Build a Page Hierarchy

Build a Page Hierarchy

Turn a collection of individual Pages into a website structure that visitors can understand and editors can maintain.

A growing website needs more than a list of links. Product documentation, company information, and support content tend to develop natural relationships: a broad subject introduces a section, and more specific Pages explain its parts.

VerdinCore lets you define these relationships directly in the Page editor. You choose a Parent Page, set a Page Order, and give each Page a short Slug. The application uses that information to resolve nested URLs and provide hierarchy data to the public theme.

This guide walks through a small documentation section, from the first parent Page to the finished navigation.

What you'll build

We'll create the following example structure:

Documentation
├── Guides
│   ├── Write a Post
│   └── Work with Images
└── Architecture

The resulting URLs will follow the same relationships:

/documentation
/documentation/guides
/documentation/guides/write-a-post
/documentation/guides/work-with-images
/documentation/architecture

These are example names and paths, not Pages that VerdinCore creates for you. You can use the same process for a product site, a knowledge base, or any collection of long-lived information.

Before you begin: Sign in with an account that can manage Pages. You will need access to Dashboard → Pages and the Add Page action. The example assumes that the relevant Pages are intended to be publicly readable.

1. Create the top-level Page

Open Dashboard → Pages, then select Add Page.

((Screenshot from VerdinCore Admin > Dashboard > Pages: show the Pages heading, Add Page action, and a few realistic entries in the Pages table. Keep the Parent, Status and Order columns visible to establish how the hierarchy can be inspected later. Suggested framing: 1600 × 900. Hide private page titles or account data. Suggested caption: "Create and manage Pages from a single dashboard."))

In the New Page editor, enter:

Add a useful introduction in Content. A parent Page should explain what the section contains and help readers decide where to go next; it does not need to duplicate everything in its children.

The important distinction is that Title and Slug are separate inputs for Pages. The Slug is editable, and you must provide one. Use a concise value with hyphens between words, such as getting-started.

Select Save to create the Page as a Draft.

((Screenshot from VerdinCore Admin > New Page: prepare the "Documentation" example before saving. Show Title, Excerpt and the Content editor in the center; the left sidebar should show Status = Draft, Slug = documentation and Page Order = 10, while the right sidebar shows Parent Page = Top level. Capture approximately 1920 × 1080, or crop into two readable views if the controls are too small. Suggested caption: "Define a top-level Page with its own slug and order."))

2. Add a child Page

Return to Dashboard → Pages and select Add Page again. This time create Guides:

1. Enter Guides as the Title and guides as the Slug.

2. Add a short Excerpt explaining what the section covers.

3. In the right sidebar, set Parent Page to Documentation.

4. In the left sidebar, set Page Order to 10.

5. Add introductory Content, leave the Page as a Draft, and select Save.

That single parent selection is what connects the two Pages. You enter only guides in the Slug field; you do not enter documentation/guides. VerdinCore builds the full path from the parent relationship.

Repeat the process for Architecture, this time choosing Documentation as the parent and setting Page Order to 20.

The values 10 and 20 are examples, not a required numbering convention. They simply leave space if you later want another Page between existing items.

((Screenshot from VerdinCore Admin > Edit Page for "Guides": focus on the right-side Parent Page selector showing "Documentation" selected, with enough of the center editor and left-side Page Order control visible to identify the Page being edited. Suggested framing: 1920 × 1080. Suggested caption: "Assign a parent directly in the Page editor; VerdinCore resolves the nested path."))

3. Create a third level

Now create two Pages under Guides:

Use the same process: Add Page → fill in the content → choose the parent → set the order → Save.

You now have a three-level structure, with URLs such as:

/documentation/guides/write-a-post

This is more than a navigation label. The Page's resolved address expresses the same relationship that you established in the editor.

How Page Order works

Page Order is a non-negative number. Lower values appear first when VerdinCore builds ordered Page collections. When order values match, it sorts by Title and then by Page ID to keep the result predictable.

Page Order does not change the URL. Parent Page and Slug do.

Also, this is a numeric ordering control, not a drag-and-drop page tree. You can inspect the Parent and Order columns in the Pages dashboard and choose Menu Order from its Sort Order filter to review ordering.

