Prototyping

Now we're going to do our rough build.

Before you invest time in loading your data and styling your site, it's essential to first develop a minimum viable product.

But that I mean, you need to prototype your site and your CMS data structure to make sure everything will work the way you want, first. Then, invest all the time you want in styling, and data entry.

Why? Because if you don't, you risk throwing away all that hard work, and that's just no fun at all.

Mock up your data design in the CMS

Create the Collections you need, but only with the basic fields required to make your layout work.

Do NOT invest time in creating data yet, just create a few records as proof of concept

Create your reference fields and links, but just in your sample data.

Mock up your UI design in the Designer

Create your Collections lists and Collection pages.

DO NOT invest time in styling these yet, just create them as basic, functional proof of concept.

Work out the basic details

Ask these questions;

• What needs to display where?
• How do things link together?
• How will the user navigate through these pages and data items?
• How will the site editor manage and add these items?
• Do the filtering and sorting work the way I need them to? If not, how can I adjust my design or display to make that work?
• What happens as things grow?
• > Will you hit the collection item max of 100? Will things work well in a paginated mode?
• > If you're using nested collection lists, will your sub-items exceed 5? If so, what's the impact?

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Now, use anything you've learned to troubleshoot and problem solve your design and display now.