CMS: About Dynamic Pages

8 min read
A dynamic page is a type of web page created to display content from a CMS (Content Management System) collection. They allow you to create websites that can efficiently handle a large amount of content while maintaining a consistent design and user experience. 

There are two types of dynamic pages in Wix; dynamic list pages, and dynamic item pages. Dynamic list pages display multiple collection items in a repeater, gallery or table. The items in your repeater, gallery, or table link to a single dynamic item page used to provide more details about a particular item. Each item gets its own "version" of the same dynamic item page with a unique URL ending. 

Dynamic pages help you scale efficiently since you only need to design them once. Then add items to your collection to automatically create new URLs for each item. All the dynamic content is managed in your collection where you can grant teammates permissions to collaborate
Tip:
Wix sites have a limit of 100 static pages. So dynamic pages are a handy solution to this limitation. Learn how dynamic pages can help you create a site with unlimited content.

Adding dynamic pages

When you add dynamic pages, you can choose to create them from your own collection, or choose a preset. A preset is basically a template for creating dynamic pages in the CMS. 

Each preset includes a: 
  • Collection: This CMS collection consists of sample content that connects to the two types of dynamic pages that are also added to your Editor. Learn how to create your own collection.
  • Dynamic list page: This page showcases multiple items from the collection in a repeater or gallery. Clicking an item from these elements takes you to the item's dynamic item page.
  • Dynamic item page: This page displays details about an individual item from the collection. Each collection item gets its own dynamic item page URL, with each page maintaining the same design and layout. 
Note:
When adding a new dynamic page, selecting Blank page adds a blank dynamic item page. You can then add elements to design the page. To show dynamic content, connect elements such as images, text boxes and buttons to the dynamic page dataset. 

Designing your dynamic pages

Dynamic pages usually consist of both static and dynamic elements. Static elements, like the header and footer, always display the same content on every page. Elements that connect to your collection fields through a dataset are dynamic. These dynamic elements change their content based on which item the dataset retrieves from your collection. 

Dynamic list pages

These pages are like indexes or catalogs displaying various items from your collection. Information about the items appears in a repeater, gallery or table. You choose what details show up by linking each part of the element to a different collection field. You can let visitors filter the content that appears by adding input elements like dropdowns and checkboxes. 

Your editor names dynamic list pages as {Collection name} (List).

Dynamic item pages

These pages provide more details about individual items from your collection. They consist of various types of elements that you connect to collection fields to show content from a specific item. Each dynamic item page uses the same layout and design so you only need to design the page once. 

You can have thousands of items in a collection, each sharing the same dynamic item page, each with its own unique URL. When managing site pages in your Editor, you'll see just one dynamic item page per collection. However, in your Editor, you can switch between items to preview how each unique item appears on the page.  

Your editor names dynamic item pages as {Collection name} (Item).

Changing the content in your dynamic pages

Dynamic elements like text, images, and buttons connect to a dataset that binds your collection fields. These elements get their content from the values in the connected fields. To change the content that is used in these elements, change the values in the relevant collection fields. You can also reconnect elements to different collection fields to adjust which fields are used for content. 

Elements and parts of elements that are not connected to a dataset are static and can be edited as usual. For example, you could connect a button to a dataset and set the click action to connect to a dynamic item page. In the connection options, you could leave the button label disconnected and use static text on the button that doesn't change (e.g. "Learn More"). 


Managing your dynamic page dataset

The dynamic page dataset acts as a content facilitator between your collection and the page elements. Go to the dataset settings to adjust the maximum number of items that can load at a time, which items appear, and the order in which they display. 

Maximum items displayed in your Editor vs. your live site:
By default, the "Maximum items displayed" setting for datasets is 12 items. You can increase this number to show more items on your live site and in preview mode. However, you will only see up to 12 items in your Editor. This is to optimize performance while you build your site.

Managing your dynamic page SEO settings

You can edit most of your SEO settings for dynamic pages from your SEO dashboard. For dynamic list pages, go to the "Main Pages" section of the dashboard. For dynamic item pages, go to the "Edit by page type" section. For both types of dynamic pages, go to the SEO tab of the page settings in your Editor to add variables to the URLs


FAQs

Click a below for answers to frequently asked questions about dynamic pages. 

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