Page Types

ioLoop supports three page types: Page, Form, and Structured Page. While all three are managed through Pages & Forms, they differ in how their content is organized and used.

Page

A Page is a general-purpose interface whose content and layout are managed within a single page body.

Choose Page for application screens such as dashboards, customer portals, landing pages, and interactive interfaces.

A Page can contain Page Elements, Widgets, input controls, and Page Flow behavior. It is the appropriate choice when you want to design and manage the screen as an individual page rather than assemble it from shared sections.

Form

A Form is a specialized page for collecting, validating, and processing user input.

Choose Form for registration, data entry, record editing, and other input-driven workflows.

Unlike a general-purpose Page, a Form provides form-specific functionality for managing inputs and submissions. Forms can also be opened from other pages as modals, allowing the same input workflow to be reused in different parts of an application.

Forms support both Table-Backed and Custom implementations.

For details, see Forms.

Structured Page

A Structured Page is composed of Page Slices — independently managed sections of content that can be reused across multiple Structured Pages.

The defining advantage is shared content and centralized maintenance. Rather than duplicating common sections across pages, multiple Structured Pages can reference the same Page Slice.

Shared Page Slices

Consider a website with Home, About, Services, and Contact pages. All four pages use the same navigation header and footer.

With Structured Pages, you can create a shared Header Page Slice and a shared Footer Page Slice, then use them across all four pages.

When the shared Header Page Slice is updated, the change is reflected in every page that uses it when the changes are published.

This also applies to body content. A promotional banner, call-to-action section, or informational block can be shared across any number of Structured Pages.

Page Composition

Each Structured Page can combine shared Page Slices with sections used only by that page.

Page Slices can also be arranged and reordered independently, allowing each page to have its own composition even when some sections are shared.

Unlike a standard Page, which manages its content as a single page body, a Structured Page provides a composition of separately managed sections.

Maintenance Considerations

Changes to a shared Page Slice affect every Structured Page that references it. When modifying a shared slice, consider all the pages that use it.

Use page-specific slices when content should be maintained independently.

Choose Structured Page when content reuse, consistency across pages, and centralized maintenance are important. The presence of a header, body, and footer alone does not require a Structured Page.

Choosing Between Page and Structured Page

Both Page and Structured Page can be used to create visually similar interfaces.

The important distinction is how you want to manage their content:

• Page: The content belongs to the individual page and is managed as one page body.
• Structured Page: The page is assembled from Page Slices, which can be shared and maintained across multiple pages.

For a standalone dashboard or application screen, Page is usually the simpler choice.

For a multi-page website with common navigation, footers, promotional sections, or other shared content, Structured Page provides a more maintainable approach.

Where to Go Next

• Managing Pages — Create and manage Pages, Forms, and Structured Pages.
• Page Editor — Design and edit page content.
• Forms — Learn about form implementations and input workflows.