Everything starts with a page and continues with other pages

Whether it’s a page in the Private section or one in a team space, it can hold anything—even other pages, of course!

Here's the sidebar of my Notion:

In the private section, I just have one page called Riccardo, which is my personal page. It acts as the main hub for everything related to my personal life.On the Digiko teamspace, there are multiple pages since it’s a teamspace I use for work. I could have chosen a single page like I did on Private, but I prefer this layout because it’s what Notion offers by default when you create a team space, and it fits well.

Standard pages VS Database pages

There are two types of pages: the standard pages and the database pages. Notion doesn’t label standard pages, so for clarity, I call them in that way.

I think it’s really important to start with a standard page, which can then include both database pages and regular content. If you begin with a database page, you might find yourself stuck in a view that isn’t what you expectedI'll explain this better later.

Standard pages

A standard page is a blank canvas where you can add content including text, images, to-do lists, and databases thanks to blocks that are stacked vertically.

You can also divide the layout into horizontal columns, and you can do this as many times as you like. I used to split my pages into columns a lot, but I've recently come to feel it complicates things a bit. But that's just my take on it.

A standard page can contains other standard pages and database pages, even link to pages. That's why you may can consider having a standard page that acts like a home, where you place all your stuff divided into more standard pages.

A link to a page and the page itself are two different things. If you cancel the link to the page, nothing happens, but if you cancel the page, it gets deleted.

A standard page can include database pages. As mentioned earlier, you can also insert a link to the database page. Again, the link is just an alias; it can be deleted or placed anywhere to refer back to the original page.

Database Pages

Database pages function like traditional databases. Instead of using a block layout like standard pages, data is organized in columns. The exciting part is that each record you add in the database pages is a standard page that you can easily open and edit!

Another feature that sets database pages apart is their ability to show different views. Besides the standard database layout, you can also display data in a Trello-like board, a gallery, a list, and more.

The importance of starting with a standard page

Earlier, we discussed why it's important for the first page to be a standard page instead of a database page. This type of page can serve as a home for various content, and we can display data through views.

Using a standard page allows for better organization and reduces confusion. Plus, we can easily add or modify blocks on this page without affecting any linked pages. Once we set up the starting page, we can create a list of databases for different types of data, along with views to showcase that data on other pages.

A database page can't contain another database page; it's just a repository of standard pages displayed in different ways. This is another reason why you should definitely choose a standard page instead of a database page.With a standard page, you can create a dashboard-like layout, mixing different views in 2-3 columns, and only your creativity and needs are the limit.