To create and maintain a reusable part of your website in one place, use Symbols. A minimal Symbol is identical everywhere, but sometimes you need an almost identical piece of your site that you can tweak individually without affecting other instances of that Symbol.
In cases where you want to enable editing of certain features but keep maintenance centralized, you can configure Inputs for your Symbols. An Input is a way for you specify that a certain part of the Symbol, such as text or an image, is changeable.
You'll get the most out of this article if you're already familiar with the fundamentals of Symbols and have a Symbol you'd like to configure. If you're new to Symbols, check out the following articles first:
To make a Symbol editable on a per instance basis, you need to configure Inputs. Use Inputs to make text blocks, images, or any other kind of content in a Symbol editable.
On the Symbol's Data tab:
- Add a new Content Input by selecting + New Field in the Content Inputs section.
- Name your new field and choose its type.
- In the Content State section, find your new Input and enter some default text.
- Select the Block you want to make editable and click Edit.
- Select the Data Binding icon — that is the database icon with a small pencil — and specify the Input you just created.
- Select the Publish button to make your changes in all instances of the Symbol.
- Add your Symbol to the page if you haven't already.
- Select your Symbol.
- On the Options tab, edit the content of the Inputs you created.
- Open the Symbol and go to the Data tab.
- Under Content Inputs, select the X to delete the Input.
- Select the block that was associated with the Input.
- On the Options tab, select the Data Binding icon and select Remove Binding.
Decoupling a Symbol from its Source creates a standalone Block, which no longer inherits from the Source Symbol. This Symbol becomes inline.
- Select the Symbol and click the Edit button.
- In the Edit window, select Detach Symbol.
For more information on using Symbols, read the following articles:
