page-structure-design

Page Structure Design

Guidance for designing page hierarchies, templates, and modular page composition systems for headless CMS.

When to Use This Skill

• Designing page tree structures
• Creating page templates with zones
• Implementing page builder functionality
• Planning sitemap generation
• Building modular page composition

Page Hierarchy Patterns

Basic Page Tree

public class Page
{
    public Guid Id { get; set; }
    public string Title { get; set; } = string.Empty;
    public string Slug { get; set; } = string.Empty;

    // Hierarchy
    public Guid? ParentId { get; set; }
    public Page? Parent { get; set; }
    public List<Page> Children { get; set; } = new();

    // Computed path
    public string Path { get; set; } = string.Empty; // /about/team/leadership
    public int Depth { get; set; }
    public int Order { get; set; }

    // Template and content
    public string Template { get; set; } = string.Empty;
    public PageContent Content { get; set; } = new();
}

Page Sets (Collections)

// Page set for grouping related pages
public class PageSet
{
    public Guid Id { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; } = string.Empty;
    public string Slug { get; set; } = string.Empty;
    public PageSetType Type { get; set; }

    // Configuration
    public string ItemTemplate { get; set; } = string.Empty;
    public string ListTemplate { get; set; } = string.Empty;
    public int ItemsPerPage { get; set; } = 10;

    // URL pattern
    public string UrlPattern { get; set; } = string.Empty; // /blog/{slug}
}

public enum PageSetType
{
    Blog,       // Chronological posts
    Portfolio,  // Project showcase
    Team,       // Team members
    Products,   // Product catalog
    FAQ,        // Q&A collection
    Custom      // User-defined
}

Template System

Template Definition

public class PageTemplate
{
    public string Name { get; set; } = string.Empty;
    public string DisplayName { get; set; } = string.Empty;
    public string Description { get; set; } = string.Empty;

    // Template hierarchy
    public string? ParentTemplate { get; set; }

    // Available zones for content
    public List<TemplateZone> Zones { get; set; } = new();

    // Required fields
    public List<TemplateField> Fields { get; set; } = new();

    // Applicable page types
    public List<string> ApplicablePageTypes { get; set; } = new();
}

public class TemplateZone
{
    public string Name { get; set; } = string.Empty;
    public string DisplayName { get; set; } = string.Empty;
    public ZoneType Type { get; set; }
    public List<string> AllowedWidgets { get; set; } = new();
    public int? MaxWidgets { get; set; }
}

public enum ZoneType
{
    Single,     // One widget only
    Multiple,   // Multiple widgets stacked
    Grid        // Grid layout
}

Template Inheritance

BaseTemplate
├── Zones: Header, Footer, Sidebar
└── Fields: MetaTitle, MetaDescription

    ├── HomeTemplate (extends Base)
    │   └── Zones: Hero, Features, CTA
    │
    ├── ContentTemplate (extends Base)
    │   └── Zones: MainContent, RelatedContent
    │
    └── LandingTemplate (extends Base)
        └── Zones: Hero, Sections (multiple)

Page Builder Components

Widget System

public abstract class Widget
{
    public Guid Id { get; set; }
    public string Type { get; set; } = string.Empty;
    public int Order { get; set; }
    public Dictionary<string, object?> Settings { get; set; } = new();
}

public class TextWidget : Widget
{
    public string Content { get; set; } = string.Empty;
}

public class ImageWidget : Widget
{
    public Guid MediaItemId { get; set; }
    public string? Alt { get; set; }
    public string? Caption { get; set; }
}

public class CallToActionWidget : Widget
{
    public string Heading { get; set; } = string.Empty;
    public string? Subheading { get; set; }
    public string ButtonText { get; set; } = string.Empty;
    public string ButtonUrl { get; set; } = string.Empty;
    public string? BackgroundImageId { get; set; }
}

public class CardGridWidget : Widget
{
    public List<Card> Cards { get; set; } = new();
    public int Columns { get; set; } = 3;
}

Page Content Structure

public class PageContent
{
    // Zone-based content storage
    public Dictionary<string, List<Widget>> Zones { get; set; } = new();

