Sitemap with Airtable?

[Robert_Andrews1]

How would you approach representing a sitemap in Airtable?

I can see how using a select field would help me denote different types of pages.

But how can I overcome the fact that a sitemap is essentially a hierarchical construct?

Thanks, all.

[W_Vann_Hall]

Off the top of my head,

1. define a [Pages] table where each record represents an eventual entry in the sitemap.
2. create fields for {PageTitle}, {URL}, {Category}, and the like.
3. create a {NextPage} and a {SubPage} linked-record field, linking back to the [Pages] table — that is to say, linking back to their own table.

Most records would have a value assigned to either {NextPage} or both {NextPage} and {SubPage}. If only {NextPage} was linked, the next record in the map would be at the same hierarchical level as the current one; if both were linked, the following entry in the map would be the page linked from {SubPage} at the next-lower hierarchical level. Following that would be a number of {NextPage}-only records at the sub-level; when a record with neither appears, the next map entry would be the {NextPage} from the last record encountered with both fields linked.

Now, as to what you actually do with all these data once you’re finished — well, that’s a different question.

[Jeremy_Oglesby]

If your on the Pro plan, you could use the “Org Chart” Block to create a visual hierarchical site map.

To do this, you’d need a “Parent Field” that is a link to other records in the same table.

Here’s an Org Chart I made for example:
https://airtable.com/shriXPNMNeYSMQZJB/tbleZdX8PHmnzI5fk/viwi6C6m32GFdZT3c

[Robert_Andrews1]

@Jeremy_Oglesby Thanks for the Org Chart suggestion.

Ideally, I was hoping also/instead to represent in a hierarchical tree-like form. There are already several threads advocating a hierarchical feature.

On Org Chart…

If if can be used to show this sort of top-down visual hierarchy like a family tree, then the name Org Chart is a bit limited.

More so… I know Airtable gave everyone a free trial Pro account when it launched Blocks. I didn’t have a need for any of them, so didn’t use it, and it naturally expired. It would have been more useful had the company left the initiation of a Pro upgrade trial up to me as a user. Now that my trial has expired, I’m loathe to put down $240 without having even used the feature.

[Robert_Andrews1]

Thanks, W_Vann_Hall.
Hmm, I’m not understanding this would work, however.
Maybe it’s not right.

[Robert_Andrews1]

@Jeremy_Oglesby
I’m now trying out Org Chart with some credit I built up.

It’s pernickety, like Airtable clearly wasn’t built for this.
And the lack of a Print option for the Org Chart is not very useful!

[Jeremy_Oglesby]

:pensive: sorry - I got around some of the issues by creating dummy records to serve as divisions between sections. It’s worked fairly well for representing people in company divisions.

I never had the need to print mine, so I didn’t know there’s no option to print it… that is a bit frustrating.

[Jason]

Hi @Robert_Andrews1, I came across your post and wanted to share our template for a site map that uses the org chart. Hope it may be helpful!

Airtable

Sitemap Planning Template - Free to Use | Airtable

Sitemaps are a necessary element for websites, but they can often be difficult to conceptualize, especially with new sites. You can use Airtable to quickly...

[joao_melo]

You could create a single table for all the vertices of your site. In that table create a parent field so each record could point to its up level. Then create a path field to hold the whole item hierarchy. This will allow you to filter and order the items using the path field.

The only way I found to fill out that path field was through Airtable API with a script. The gif below is an example of a multi-level project tree.

If you found that promising, I wrote a post detailing that API approach and also open-sourced and provided free access to a hobby app to do that.