StoryBlock

Narrative section for Work case studies with a subtitle and title, rich text, and images arranged by a selectable layout.

Status: stable. Group: structure. Markdown version: /design-system/components/story-block.md

When to use

StoryBlock is the workhorse narrative section of Work case studies: a subtitle/title pair, rich text content, and images arranged by imageLayout, over background and spacing knobs. Chain several StoryBlocks (with GridBlock mosaics and ProcessBlock) to build a project page's spine.

When not to use

The contract records no forbidden uses.

Look-alikes

The contract names no look-alike with a deciding condition.

Props

StoryBlock props
Prop	Type	Default	Description	Required
`subtitle`	`string`	none	Optional subtitle/category label.	No
`title`	`string`	none	Main title of the story section.	Yes
`content`	`React.ReactNode[]`	none	Body content as array of paragraphs or React nodes.	Yes
`images`	`StoryImage \| StoryImage[]`	none	Image or images to display. Without imageLayout they render as single (one image) or grid (several); imageLayout="none" hides them.	No
`imageLayout`	`"single" \| "none" \| "grid"`	none	Image layout: "single" (1 col), "grid" (2 col when there is more than one image) or "none" (images hidden). When omitted, passed images render as "single" for one image and "grid" for several.	No
`backgroundColor`	`"transparent" \| "light" \| "white"`	`transparent`	Background color variant; defaults to transparent. It colours the root element and never changes which element that is.	No
`maxWidth`	`"sm" \| "md" \| "lg" \| "full" \| "xl"`	`md`	Maximum width constraint; defaults to md.	No
`spacing`	`"compact" \| "default" \| "comfortable" \| "spacious"`	`comfortable`	Spacing variant; defaults to comfortable.	No
`className`	`string`	`""`	Additional CSS class.	No
`as`	`"article" \| "div" \| "section"`	`section`	Root element, also when a background color is set. The inner PageLayout wrapper is always a <div>, so sections never nest. Defaults to "section".	No
`ariaLabel`	`string`	none	Accessible label for the section or article (defaults to the title). Not applied when as="div", since a generic element cannot be named.	No
`headingLevel`	`2 \| 3 \| 4`	`2`	Heading level for the section title; visual size is unchanged. Defaults to 2 (a section directly under the page h1); pass 3 or 4 when the block sits under a deeper heading.	No

Variants

Allowed imageLayout values: single, none, grid.
Allowed backgroundColor values: transparent, light, white (default transparent).
Allowed maxWidth values: sm, md, lg, full, xl (default md).
Available spacings: compact, default, comfortable, spacious (default comfortable).
Allowed as values: article, div, section (default section).
Allowed headingLevel values: 2, 3, 4 (default 2).

Invalid combinations

The contract records no invalid combinations.

Keyboard

The contract records no keyboard interaction.

Rules

Every item under When not to use is a MUST NOT. MUST and SHOULD follow RFC 2119.

StoryBlock rules
Level	Rule	How it is checked
MUST	ARIA: The wrapper is named by ariaLabel, falling back to title, so every StoryBlock rendered as a section is a region landmark; a page with many StoryBlocks gets many landmarks. With as="div" no aria-label is set, since a generic element cannot be named.	Not yet verified: no evidence record. WCAG 4.1.2.
MUST	ARIA: The root is always the as element (default section), whatever the background; the inner PageLayout wrapper is a div, so sections never nest.	Not yet verified: no evidence record. WCAG 4.1.2.
MUST	ARIA: Subtitle is a Text kicker, not a heading; the title's heading level comes from headingLevel (default 2)	Not yet verified: no evidence record. WCAG 4.1.2.
MUST	Required stories produce no axe violations at the configured severity.	Automated by `npm run test:stories:matrix:ci`. WCAG 2.5.8.
MUST	The accessibility tree (role, name, state) matches the committed snapshot for every required story.	Automated by `npm run test:stories:matrix:ci`. WCAG 1.3.1, 4.1.2.
MUST	The component remains legible and operable under a real browser forced-colors: active pass.	Automated by `npm run test:stories:hc`.
MUST	A human completed an end-to-end accessibility review of this component.	Manual review, last on 2026-11-04.
MUST NOT	Maintainers: Do not bypass design tokens or skip forced-colors verification at beta.	Release review; not machine-checked.

Install and import

In-repo only. StoryBlock is not exported from @digitaltableteur/react, so there is no public import path.