Start from a blank canvas
An empty Home and Contact page, a simple header and footer you can turn into blocks or switch off, and every capability behind a switch — for when nothing in the gallery fits.
7 min readUpdated 21 Oct 2026
In this guide
What a blank site starts with
Nothing you did not ask for — which is the point, and also the thing to be ready for.
| Thing | How it starts |
|---|---|
| Pages | Home and Contact, both empty |
| Header and footer | Present — a plain header and footer that come with the canvas. Keep them, turn either into a block you build (twelve header looks, ten footer looks), or have none at all |
| Enquiry forms | On. A contact form always works and lands in your Form Inbox |
| Blog / posts | On. Write when you want; the pages exist |
| Sell products online | Off. No shop, no checkout, no Products or Orders menu until you switch it on |
| Take bookings | Off. No /book page until you switch it on |
| The create wizard | Skips the add-products step — there is nothing to add yet |
| Where to find it | The Blank canvas — all-in-one card on the create screen; it reads Start from blank instead of a design count and takes you straight to naming your website |
Because selling starts off, a blank site is also the tidiest way to run a business that will never sell online — a consultancy, an association, a single-page company profile. The commerce menus simply never appear.
Filling that first empty page
An empty page is not a blank screen. Its card says This page is empty and offers three routes, which you can mix freely.
- A ready-made layoutA finished starter, instantly
- The block libraryOver a hundred blocks, one at a time
- A whole ready-made pagePick one from the page library
Start with a ready-made layout
Press Start with a ready-made layout (the button says how many sections it adds) — a sensible starter in your colours and fonts. It is the fastest way to stop staring at nothing, and every section is yours to change or delete.
Or add blocks yourself
On a blank website the sections of the page you are editing are listed on the right of the preview, under Sections on this page (on a phone: the Edit Page tab at the bottom of the screen). Press Add your first section on an empty page, or Add Section under the list once it has blocks. Search by what you want (“reviews”, “pricing”, “slider”) or browse the groups. Hero-class blocks and the header and footer looks show a real thumbnail in your own colours before you add them. Full tour: Sections & layout.
Add more pages when you need them
Open the page list — Change beside Editing page at the top left of the editor (on a phone: the Pages tab) — and press Add Page at the bottom of it. You get a library of ready-made pages (About, Services, Gallery, Pricing and more) and Start from Scratch. Every word on them is editable after you add one. Start from a ready-made page on an empty page opens the same library.
Set the site-wide look once
Site Settings → Design system — site-wide look holds fifteen controls that apply everywhere — corners and photo corners, shadows, button fill, button shape, button text and its weight, heading weight and style, content width, the space between sections, text links, form fields, page background and body text colour. A live preview card shows each change. Leave them on Design default and nothing changes; set them once and every block you add afterwards already matches.
The capability switches
Settings → Appearance → What this website does. Each switch is bigger than a button — it adds or removes whole pages and whole dashboard menus.
The same three switches sit on an empty page inside the editor too, under What do you want on this website? — Selling online, Bookings and Blog. Flipping one there saves it and refreshes the editor so the new pages appear.
Switching one off never deletes anything. Orders, bookings and customers stay in your dashboard; only the pages stop publishing, and any fee tied to that rail stops with them. Page changes go live on your next Update Website.
Header and footer — design, block, or none
In the editor open Site Settings → Header (or tap Header under Header, footer & bars on the left). The card Which header your website shows has three choices, and the footer card has the same three:
| Choice | What it means |
|---|---|
| Your design's header | The plain built-in bar a new blank site starts with — change its logo, menu and colours in the settings just below the card |
| A header you build | Turns it into a block — twelve looks, your own options, edited like any section (Edit my header opens it) |
| No header | Every page publishes without a top bar; your sections start at the very top |
On an empty page the same choice is the small picker on the Header and Footer rows of the page's card (Design header · Header block (build it) · No header). Switching never deletes anything — your design's header and a header you built both stay saved.
A single page can drop its header while the rest of the site keeps one: under the three choices, switch on Hide the header on this page (on an empty page: On this page → Header → Hide on this page). A campaign page is the usual reason. If you choose No header there is no menu button, so leave a way home in your sections: a logo block, a button, or the phone bottom bar. Full guide: Header, footer & site-wide blocks.
If you do turn selling on
A blank site is the one place where your shop page and product pages start as blocks too — both composers are already switched on, waiting. Turn on selling and the moment you add your first product, /shop, the product pages and checkout publish, built from blocks you can open, reorder and restyle. The cart, filters, search, pagination and checkout are the same engine every store runs — the blocks only change the layout around them. See Custom shop & product pages.
Building well on a blank page
Do this
- Start with the ready-made layout, then replace its sections one at a time
- Set the Design system once, before you add twenty blocks
- Keep the home page to five or six blocks below the banner
- Check the phone frame after every few blocks — most visitors are on one
- Save a block you got right and reuse it on other pages
Not this
- Adding sections because they exist — every one is more to scroll and load
- Two heroes at the top; keep one
- Leaving placeholder text (“Your headline here”) on a live page
- Turning every capability on before you need any of them
- Building the whole site before you publish once — publish early, then keep editing
Example · Nandini, a consultancy in Bengaluru
Nothing in the gallery fitted — she runs workshops, not a shop and not appointments. She took the blank canvas, used the ready-made layout, replaced three of its five sections, added a Pricing page and a Workshops page from the page library, and left selling and bookings off. Her website is four pages, loads fast, and the enquiry form is the only thing it asks anyone to do.
After you are live
| You want to… | Read |
|---|---|
| Know every block in the library | Sections & layout |
| Design the header, footer, 404 and bars | Header, footer & site-wide blocks |
| Build the shop and product pages from blocks | Custom shop & product pages |
| Start from a finished website instead | Ready-made websites you can pull apart |
| Take the site live | Publish your site |
| Use your own .com | Connect your domain |
Common questions
Is blank harder than picking a design?
Slower on day one, not harder. A design hands you a finished page to edit; blank hands you an empty one plus a ready-made layout button. If you want to be live in twenty minutes, pick a design. If you want the site to be exactly your idea, start blank.
Can I turn selling on later without breaking anything?
Yes — that is the design of it. Your pages, menus and content are untouched; the shop, checkout and the Products and Orders menus simply appear. Turn it off again and your orders and customers stay safely in the dashboard.
Does a blank site look unfinished?
Not if you use the ready-made layout — it ships a tasteful five-section home page in your colours, with a minimal header and an elegant footer built from your business info. It looks finished before you touch it.
Can I really have no header at all?
Yes. Pick No header and pages publish with your sections starting at the very top. Just remember there is then no menu button — put a way home into your sections.
Is it slower than a ready-made design?
No. Blocks are plain layout and ship no extra script; a blank site publishes as static pages exactly like every other design. Images are what cost loading time, and those are resized for you.
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