A dynamic page is a page Ontraport creates automatically from one of your saved records. You design one dynamic template, with the layout and styling, and each record fills in its own content. So one blog template gives every post its own page, and one pet template gives every pet its own profile. In this lesson, you'll build a template, link it to your data, preview it, and see how each record gets its own web address.
Dynamic pages need a Dynamic CMS package on your account. If you don't have one yet, the account owner can add it from the Account page.
Hover over Pages in the top navigation and click Dynamic Templates. Then click New Dynamic Template. Choose the object this template will use as its data source, like Blog or Pets, and click Continue. Name your page, then pick a page template or click Start from scratch.
You design it in the same editor you use for your other Ontraport pages. Add the static content that's the same on every page, like your navigation and section labels. Then add placeholder headlines, text and images for everything that should change from record to record.
To make an element dynamic, hover over it and click the database icon. The Select a field menu gives you two kinds of fields. Object Fields come from the record the page is about, like a post's title or main image. Visiting Contact Fields come from the contact who's viewing the page, and they work just like merge fields.
Pick a field and click Save. The placeholder turns into a preview of real record data.
For text elements, you can also choose a color field to set the font color. That's handy for color coding, like giving each category its own color.
To mix record data into fixed text, use the merge field dropdown. For example, a byline can say "By," followed by the author's name from the related author record. Merge fields don't turn into a preview in the editor, so click Preview to check them. And for long, formatted text, like the body of an article, use a Rich Text custom field. It can hold formatted text and images.
Links can be dynamic too. Select some text and click the hyperlink icon, or open a button's link settings. Choose Link to a URL field to link to a URL saved on a record, or to the URL of a published dynamic page. Or choose Link to next/previous dynamic page record, and set how the records are sorted and ordered. You can even limit it to records that match a field on this page, like posts in the same category.
Click the arrow next to Preview to open the preview settings. Pick a record from the Data Source dropdown, or use the arrows to step through your records and watch the content change. Use View as Contact to see the visiting contact fields for a particular contact. And if a record needs fixing, Go to related record opens it in another window.
Each record's page gets its own web address. You set the pattern with a page type, using merge fields in the path. For example, your domain, then "blog," then the post's title gives every post its own URL. When you click Publish, you choose the page type, and you can create pages for your existing records and for new ones automatically. The Page types and publishing lesson covers this step by step.
In Settings, then Display Settings, you choose who can see the page. For example, you can show it only to visitors who are related to its record, like letting a client's contacts see that client's project. The Privacy and data security lesson covers these settings. And for more app-like pages on an Ontraport membership site, add the Reactions element, so logged-in members can like, favorite or upvote a record.
So: create a template from an object, link its elements to fields, check it record by record with Preview, and let a page type give every record its own address. Next up: dynamic blocks, for showing lists of records on a page.