliding bar. Choose from Overlap or Push. (Only with Left or Right selected)
Width – Set the width. Enter value including any valid CSS unit, ex: 800px.
Height – Set the height. Enter value including any valid CSS unit, ex: 300px (Only with Top or Bottom selected)
Content Layout – Defines how the content should be positioned. If block is selected it will not use flex positioning and will instead allow floated elements. Choose from Column, Row or Block.
Content Alignment – Defines how the content containers should align. Choose from Flex Start, Center, Flex End, Space Between, Space Around, or Space Evenly.
Content Vertical Alignment – Choose how to align Content containers vertically. (Only when Row is selected)
Wrap Content – “Wrap” wraps elements onto multiple rows, while “No Wrap” will force rlements onto one row. (Only when Row is selected)
CSS Class – Allows you to add a class for the column.
CSS ID – Add a unique ID to the wrapping HTML element. This ID will used in Off Canvas link.

Design Tab

The Design Tab allows you to configure your Off Canvas, with background color or image, border options, as well as any margin, padding and box shadow.

Background Color – Controls the background color of the Off Canvas.
Background Image – Upload an image to display in the background.
Scrollbar – Hide or customize Off Canvas scrollbar. Styling and support varies depending on the browser. Choose from Default, Custom, orHidden.
Scrollbar Background – Controls the background color for the scrollbar (Only if Custom chosen above).
Scrollbar Color Handle – Controls the color for the scrollbar handle (Only if Custom chosen above).
Border Radius – Controls the border radius. Enter values including any valid CSS unit, ex: 10px.
Border Width – Enter values including any valid CSS unit, ex: 10px.
Border Color – Controls the border color. Leave empty for default value.
Margin – Enter values including any valid CSS unit, ex: 4%. Controls the margin around the Element.
Padding – Controls the padding for the button. Leave empty for default values.
Z-Index – Enter the value for z-index CSS property, can be both positive or negative.
Box Shadow – Set to “Yes” to enable box shadows.
Box Shadow Position – Set the vertical and horizontal position of the box shadow. Positive values put the shadow below and right of the box, negative values put it above and left of the box. In pixels.
Box Shadow Blur Radius – Set the blur radius of the box shadow. In pixels. From 0 – 100.
Box Shadow Spread Radius – Set the spread radius of the box shadow. A positive value increases the size of the shadow, a negative value decreases the size of the shadow. In pixels, from 0- 100.
Box Shadow Color – Controls the color of the box shadow.

Overlay Tab

The overlay tab controls the styling of the background page content when the Off Canvas is active. It can be disabled entirely, or configured with color, scrollbars, and even background images.

Overlay – Choose Ye, or No, to enable, or disable, an overlay on the page content. The remaining options will only be visible is Yes is selected.
Z Index – Value for overlay’s z-index CSS property, can be both positive or negative.
Page Scrollbar – Enable / Disable page scrollbar when Off Canvas is open.
Background Color – Controls the background color for overlay.
Background Image – Upload an image to display in the background.

CloseTab

The Close tab allows you to configure how your Off Canvas will close, and you can adjust the close button with icon, icon size, color and margins etc.

Close With ESC Key – Enable/Disable. When enabled, you can use the ESC button to close the Off Canvas.
Automatically Close After Time – Set time in seconds to close Off Canvas automatically after it has passed, Leave empty to remain open.
Close Button – Enable/Disable close button.
Position – Set close button position. Choose from Right or Left.
Show Close Button After Time – Set time in seconds to show the close button, Leave empty to immediately show.
Close Button Margin – Set the margin of the close button. Default is 20px from the top and the selected position side. Enter values including any valid CSS unit. Negative values are accepted.
Close Icon Color – Set the color of the close icon.
Close Icon Hover Color – Set the hover color of the close icon.
Close Icon Size – Set the size of the close icon.
Custom Icon – Select a custom icon for the close button.

Animation Tab

The Animation tab allows you to configure both an Enter and Exit animation for your Off Canvas, giving you a range of effects for the way it enters and leaves the page.

Enter Animation – Set the enter Off Canvas animation.. Choose between Slide, Bounce, or Fade.
Enter Animation Speed – Set the speed of animation. Choose between 0.1 to 5.
Exit Animation – Set the exit Off Canvas animation. Choose between Slide, Bounce, or Fade.
Exit Animation Speed – Set the speed of animation. Choose between 0.1 to 5.

Conditions Tab

When an Off Canvas is created, they are not active by default. They are essentially in a draft state, so you can decide when, where and how they are activated. This is achived on the Conditions tab. Simply setting the Enable Conditions option to Yes makes the off Canvas live and global, i.e. displayed on every page.

You can also click on Manage Conditions to open the Conditions dialog, where you can specify exactly what parts of your site you want your Off Canvas to be active for. Using this method, you must select which pages and post types to both enable and disable with the Off Canvas.

