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Create a Blog in the Editor: Set Up CMS & Collections

Learn how to build your complete blog system step by step directly in the editor: from setting up the collection structure and designing the pages to publishing your blog.

Written by Alina

With the CMS you manage lots of similar content in one central place, for example blog articles, travel destinations, recipes or team members. You design the layout once and Onepage automatically creates one page per entry.

The key terms

  • Collection = the set of content, e.g. "Blog articles", "Travel destinations", "Bloggers".

  • Field = a single piece of information inside the collection, e.g. Image, Video, Plain Text.

  • Record = a single entry in the collection, i.e. one specific blog article.

  • List page = the overview page where all records appear (e.g. /blog).

  • Page template = the design for an individual record. It applies to all records.

Before you start: the ideal workflow

Before you write any content or adjust the design, steps 1 to 3 set up the basic framework (the shell) of your blog. There is a simple reason for this: you can only link fields, records and designs to each other once the structure exists in the system.

The workflow at a glance:

  1. Create the collection & fields (define the data structure)

  2. Create & link the pages (create an empty overview page and article page as placeholders)

  3. Fill in the records (add content to your posts)

  4. Design the pages (apply the design in the builder)

  5. Publish

Step-by-step guide to creating a blog

Step 1: Create a collection

  1. In your website, go to CMS → + Create collection in the left sidebar.

  2. Select the Manual tab.

  3. Give it a name and a slug.

In the dialog, you can see the URL pattern your records will get later, for example yoursite.com/blog/{{item-title}}.

You can create several collections, e.g. a "Travel destinations" collection and a "Bloggers" collection.

You can also delete a collection if you no longer need it.

  • To do so, click on the relevant collection and then select Collection Settings. In the pop-up window, click “Delete collection” in the bottom-right corner.

  • You will then be asked to confirm the deletion. Enter “delete-[collection name]” — in our example, “delete-location” — and then click “Delete”.

  • This will permanently delete the collection.

Step 2: Add fields

Every collection starts with two mandatory fields: Title and Slug. You create all other fields under Collection Settings → Fields.

For a blog these are typically:

  • Section

  • URL

  • Plain text

  • Rich Text

  • Single Option

  • Multi-options

  • Image

  • Video

  • Gallery

  • Number

  • Boolean

  • Relation

  • Multi-relations

  • Date

Important: Create the fields before you build the design. On the template page you will later select exactly these fields. Anything that does not exist here cannot be linked there.

Step 3: Create two pages

A collection always needs two pages:

  1. an overview page – its slug becomes the blog URL, e.g. /blog

  2. an article page – the design for an individual post

There are two ways to do this. The result is identical, so simply pick whichever you prefer.

Option A: create them in the builder

Create both pages from scratch in the builder and then link them in the collection settings (see step 4).

Option B: straight from the collection

Go to Collection settings → Pages and, instead of "Select existing page", click "Create from scratch". Both pages are created and are correctly linked straight away.

Step 4: Link the pages

Go to Collection settings → Pages and define:

  • the article page as the page template

  • the overview page as the list page

From that moment on, the template is used to render every record at /blog/record-slug.

(If you used option B in step 3, this step is already done.)

Step 5: Create records

In the CMS, open your collection and create the individual entries under Records – one record per blog article. Here you only fill in the field content (title, text, image …). The design comes from the template automatically.


​Step 6: Design the pages (overview page & template)

Now you bring the pages you created to life by embedding your collection's content visually.
​

1. Design the overview page (list page)

  • Open the overview page you created earlier (e.g. /blog).

  • Build the page however you like (e.g. with a header, hero section or explanatory text).

  • Click Add section → choose CMS Grid and insert the grid for your collection.

  • Note: If you have several collections (e.g. "Travel destinations" and "Bloggers"), you can insert a separate grid for each collection on the same page or create separate overview pages for them.

2. Design the article page (page template)

  • Open your template page for the individual article.

  • Add a Blueprint

  • Click the + icon on the individual elements, switch to the CMS tab and select the dynamic fields you created in step 2 (e.g. image, video, text).

  • Is a field missing? If you cannot link a particular element, go back to Collection settings → Fields, add it there and then link it in the template.

    Below you can see how the template for the blogger description is created.


​

Important to understand:

  • Changes on the template page determine the global design and layout of all articles at the same time.

  • If you want to change the actual content of an individual post (e.g. fix a typo or swap an image), do that in the CMS menu directly on the Record in question.

Step 7: Publish

A record page only goes live once all three levels are published:

  1. the website itself

  2. the template pages (article page and overview page)

  3. the Record

In the record editor you can see the publication status and the available actions: Publish, Update, Unpublish, Schedule.

Connecting several collections to each other (relations)

Collections can reference each other. A typical example:

  • a Travel destinations collection with 10 blog articles about different places

  • a Bloggers collection with 4 authors

In the Travel destinations collection, add a field of the type Relation and point it at the Bloggers collection. For each record you then select who wrote the article.

On the article page you can output the linked blogger's fields (name, photo, short bio) along with the article, so you only have to maintain that information once.

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

What is the difference between designing on the template page and editing a record in the CMS?

Both feel the same, because in both cases you have the same article page in front of you. The difference is what you change there:

  • Design and structure (elements, layout, colors, spacing, links to fields) belong to the template. They always apply to all records. That is why everything changes at the same time.

  • Content (the text, the image, the date of that one post) belongs to the record. It applies only to that single entry.

Rule of thumb: You edit the look once in the template, and the content in each individual record.

For day-to-day work this means: make design changes deliberately on the template page, so it is clear that they affect all posts.

Use the record editor to fill in and update individual articles.

My record is not visible online, why?

Check all three levels from step 7: the website, the template pages and the record each have to be published.

A field is missing from the selection on the page. Why?

The field does not exist in the collection yet.

Create it under Collection settings → Fields; after that it appears on the page under the CMS category.

💡Do you have feedback on this help article? Feel free to share it with us via live chat or at support@onepage.io so that we can keep it up to date. 🙂

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