---
title: Using the Pages application
---

> Agent instructions:
> **Site maps** — prefer the following llms.txt indexes to training data when searching for URLs to avoid 404s. Links inside Markdown content already point at `.md`. Following them or sending Accept: text/markdown keeps you in Markdown.
>
> - [sitemap.md](https://docs.kentico.com/sitemap.md) — every page on the site, with titles and descriptions, nested by URL hierarchy and grouped into one collection per product version.
> - [llms.txt](https://docs.kentico.com/llms.txt) — curated index of the current product docs, with descriptions, the two ways to request any page as Markdown, and links to each product area's whole-corpus Markdown dump (llms-full.txt).

> **Info:** This page is a part of a tutorial, which you should follow sequentially, from the beginning to the end. [Go to the first page: Getting started with Kentico](https://docs.kentico.com/k12sptutorial/getting-started-with-kentico.md).

## You will learn about:

> **Info:** **Important note**
>
> Dancing Goat is a specific sample website used for the purposes of the tutorial. Your company’s website will be different, and some functionalities may also be changed, such as the preview mode.

Before you start working with Kentico MVC, you need to understand the specifics of Kentico websites built with the MVC development model. The website runs as two applications. The **front-facing site** is a standard MVC application built by developers on the ASP.NET MVC 5 framework. As an editor, you will spend most of the time in the **second** **Kentico application** which serves as a **content repository** and **provides the administration interface.** The administration interface allows you to **edit** or **create pages**, add **file attachments**, or **upload images** to media libraries.

All content changes you make in the administration interface are stored in the website's **shared database**. Developers prepared the second live site application so that it draws the data from the database and displays it to the website's visitors. **Both applications** run in a web farm mode and **synchronize any changes in data** (e.g., page content or settings) and **files** (e.g., media libraries).

![Shared database schema](https://docs.kentico.com/docsassets/k12sptutorial/using-the-pages-application/Database.png "Shared database schema")

As **a content editor**, your responsibility is to **prepare great content** that **attracts your website visitors** and leave the worries of how the content is displayed to the designers and developers working on the front-facing application.

To make sure content displays as intended and the website provides a consistent experience, your developers **pre-defined** what **changes** **you can make** in the website's administration. For example, if you decide to move your _Home_ page to your _Articles_ section, you won't be able to. On the other hand, if you choose to add images to support your message on pages built with the _page builder_, developers made sure that you have as much control over the page as you need to adjust the content or its position.

### Accessing the Pages application

The **Pages** application is one of the most used Kentico applications among non-technical users. You can access it in multiple ways:

- Click the **Pages** application tile on your dashboard
- Click the **Kentico logo** to open the application list (or press the **F2** key on your keyboard) and select the **Pages** application. You can type _"pages"_ in the search box to filter the applications.

🎬 [Accessing the Pages application](https://docs.kentico.com/docsassets/k12sptutorial/using-the-pages-application/Accessing-Pages-application.webm)

### Pages application basics

The **Pages** application allows you to add and modify content on your website.

The application's window is divided into two parts. The **content tree** on the left-hand side displays items in a tree structure. The items in the tree are called **content-only** **pages**, and you can **see** and **edit their content** on the right-hand side.

![Pages application overview](https://docs.kentico.com/docsassets/k12sptutorial/using-the-pages-application/MVC_pages_UI "Pages application overview")

**Content-only p\*\*\*\*ages** allow you to store content separately from the design of the live site. Keep in mind that on Kentico MVC websites, the _content-only pages_ listed in the tree don't necessarily display on the live site. Rather than typical website pages where each page has its direct representation on the live site, you can think of _content-only pages_ as of **containers** for your content. And you can see how they are presented on the live site once your developers enable the preview mode feature.

