In BLOX CMS, cropped preview images can be enabled in the Block Editor by editing your front page, then by going to Page Customizations > General Design > Preview aspect ratio. This will change your preview aspect ratio on all blocks, where supported. Here are the available options:

Can I change the fixed-ratio preview on certain blocks?

This setting can be overwritten at a per-block level by changing the preview aspect ratio in the individual blocks. This technique can be used to create visual interest or differentiation on some blocks if they are set to a vertical crop, for example, versus other blocks which have horizontal preview images.

Can I change the way an image is cropped?

Creating preview images at a fixed ratio means that there will be cropping, and sometimes you may want to update how an image has been cropped.

To change this, you can go to the image in question, and re-crop the preview image.

Note that you’ll want to select the preview tab to change the crop (instead of changing the cropping on the image itself, which changes the cropping for the article page only.)

After selecting the preview tab, you can click “set crop.”

This will open a new window with the larger-sized image. In the upper right corner, you can now select the size of the crop that you desire. In most cases, this will be the same aspect ratio that you used on your site settings for the front and section pages.

Choosing a crop ratio will create a box on the image which can be resized or dragged around the page.

Because the crop box is a fixed ratio, you can’t change the ratio of the box, only the size and the location. If you want to have a free-form crop box, select that option from the cropping region button.

Once you save the crop, you’ll see it update in the preview window on the asset. You can click to the image tab and compare the different aspect ratios.