    // Page-level fields
    public string? HeroTitle { get; set; }
    public string? HeroSubtitle { get; set; }
    public Guid? HeroImageId { get; set; }

    // SEO
    public string? MetaTitle { get; set; }
    public string? MetaDescription { get; set; }
    public bool NoIndex { get; set; }
}

Sitemap Generation

Sitemap Data Model

public class SitemapEntry
{
    public string Url { get; set; } = string.Empty;
    public DateTime LastModified { get; set; }
    public ChangeFrequency ChangeFrequency { get; set; }
    public decimal Priority { get; set; }
    public List<SitemapAlternate>? Alternates { get; set; }
}

public class SitemapAlternate
{
    public string Hreflang { get; set; } = string.Empty;
    public string Url { get; set; } = string.Empty;
}

public enum ChangeFrequency
{
    Always,
    Hourly,
    Daily,
    Weekly,
    Monthly,
    Yearly,
    Never
}

Sitemap Generation Service

public class SitemapService
{
    public async Task<List<SitemapEntry>> GenerateSitemapAsync()
    {
        var entries = new List<SitemapEntry>();

        // Add pages
        var pages = await _pageRepository.GetPublishedPagesAsync();
        foreach (var page in pages)
        {
            entries.Add(new SitemapEntry
            {
                Url = $"{_baseUrl}{page.Path}",
                LastModified = page.ModifiedUtc,
                ChangeFrequency = GetChangeFrequency(page),
                Priority = CalculatePriority(page)
            });
        }

        // Add page set items (blog posts, products, etc.)
        var pageSets = await _pageSetRepository.GetAllAsync();
        foreach (var pageSet in pageSets)
        {
            var items = await _pageSetRepository.GetItemsAsync(pageSet.Id);
            foreach (var item in items)
            {
                var url = GenerateUrl(pageSet.UrlPattern, item);
                entries.Add(new SitemapEntry
                {
                    Url = url,
                    LastModified = item.ModifiedUtc,
                    ChangeFrequency = ChangeFrequency.Weekly,
                    Priority = 0.6m
                });
            }
        }

        return entries;
    }

    private decimal CalculatePriority(Page page)
    {
        // Home page highest priority
        if (page.Depth == 0) return 1.0m;

        // Decrease by depth
        return Math.Max(0.5m, 1.0m - (page.Depth * 0.1m));
    }
}

Page Tree API

REST Endpoints

GET    /api/pages                    # Root pages
GET    /api/pages/{id}               # Single page
GET    /api/pages/{id}/children      # Child pages
GET    /api/pages/path/{*path}       # Page by URL path
GET    /api/pages/tree               # Full page tree
GET    /api/sitemap.xml              # XML sitemap
GET    /api/sitemap.json             # JSON sitemap

Page Tree Response

{
  "data": {
    "id": "page-123",
    "title": "About Us",
    "slug": "about",
    "path": "/about",
    "template": "ContentTemplate",
    "depth": 1,
    "order": 2,
    "children": [
      {
        "id": "page-456",
        "title": "Our Team",
        "slug": "team",
        "path": "/about/team",
        "template": "TeamTemplate",
        "children": []
      },
      {
        "id": "page-789",
        "title": "Careers",
        "slug": "careers",
        "path": "/about/careers",
        "template": "ContentTemplate",
        "children": []
      }
    ]
  },
  "breadcrumbs": [
    { "title": "Home", "path": "/" },
    { "title": "About Us", "path": "/about" }
  ]
}

Best Practices

Page Structure

Pattern	When to Use
Flat structure	Simple sites, few pages
2-level hierarchy	Most corporate sites
Deep hierarchy	Documentation, large catalogs
Page sets	Blog, portfolio, team pages

Template Design

DO:
- Keep zones semantic (Header, MainContent, Sidebar)
- Allow flexible widget placement
- Inherit common zones from base template
- Provide sensible defaults

DON'T:
- Create overly specific templates
- Hard-code layout in templates
- Mix content and presentation concerns
- Create deep template inheritance chains

Related Skills

• navigation-architecture - Menu and breadcrumb design
• url-routing-patterns - URL structure and routing
• content-type-modeling - Page as content type