Page Builders - A Guide to Building Your Hub using any Pagebuilder (Elementor, Bricks Builder, Breakdance and more)
Building a fantastic experience for your customers/clients within your Hub is straightforward with Dollie. This guide will show you how to adapt the experience to fit the needs of your team, clients/customers, and yourself.
In the vast ecosystem of WordPress, there's a plethora of page builders that webmasters leverage to design and customize their websites. Dollie seamlessly supports the most popular WordPress page builders right out of the box. To make the setup even more user-friendly for popular page builders, our team has crafted starter Hub templates. These can be selected when you launch your Hub via Control HQ.
When you install and activate the Dollie Hub plugin inside your WordPress installation, we automatically set up your Core Hub pages using some default templates. You can later customize these as per your requirements. Here's what's created:
- Dashboard A landing page for your customers/clients showing an overview of their sites, subscriptions, and other customizable widgets like news/updates.
- Sites An overview directory of all Sites within your Hub. Customers/clients will only see the sites associated with them.
- Launch New Site A page with the form to initiate a new site.
- Customer Login A page featuring the login form to access your Hub.
These pages are solely for your team and display no content for customers/clients.
- Blueprints A front-end directory showcasing all Blueprints you've created. Only site admins have visibility.
- Customers A front-end directory of your customers/clients.
- Launch New Blueprint A page with the form to set up a new blueprint.
- Site Template The design/template used for the Site Manager.
- Site Launching Template (optional) The design/template visible when a site is in the launch process.
You can quickly identify active Hub pages by navigating to Dollie > Settings > Pages in the WordPress admin panel. Here you'll spot the pages currently in use by your Hub. If you wish to modify any page:
Head to Pages > All Pages in your WP admin.
Choose the Hub page you wish to modify.
Click the Edit option.
You're now free to redesign and adjust using your preferred page builder. Utilize widgets, adjust settings, or add new elements to your liking.
The "Site Dashboard" is the layout you see when accessing one of the sites in your Hub. Customize it as follows:
On the front-end of your Hub, navigate to your "Sites" page and select the "Manage Site" option for one of your sites.
Now, in the top Admin Bar, find and select the Edit option.
The page builder/editor should now activate, allowing you to make design alterations.
Pro Tip: With some premium page builders, you can activate the Preview functionality using one of your existing sites as a template. This offers a live site data preview.
Some templates can further tailor the experience for your clients.
Craft a distinct "Your site/app is being launched" page. Design this template to present an onboarding page for your clients while their site is in the launch phase. Once launched, they're redirected to the new site's Dashboard.
Navigate to Pages > Add New in your WP admin.
Assign a title like "Launching Your Site", then click Edit.
Design using your page builder and then Publish.
This newly created page can now be set as the "Site Launching Template" within your Hub.
Proceed to Dollie > Settings > Pages > Site Launching Template and select the recently created page.
Look at our detailed guide about our the various shortcodes you can use to build your Hub
Introduction to WordPress Page Builders with Dollie
In the vast ecosystem of WordPress, there's a plethora of page builders that webmasters leverage to design and customize their websites. Dollie seamlessly supports the most popular WordPress page builders right out of the box. To make the setup even more user-friendly for popular page builders, our team has crafted starter Hub templates. These can be selected when you launch your Hub via Control HQ.
Want to see the process in action? Here is our Elementor guide to building your Hub
Your Core Hub Pages
When you install and activate the Dollie Hub plugin inside your WordPress installation, we automatically set up your Core Hub pages using some default templates. You can later customize these as per your requirements. Here's what's created:
Customer/Client Hub Pages
- Dashboard A landing page for your customers/clients showing an overview of their sites, subscriptions, and other customizable widgets like news/updates.
- Sites An overview directory of all Sites within your Hub. Customers/clients will only see the sites associated with them.
- Launch New Site A page with the form to initiate a new site.
- Customer Login A page featuring the login form to access your Hub.
Admin-only Hub Pages
These pages are solely for your team and display no content for customers/clients.
- Blueprints A front-end directory showcasing all Blueprints you've created. Only site admins have visibility.
- Customers A front-end directory of your customers/clients.
- Launch New Blueprint A page with the form to set up a new blueprint.
Templates Used in Your Hub
- Site Template The design/template used for the Site Manager.
- Site Launching Template (optional) The design/template visible when a site is in the launch process.
How to Change/Customize Your Hub Pages
You can quickly identify active Hub pages by navigating to Dollie > Settings > Pages in the WordPress admin panel. Here you'll spot the pages currently in use by your Hub. If you wish to modify any page:
Head to Pages > All Pages in your WP admin.
Choose the Hub page you wish to modify.
Click the Edit option.
You're now free to redesign and adjust using your preferred page builder. Utilize widgets, adjust settings, or add new elements to your liking.
Editing the Site Dashboard Template
The "Site Dashboard" is the layout you see when accessing one of the sites in your Hub. Customize it as follows:
On the front-end of your Hub, navigate to your "Sites" page and select the "Manage Site" option for one of your sites.
Now, in the top Admin Bar, find and select the Edit option.
The page builder/editor should now activate, allowing you to make design alterations.
Pro Tip: With some premium page builders, you can activate the Preview functionality using one of your existing sites as a template. This offers a live site data preview.
Optional Pages/Designs for Your Hub
Some templates can further tailor the experience for your clients.
Launching Site Template
Craft a distinct "Your site/app is being launched" page. Design this template to present an onboarding page for your clients while their site is in the launch phase. Once launched, they're redirected to the new site's Dashboard.
Navigate to Pages > Add New in your WP admin.
Assign a title like "Launching Your Site", then click Edit.
Design using your page builder and then Publish.
This newly created page can now be set as the "Site Launching Template" within your Hub.
Proceed to Dollie > Settings > Pages > Site Launching Template and select the recently created page.
Compatibility and Using Shortcodes
Look at our detailed guide about our the various shortcodes you can use to build your Hub
Updated on: 27/02/2024
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