Enable Conditions – Set conditions for displaying Off Canvas. NOTE: Off Canvas won’t be displayed at all, when this is turned off.
Conditions – Load Off Canvas on these pages. Default is ‘Display on Entire Site’. Click Manage Conditions to open the Conditions dialog.

Triggers Tab

Triggers are managed on the Triggers Tab, and here you can set a range of automatic triggers like On Page Load, Time On Page, On Scoll etc. There is also an option to set an Element Selector for manual triggering of your Off Canvas from a button or other trigger.

Outside of this tab, there are also a couple more ways to trigger an Off Canvas. The first one of these is through the use of an Avada Special Menu Item. By adding the Off Canvas Toggle Special menu Item to a menu, you can add a menu link to toggle a specified Off Canvas. See the Avada Special Menu Items doc for more information on this method.

Another way to trigger an Off Canvas is through the use of Dynamic Content. For example, you could add a Button with dynamic content as the Button URL. There are three dynamic content options to use: Toggle Off Canvas, Open Off Canvas, and Close Off Canvas.

See our video on How To Trigger an Avada Off Canvas for a rundown of the options and some examples.

And now, you can also trigger an Off Canvas from an Avada Form Submission. With these methods, you have great diversity with how to trigger your off canvas creations. Go wild!

On Page Load – Display Off Canvas on page load.
Time On Page – Display Off Canvas after visitor spend a specific amount of time on the page in seconds.
Time On Page Duration (Seconds) – Set the time in seconds to display the Off Canvas ex: 5. (Only when above option is set to Yes)
On Scroll – Display Off Canvas if the visitor has scrolled up or down to a specific position or element.
Scroll Direction – Up or Down. (Only when On Scroll option is set to Yes)
Scroll To – Choose whether the scroll trigger should be relative to position or element on the page. (Only when On Scroll option is set to Yes and Scroll Direction is set to Down)
Scroll Position – Set the scroll position. Enter value including any valid CSS unit, ex: 300px. (Only when On Scroll option is set to Yes and Scroll Direction is set to Down)
Scroll Element – Insert element CSS selector like class or ID, ex: .element-class, #element-ID. (Only when On Scroll option is set to Yes)
On Click – Display Off Canvas if visitor clicks on the element.
Element Selector – Insert element CSS selector like class or ID ex: .element-class, #element-ID. (Only when above option is set to Yes)
Exit Intent – Display Off Canvas when visitor intends to close or leave the page.
After Inactivity – Display Off Canvas if visitor is inactive for a specific amount of time in seconds.
Inactivity Duration (Seconds) – Set the time in seconds to display the Off Canvas ex: 30. (Only when above option is set to Yes)
After Product Is Added to Cart – Display Off Canvas after WooCommerce product is added to cart. (Only when WooCommerce is installed).

Rules Tab

The Rules Tab allows you to configure rules around the display of your Off Canvas. These include showing the Off Canvas first after a specified number of page views, sessions or minutes, or even when your users are coming from a certain page, or exiting to a certain page. Combined with the Conditions, and the the Triggers, this gives you a very powerful system for controlling the display of your Off Canvases.

Frequency – Select display frequency for the Off Canvas.
Number Of Days – Set the number of days to display the off canvas. (Only when Show On Specific Day is selected in Frequency)
Number Of Times – Set the Off Canvas display count ex: 3. (Only when Show up to x times is slected in Frequency)
Show After x Page views – Display Off Canvas after visitor views a specific number of pages.
Number of Page Views – Set the number of page views to display the Off Canvas ex: 3. (Only when the above option is set to Yes)
Show After x Sessions – Display Off Canvas after a specific number of sessions.
Number of Sessions – Set the number of visiting sessions to display the Off Canvas ex: 3. (Only when the above option is set to Yes)
Show Up To x Times – Display Off Canvas for a specific number times.
Number of Times – Set the Off Canvas display count ex: 3. (Only when the above option is set to Yes)
Show When Arriving From – Select or leave Blank for all.
Users – Display Off Canvas for all users, logged in users, a specific users roles or logged out users.
User Roles – Display Off Canvas for specific user roles. Leave blank for all. (Only when Logged in users selected above)
Device – Display Off Canvas for all devices or a specific devices. Leave Blank for all.

Custom CSS Tab

If you need even more control, there is a Custom CSS tab, which you can use to apply custom css for the specific Off Canvas.

CSS Code – Enter your CSS code in the field below. Do not include any tags or HTML in the field. Custom CSS entered here will override the theme CSS. In some cases, the !important tag may be needed. Don’t URL encode image or svg paths. Contents of this field will be auto encoded.

Import / Export Tab

Finally, like any Page Option Set, you can Import or Export your Off Canvas options, for reuse on other Off Canvases.

Import Page Options – Import Page Options. You can import via file or copy and paste from JSON data.
Export Page Options – Export your Page Options. You can either export as a file or copy the data.

The Avada Off Canvas Builder negates the need for any popup builder plugin, as well as allowing you to add a wide range of sliding bars. The flexibility this tool affords means that it is limited only by your imagination. What Off Canvas are you going to build?