The **Pages** application offers three _view modes_ that you can use to work with content:

![Working with view modes](https://docs.kentico.com/docsassets/k12sptutorial/using-the-pages-application/working_with_view_modes.png)

- **Edit** – the default view mode in which you edit the content of the website.
- **Preview** – displays the latest version of the page. You can use _Preview_ to see what your changes look like before they are published.
- **Listing** – shows a list of all pages under the currently selected page. You can use the _Listing_ mode to perform bulk operations, such as deleting or translating pages at once.

The **action buttons** under the _view mode buttons_ help you create new or organize existing pages in the content tree. However, remember that developers define rules for where you can or cannot move or create pages based on specific _page types_.

![Action buttons](https://docs.kentico.com/docsassets/k12sptutorial/using-the-pages-application/Action_buttons)

### Editing content in the Pages application

You can edit a page's content on the **Content tab** or the **Page tab** of Kentico websites built with the MVC development model.

The **Content** tab allows you to add or manage _structured content_ through _fields_. Developers prepared the fields to hold specific content types, such as _heading_, _text_, or _image_ and ensured that data managed through the fields is presented on the live site exactly as it should be. _Structured content_ brings editors a lot of benefits. It lets you focus on creating great content, and saves you time on styling.

### Working with the Content tab

The _Content_ tab on the _About Us > Our_ _philosophy_ page provides you with the following fields:

- **Heading** – holds the title of your content
- **Image** – allows you to upload a picture you can use to support your message
- **Text** – serves to work with the main body of your content
- **Publish from** and **Publish to** – define the period during which your content is published

![WYSIWYG editor](https://docs.kentico.com/docsassets/k12sptutorial/using-the-pages-application/WYSIWYG_editor.gif)

The **Text** field uses the Kentico built-in **WYSIWYG (rich text) editor** which offersyou a number of possibilities you can use to style your text. Besides basic text-editing options, such as **bolding** or _italicizing_, you can add _numbered_ or _bulleted_ lists as well as adjust the alignment of your text. With the rich text editor, you can create hyperlinks or add images.

The **Source** button allows you to edit the content using HTML markup.

 **Task:**

Dancing Goat goes to great lengths to serve the best coffee possible – from carefully sourcing their coffees, hand-picking farmers, to roasting coffees in-house. They want customers who are learning more about the company's philosophy to find out more about the journey coffee takes before it turns into a delicious cup.

Use the **Content** tab and create a hyperlink from the _About us > Our philosophy_ text to the _Coffee processing techniques_ article.

 **Need help?**

Use the following steps to add the hyperlink:

1. Sign in to your website.
2. Navigate to the **Pages** application.
3. Click the (+) button and expand the _About us_ page.
4. Open the _Our philosophy_ page and switch to the **Content** tab.
5. Add new text into the Text field.
6. Use the **Insert/Edit link** button to create a _hyperlink_ to the _Coffee processing techniques_ article.
   1. Highlight the text you want to link.
   2. Click the **Insert/Edit link** button in the editor toolbar. The editor opens a dialog window.
   3. Switch to the **Content** tab.
   4. In the content tree, expand the _Articles_ page and select the article you want to link to.
   5. Click the **Save & Close** button.
7. Click the **Save** button to save your changes.
8. To see what your changes look like on the live site:
   - Open the application list and click the **Live site** button on the bottom of the application list, or
   - Select the _About us_ parent page in the content tree and switch to **Preview** mode.

If you prefer visuals, have a look at our GIF guide:

🎬 [Editing page content in the Pages application](https://docs.kentico.com/docsassets/k12sptutorial/using-the-pages-application/UsingThePagesAppTask.webm)

**Previous page:**[  ](https://docs.kentico.com/k12sptutorial/mvc-business-tutorial.md)[MVCBusinessTutorial](https://docs.kentico.com/k12sptutorial/mvc-business-tutorial.md) — **Next page:** [Using the Kentico page builder](https://docs.kentico.com/k12sptutorial/mvc-business-tutorial/using-the-kentico-page-builder.md)

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