A page layout controls how a record page is arranged. It saves which fields appear, how those fields are grouped, the order they follow, and any headings or explanatory text shown with them. When you open, create, or edit a record that uses the layout, Rhythm builds the page from that saved design.
Why Page Layouts Exist
Records often include many fields, and you usually do not need to see all of them at once. Your organization can also add custom fields to records and build custom objects, so Rhythm needs a saved design for where those fields appear. A page layout saves that design once and reuses it whenever the record appears. When you update the layout, everyone sees the updated page, but the fields themselves do not change.
For a custom object, the layout makes the page usable. If a custom object has no fields and no default layout, you cannot use it. Until you choose a default, the custom object's page shows this warning: "No custom page layout has been set for this object; you should set one by going to Layouts and choosing a default."
What a Layout Is Made Of
A page layout is one page of components, stacked from top to bottom:
- Field groups. A block of fields, shown in one or two columns, with an optional heading and text. Most layouts are made mostly of field groups.
- Text blocks. A heading and explanatory text, without fields.
- Tables. On a custom object, a table component holds rows of another custom object through a custom field of the table type.
- Web components. A custom component supplied by your organization.
You can make any component conditional, so it appears only when a rule or expression says it should. See Rules and Expressions Explained for help writing conditions.
Inside a field group, you can adjust how a field works on this layout without changing the field itself. You can give the field a different label or prompt, make it required, or show only some of its allowed values. If a custom field is required on the layout, you can allow staff to leave it empty in the Console while members in the Portal must still answer it. These adjustments apply only to this layout, so the field's definition and every other layout and form stay the same.
How Layouts Relate to Fields, Objects, Forms, and 360 Screens
Custom fields. A layout does not create fields; it places fields that already exist. The designer includes the record type's own fields and its custom fields. If a field is not on the layout, staff will not see it on the page that uses that layout, even though the field exists and may already have a value. Removing a field from a layout does not delete the custom field.
Built-in fields. You can place a record type's standard, built-in fields on a layout. In the Console, page layouts show custom fields only, so built-in fields on the layout do not display and cannot be edited. The Portal allows built-in fields, and the designer warns you when you choose one.
Custom objects. Each custom object has its own layouts, which you manage on the Layouts tab of the custom object's page. An object can have several layouts, and one of them is marked as the default.
Forms. Rhythm saves a page layout as a form with the type "page layout", next to the record type's ordinary forms. You build both in the same designer, but they serve different purposes:
| Form | Page Layout | |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Collects information step by step, such as an application | Shows or edits one record in the Console or Portal |
| Pages | One or more, with buttons that move between them | Exactly one |
| Rules and Styling | Page buttons, error rules, form-wide hooks, and custom styling | Only the components and their conditions |
Because layouts and forms are saved together, some application settings screens list them side by side. Membership and Submissions have separate Forms and Page Layouts lists. An older record with no recorded type appears in both lists.
360 screens. A record's 360 screen is a separate design. Its fields section uses the same field picker as the layout designer, but you configure it separately. Changing a page layout does not change a 360 screen, and changing a 360 screen does not change a layout. Some 360 screens can be customized in the Console, while others are fixed and do not support block-level customization, so check what the record type's 360 screen allows before you expect to edit it the same way everywhere.
The "one-click" tabs on a 360 page are its top-level tabs. Customizing a 360 screen does not add new top-level tabs like those; the customization appears under the existing Custom Fields one-click tab instead. Standard key contact role displays for organizations are not added through the Organization 360 screen's own layout, including its custom field sections or global callouts, because that display comes from elsewhere.
A global callout that shows a four-digit numeric ID can misrender it as a date, such as showing 1298 as 1/1/1298. If you see an unexpected date-like value in a callout, treat it as a possible display issue with the ID rather than the record's actual data.
Some 360 records are tied to a parent record and are not reachable as a standalone route. For example, you reach an event sponsorship record's 360 screen under its event's URL segment and ID, not on its own. The same parent-context pattern applies to some other record types, such as certifications.
A Notes field placed on a 360 screen is an HTML text box. It does not support being converted to plain text, and there is no supported way to strip its formatting in that context.
Which Layout Rhythm Uses
The setting that controls the layout depends on the record type:
- Custom objects: the default layout shows and edits rows. On a table component, you can name a different layout for adding a row and for editing a row. If you do not name one, adding uses the default layout, and editing uses the same layout as the edit page. When a portal-facing form updates a custom object's records, the fields it shows come from that custom object's own layout. To remove a field from a portal update form, go to the custom object, open its Layouts tab, edit the field group component, and remove the field there. A custom object without a valid default layout, which can happen after a data import, cannot be used until you set one. If a custom object's portal view seems stuck, check that it still has a valid default layout.
- Membership: Membership settings name the layouts for the Console, the Portal, and chapters. A membership page layout does not change what members see in the member console and does not override custom fields already set by the membership application during the registration period. It only controls which additional fields appear when staff manually create or edit a membership in the Console.
- Submissions: each submission type names the layout used in the Console.
flowchart LR
A[Staff open or edit a record] --> B{Which record type?}
B -->|Custom object row| C[Custom object's default layout, or the layout a table component names]
B -->|Membership| D[Layout named in Membership settings]
B -->|Submission| E[Layout named on the submission type]
Rules and Limits
- A saved layout change takes effect at once. You do not publish it separately.
- A layout has exactly one page.
- A new custom object layout starts with one empty page. Rhythm does not supply a ready-made layout to start from, but you can clone an existing one.
- A layout must have a name before you can save it.
- Deleting a layout cannot be undone. If a submission type still names the layout, deleting it does not clear that setting. The type keeps pointing at a layout that no longer exists, so choose another layout on the type first.
An Example
Your association tracks volunteer shifts as a custom object. Staff need to see the event, date, and hours first, with a notes field below. You create a layout with two field groups. The first, headed "Shift", shows the event, date, and hours in two columns. The second, headed "Notes", shows the notes field in one column. On this layout only, you relabel "Hours" as "Hours worked" and make it required. Then you make this layout the default. From then on, every volunteer shift opened in the Console shows that page. The custom field "Hours" keeps its original label everywhere else.
Next Steps
- Design, clone, and choose a default layout: Page Layouts.
- Create the fields a layout places: Custom Fields.
- Build a record type of your own: Custom Objects Explained.
- A field is missing from a record page: A Custom Field Does Not Appear Where I Expect.