Manage content once and reuse it everywhere

What a content list is

A content list keeps things that share the same shape in one place. Team members, workshops, reviews and questions people ask are good examples. Every entry answers the same fields, so each one shows up the same way on every page.

The point is reuse. Change a team member’s bio once and the homepage and their profile page both follow. Add next month’s workshop once and every page that lists workshops picks it up.

List

The container, such as Team Members. It has a name and the words for one record and for many.

Fields

The questions every entry answers, such as Name, Role, Photo and Bio. Their order is the order of the entry form.

Entries

The records in the list. Each one stays a draft until you publish it.

Connections

A section on a page reads the list, or one setting reads one field of one entry. This is what puts the content on screen.

Use a list for anything that repeats or appears on more than one page. For content that lives on one page only, a plain section is quicker to write.

Make your first list

1. 1
   Open Website, then Content Lists. Before your first list, the page asks what you want to manage.
2. 2
   Pick a starting point. Choose Use this on a ready-made structure, or choose Start from scratch.
3. 3
   Name a blank list. Give it a name and the words for one record and many, such as Instructor and Instructors. Mirin uses them on buttons, in search and in counts. Choose Create list.
4. 4
   Start filling it in. The new list opens. A ready-made structure arrives with its fields and one draft sample entry for you to replace.

Each ready-made structure comes with these fields. You can add, rename, reorder or delete fields afterwards.

Blog articles work the same way. Start from Blog Posts, then write each article as an entry. Your theme decides how the article list and each article look.

Find and tidy your lists

Each row shows the first few entries, how many entries there are, the pages that use the list and when it last changed.

Search

Find a list by name. Press the slash key to jump to the search box and Escape to clear it.

Show

All lists, Used on a page, Not on a page yet, or No entries yet.

Sort

Recently updated, Name, or Most entries.

Row menu

Open the list, add an entry with a button in the list’s own words such as New Team Member, Rename, or Delete.

Tick rows to delete several lists at once. Changing the search or Show clears the selection, so a list you cannot see is never included. When your plan’s list limit is reached, New content list is unavailable and the page says how many lists your plan includes.

Decide what every entry holds

Open a list and switch to Fields. Each row shows the field, its type and its help text. The order of the table is the order of the entry form, and the field marked Primary names each entry in the list and in pickers.

1. 1
   Choose New field. Pick a type. Search the types, or browse Text, Numbers, Choices, Dates, Media, References and Advanced.
2. 2
   Name it. Mirin suggests a slug from the name. The slug is how pages find the field, so it cannot change once the field exists.
3. 3
   Help whoever writes entries. Add a description, and put related fields in a Group to give them their own heading on the form.
4. 4
   Choose Create field. Tick Required first if every entry needs it. The field appears on the form for every entry.

The field types you can pick

Text

Single-line plain text.

Long text

Paragraphs without formatting, such as summaries.

Rich text

Bold, italic, links and lists for articles or detailed content.

URL

A web address.

Email

An email address.

Number

Integer or decimal value.

True / false

Toggle on or off.

Choice

Pick one of a fixed list of options.

Date

Calendar date.

Image

Choose an image from your media library.

Color

Hex color value.

Reference

Link to a record in another list.

URL handle

Auto-generated from another field.

Choose the right kind of text

• Text. Names and titles. Tick Holds more than one line for a bio, or for a list with one item per line, and the box grows as it fills.
• Long text. Paragraphs without formatting.
• Rich text. Bold, italic, links and lists.

To add formatting to an existing Text or Long text field, open its settings and choose Enable rich text. Every entry is converted, published ones included, and your words, paragraphs and blank lines stay as they were. It cannot be switched back to plain text, and the Primary field has to stay plain text.

Delete and restore a field

• Deleting a field. Takes it off the form, and any page section reading it stops showing a value. The values stay on your entries.
• Restoring it. Open Recently deleted to restore the field within 30 days.

Add and edit entries

View full size

Team Members

Used on2

Entries (3)Fields (4)

New entry

Juniper Hale

PublishedNo unsaved changes

FocusSave changes

Saving changes updates this published entry.

Entry 1 of 3

Name*

Full name shown on the team card.

Role

Short line under the name, such as Reformer instructor.

