Directory sites come in all shapes and sizes (and they're more common than you think). Both Fiverr and the Wix Marketplace fall into the directory category. But how do you build a directory site using Wix? Here's a high-level view of how you do it. What you'll need: A database
Dynamic pages
At its core, a directory site can be built with just a database and dynamic pages.
Database
A database is simply a place to store information. In it, there are rows and columns. Each row is its own item, and each item is broken down into fields. Here's a basic example of what a database might look like:
| Name | Phone | |
1 | Noah | noah@noah.com | 123456789 |
2 | Harry | harry@harry.com | 987654321 |
3 | Sue | sue@sue.com | 135798642 |
We have 3 items (1,2,3) and each item has 3 fields (name, email, phone).
This database simple stores information.
Dynamic Pages
Dynamic pages are a way of displaying data back to a user. At a basic level, they're made up of 2 kinds of pages - List Pages and Title Pages.
List pages are exactly what they sound like; they list information.
Title pages look like static pages but are bound to data in a database.
On a title page, we connect page components to a dataset (the bridge between a page and a database).
For example, we may have a page that looks like the following:
We would connect the Name text to the Name field in the database. The Email text to the Email field in a database and the Phone text to the Phone field in the database.
What this does is allows the information within the page to be swapped out for information that is found within the item of a database.
Think of the "flow" like this. A List page displays all of the data from a database> A use clicks on an item on the list page> The site gets the id of that item and loads the title page> the site gets the item from the database (identified through the id) and loads that data in the connected elements.
In short, this allows us to build dynamic content on a site, which is perfect for a basic directory.
Additional features
The above information is just a basic overview of the structuring of a directory site. There are many more features that can be added, such as search and filter abilities, member-managed data, and dashboard pages for moderation. Wix is capable of adding lots of additional features to the basic example above. If you're interested in adding a directory to your site, please reach out. We'd love to help you.
