How to edit a site without breaking the design
Why editing breaks a website, how fields instead of a page builder stop it, and the part the design still has to do itself.
Checked 22 October 2026 About 3 minutes View as Markdown
The short answer
Give the editor fields, not a page builder. The sections are defined once with the design, and editing changes what is inside them, never the layout.
- The editor fills in fields; the website decides how they look.
- 7 kinds of field, from one line of text to a repeatable group.
- A draft until it is published, and the last 100 versions kept.
Why editing breaks a website
A page builder hands whoever edits the layout itself. A headline pasted from a document brings its own font with it, a button is dragged out of line, a section is deleted along with the one that was meant to go. Every edit is a design decision, whether or not the person making it meant one.
Fields instead of a page
Give each section of the design a type, and the type a set of fields. A hero has a headline, a line under it and a button. A price list has a repeatable group of rows, each with a name and a price. Editing fills in the fields; the website decides how each one looks, with its own components.
So the person editing can:
- change the words in any field,
- add and remove the lines of a list, and add, remove and reorder the rows of a group,
- add sections to a page, take them away and put them in order,
and cannot change a font, a colour, a spacing or the markup, because none of those is in a field. A field holds text in some shape or an image from the website's library, and there are 7 kinds: text, paragraph, list of lines, link, true or false, repeatable group, image.
What keeps it from breaking
- A required field cannot be left empty. The page is not saved, and the editor names the field that needs filling in.
- Every value has a length it cannot pass, and a save that would pass it is refused rather than cut short, so nobody loses half a paragraph without noticing.
- A link has to go somewhere: a web address, a path on the site,
mailto:ortel:. One that would run a script is refused. - Editing changes a draft. The website keeps showing the published version until somebody publishes, and can be told by webhook when that happens.
- Mistakes can be undone. The last 100 versions of each page are kept, and any of them can be brought back.
The part the design still has to do
Fields keep out the wrong kind of content. They cannot make a design fit every amount of the right kind. Try the design with the longest text each field accepts, with every optional field left empty, and with a list of one row and of many, before handing it over.
When the design changes
The section types belong to the project and are never locked: a field can be added or renamed when the design gains a new part. The 10 standard types a new project starts with are a starting point, not a rule.
Content has the rest, and Headless CMS or website builder? is the question before this one.
Questions people ask next
Can the editor change fonts or colours?
No. Those belong to the website's design. A field holds text or an image, and the website decides how it looks.
What if a required field is left empty?
The page is not saved. The editor names the field that needs filling in, so nothing half finished reaches the website.
Does a long headline break the layout?
Not if the design allows for it. Every field has a length it cannot pass. Fields keep out the wrong kind of content; the design still has to fit the longest of the right kind.
Can I undo a change that went live?
Yes. The last 100 versions of each page are kept, and any of them can be restored.