Photo

Portrait shown on the team card.

Replace image

Alt text

Starts from this image’s description in Media. Change it to say something different on this entry.

Juniper Hale smiling in a cream sweater, seated in an armchair beside shelves and plants.Decorative. No alt text needed

BioPlain text

Two or three sentences about how they teach.

Juniper has taught reformer for eleven years and leads the Saturday prenatal series. Expect clear cues and steady pacing.

Entries sit in a rail beside the editor, each with its photo, a short summary and whether it is Published or a Draft. Search by name, or use Show to see only published entries or drafts. Choose an entry and it opens beside the rail, with its buttons kept in view while the form scrolls.

Save draft

Keeps a new or unpublished entry off your site.

Publish

Makes the entry available to every page connected to the list.

Save changes

Updates a published entry, and connected pages show the change.

Discard changes

Puts back the entry’s last saved values without deleting it.

Unpublish

In More actions. Returns a published entry to a draft.

Delete record

In More actions. Permanently deletes the entry and its published page, after you confirm.

Focus hides the rail to give the form more room. The arrows beside the entry count step to the previous or next entry. Switching entries, searching or opening Fields with unsaved edits asks whether to save, discard or keep editing.

Filling in the form

Required fields carry an asterisk. When something needs fixing, the form lists those fields at the top, and choosing a name takes you to it. A new entry names what is still missing when you try to save.

• Image fields. Show the picture with Replace image, or Browse media when the field is empty. Remove image clears it from this entry and leaves it in Media.
• Alt text. Starts from the image’s description in Media, so change it for this entry or tick Decorative when the picture carries no information.
• Date fields. Open a calendar, and Clear date removes the value.
• Reference fields. Link to an entry in another list, and you search that list by name to choose one.

Fill a list from a Google Sheet or Excel

Keep a price list, a class timetable or a menu in a Google Sheet or an Excel workbook you already edit, and let the list follow it. Connect Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel and pick the file in Connectors, then open the list and choose Sheet beside New entry. An Excel workbook shows (Excel) after its name, reads its first sheet, and must be saved as .xlsx in your own OneDrive.

• Choose the sheet. The sheets you picked for Google Sheets are listed. Mirin reads the first tab.
• Match the columns. Each field gets the column whose name matches it; change any of them. The field that names each entry needs a column. On a new list, Add a field for each column not matched yet makes the fields for you, numbers as numbers.
• Fill the list. The rows come in as published entries straight away.

After that the list matches the sheet. Each row is a published entry, matched by the column that names entries: change a row and its entry updates, add a row and an entry appears, delete a row and its entry goes. It refreshes once a day and whenever you press Refresh now, and the dialog says what the last refresh added, updated and removed. Mirin only reads the sheet; nothing in it ever changes.

Show a list on a page

A section built to show a list has a list setting in the page builder. Connect it once and the section keeps up with the list from then on.

1. 1
   Select the section. Open the page in the builder and select a section made to show a list, such as a team grid.
2. 2
   Choose Connect a Content List. Search your lists and pick one.
3. 3
   Check the field map. Mirin matches each part of the section to a field with a similar name. Choose another field for any part that needs it.
4. 4
   Choose Connect. Then set the Display options: Sort by, and Show up to for how many entries appear.
5. 5
   Publish the page. The connection goes live with the page, like any other change to it.

• Only published entries appear. On the canvas and on your live site. Drafts stay hidden until you publish them.
• Newest first by default. Without a sort of its own, a section shows the newest published entries first.
• Display options are per section. Another section can show the same list in a different order.
• Disconnect empties the section. It shows no entries until you connect a list again.
• Entries are changed in the list, or from the page chat. Add an entry, take one off or change its details under Content lists, and the section shows the change once you save. Or ask the chat in the page builder, as in “take Rosa off the team”. It shows you the change first and makes it when you say yes. Read Adding, changing and taking off entries of a list.
• Entries you typed step aside. A section that already held entries you typed keeps them when you connect a list, but stops showing them. Their setting is marked “Not on the page” and says which list the section shows instead, with a button to open that list. They show again only if you disconnect the list.

Show one field from one entry

A text setting, such as a heading, can read one field from one entry instead of a whole list.

A plain text setting shows words only. Formatted text needs a setting that supports rich content.