4. Publish and inspect the result

Once each Page has meaningful content, open it for editing, set Status to Published, confirm Access is Public, and select Save.

For a clear public section, publish the parent Pages as well as their children. Otherwise, the theme may show a parent without an active public link even when individual child Pages are published.

Now visit the public website and check three things:

1. The URLs: Open the full path for each published Page. Confirm that the address matches the intended parent–child relationship.

2. The breadcrumbs: On Write a Post, the supplied public theme can display Home / Documentation / Guides / Write a Post.

3. The navigation: Open Explore in the supplied theme to see the Page relationships as nested navigation.

((Screenshot from a public VerdinCore website > Explore menu: use the example published hierarchy or an equivalent real section with at least three levels. Show "Documentation", its children "Guides" and "Architecture", plus the two Guides descendants. Keep the header and Explore panel in frame; approximately 1440 × 900. Suggested caption: "The public navigation follows the structure defined in the Page editor."))

The supplied public theme also supports an In this section area beneath a parent Page. When published, accessible child Pages are available, this section can show links with titles and Excerpts. It gives a landing Page a second purpose: introduce the subject and direct visitors toward the details.

((Screenshot from a public VerdinCore Page > open the published "Guides" parent Page or an equivalent section. Capture the "In this section" cards showing two child Pages with their titles and useful Excerpts. If possible, make a second crop of the breadcrumb trail on one child Page, but treat this as one screenshot brief unless both views are necessary. Approximately 1440 × 900 per view. Suggested caption: "A parent Page can introduce a subject and guide readers to its published children."))

Theme note: The hierarchy and paths are part of VerdinCore's content model. The exact Explore menu, breadcrumbs, and section cards described here belong to the supplied public theme; another presentation can use the same data differently.

5. Rearrange Pages without rebuilding them

A documentation section rarely stays unchanged. Suppose Architecture should become a child of Guides, rather than sitting directly beneath Documentation.

1. Open Dashboard → Pages.

2. Find Architecture and select Edit.

3. Change Parent Page from Documentation to Guides.

4. Adjust Page Order if needed.

5. Select Save, then verify the new public URL and navigation.

Its path changes from:

/documentation/architecture

to:

/documentation/guides/architecture

This is why parent relationships are valuable: you reorganize the content model instead of manually rewriting every URL. But it is also why published reorganizations need care.

Changing a Page's Slug or Parent Page changes its public address. Moving a parent can change the paths of its descendants too. Do not assume that VerdinCore automatically redirects the old URLs; plan and verify redirects separately if the addresses have already been shared or indexed.

Safeguards and limitations

VerdinCore prevents a Page from being assigned as its own parent or moved beneath one of its descendants, avoiding circular hierarchies. There are also a few practical rules worth knowing:

• Slugs must be unique across Pages, even if the Pages belong to different branches. Two separate parents cannot each contain a child Page with the identical Slug in the current implementation.

• Draft is not a public preview. Use Save to retain draft content, then publish when it is ready. The Preview action is intended for a saved, published Page.

• Access matters across the path. If an ancestor Page is Members Only, a visitor who is not signed in cannot access its nested child path simply because the child is marked Public.

• Order affects presentation, not parentage. Changing a number cannot move a Page from one branch to another.

• Navigation is theme-dependent. The current public theme exposes nested Pages in Explore; the content hierarchy itself does not require a particular visual menu.

Final checklist

Before considering the section complete, confirm that:

• Every Page has a clear Title, meaningful Content, and a unique Slug.

• Parent Page selections reflect the intended structure.

• Page Order values produce a useful reading sequence.

• All public Pages have the intended Status and Access settings.

• Nested URLs, breadcrumbs, and navigation work as expected.

• Any changed public URLs have been reviewed for link and redirect consequences.

A well-organized hierarchy makes a website easier to grow without making it harder to navigate. You define where each Page belongs; VerdinCore carries that relationship through to its public path and makes it available for presentation.

For the conceptual background, see Page Hierarchy. For publication states and access restrictions, see Publishing Workflows and Visibility & Access.