While Connect to a record is open, keyboard navigation stays in the picker. Press Escape or choose Close to return without applying a connection.

Long lists get numbered pages

A section shows as many entries as its Show up to number, and sections the builder chat makes show 12. When the list holds more, your live page adds Previous page and Next page links under the section, with the page number between them. Each page has its own address, such as /team?page=2, so people can share it and search engines can reach every entry.

Give every entry its own page

A page per entry uses one design for every entry in a list, each at its own address such as /team/juniper-hale. While you design it, the canvas shows one entry at a time. Deleting an entry also removes its page.

Previewing on the canvas

Choose which entry the design shows while you work. The address that entry will have appears underneath.

New

Starts a new entry from the page. It becomes a real entry only when you create it.

Manage all

Opens the whole list in Content Lists.

Used on

In the list, this page shows as Template, One page per entry. A page that only lists entries shows as Listing page.

A list with no such page yet offers Build a page for each entry under Used on. The visual editor guide covers designing the page itself.

Titles and descriptions for each entry

In page settings, Search and sharing for each record builds the browser title, search description, social title, social description and social image from each entry’s fields. Type field names in double braces. For example, {{name}}, {{role}} | {{site.name}} gives “Juniper Hale, Reformer and prenatal instructor | Salt & Stone Pilates”.

• Available fields. Show available fields lists the names you can use.
• Empty fields. When a field is empty, Mirin tidies the comma it would leave behind.
• Blank social fields. Leave Social title and Social description blank to reuse the browser title and search description.
• One entry’s own values. An entry can override the patterns with its own fields named SEO Title, SEO Description, Social Title, Social Description and Social Image.
• Record page type. Keep it on Standard page for profiles and services. Choose Article or post only for posts that belong in feeds and article search results.

Ask the builder for it

You do not have to decide any of this up front. Ask the builder chat for a blog, your workshops, your team or client reviews. It works out whether that should be a plain section or a content list, and says which and why before anything is made. Once the page is written, it asks whether each entry should have a page of its own.

1. 1
   It may ask a question or two. Such as Do you want these to appear on other pages too? The recommended answer comes first. Tap it or type your answer.
2. 2
   It proposes a card. What it would make and why, and the list it would create or reuse, named for your words: winemakers become a Winemakers list, even when they are kept like a team. When your site already has a list that fits, you can pick that list instead, and when it already has a section that could show the list, the card asks whether to reuse it or design a new one.
3. 3
   You decide. Choose Set it up and plan the page, Keep it a plain section, or Change the shape to answer again.
4. 4
   It sets things up. The list is created with the fields your words call for (“each dog has a photo and a short story” gives a Name, a Photo and a Story), or a starter template’s fields when your subject matches one. No placeholder entry is made. A section that reads the list is designed for this page and connected to it.
5. 5
   It offers starter entries. A new list is offered a few entries written for your business, priced per entry. They are published with a picture when the list has a picture field, so a page showing the list has them at once.
6. 6
   Then it asks about a page for each entry. Once this page is written, the builder asks in plain words whether each entry should have its own page, at its own address under the list. Say yes and it makes that page, links the entries on this page to it, opens it, and proposes its design around the entry, never around an invented one. Say not now and nothing is made. If you change your mind later, tell the builder in your own words, such as “give each workshop its own page”, and it makes the page then.
7. 7
   Move between the entries. The page for each entry lists its entries in the page switcher above the preview, by title and address. Choose one to see that entry on the page.

You can also ask outright, for example “write five posts about posture for the blog”. When a list needs a link the builder cannot know, such as where to register, it points that link at a page on your site for now and tells you. Edit or unpublish anything it wrote under Content lists.

Glossary

Content list

A set of entries that share the same fields.

Field

One question every entry answers, such as Role or Photo.

Entry

One record in the list, such as one team member. Also called a record.

Primary field

The field that names each entry in the list and in pickers.

Connection

A link from a section or a setting on a page to a list, or to one field of one entry.

Reference field

A field that links an entry to an entry in another list, so you never retype it.

Page per entry

One page design that gives every entry in a list its own address.

Build a team page step by step in the Content List tutorial. Developers can read Content Lists for developers to build a section that shows a list.