5 Easy Ways to Hide a Page in Framer (and When to Use Them)

Ever wished for a secret stash of pages within your Framer prototype? A place where you can tuck away works-in-progress, alternate design iterations, or special content reveals without cluttering your primary navigation? Perhaps you’re building a complex web application prototype and need to simulate gated content or user-specific views. Whatever your reason, achieving this seemingly hidden functionality is remarkably straightforward within Framer. In this article, we’ll explore several methods to achieve this, offering you a range of options from simple manual toggling to more dynamic approaches driven by user interaction. Furthermore, we’ll delve into some best practices and considerations to help you choose the right method for your specific project, ensuring a seamless and professional presentation of your Framer prototype. Prepare to unlock the power of hidden pages and elevate your prototyping game to the next level.

First, let’s explore the simplest method: manual toggling of page visibility. This technique leverages Framer’s layer properties, specifically the “Visible” property. By default, every page in your project is set to visible. However, you can easily change this by selecting the page in the layers panel and unchecking the “Visible” checkbox. Consequently, the page will disappear from the canvas and won’t be accessible through regular navigation. This approach is particularly useful for quickly hiding draft pages or sections that are not yet ready for review. Moreover, it’s an excellent way to manage large prototypes by decluttering the workspace and focusing only on the relevant sections. However, it’s important to remember that this is a manual process; therefore, you’ll need to manually toggle the visibility back on when you’re ready for the page to reappear. Additionally, while hidden in this way, the page won’t be included in published previews or shared prototypes, offering a layer of confidentiality for sensitive or unfinished work. Finally, this method doesn’t allow for dynamic hiding and showing based on user interactions, which requires a more code-based approach, as we’ll discuss in the following section.

Now, let’s delve into a more dynamic and interactive approach: using code overrides to control page visibility. This method empowers you to create prototypes where page visibility is controlled by user actions, enabling scenarios like member-only areas or progressive content reveals. Specifically, you can utilize state variables and conditional logic to toggle the “Visible” property of pages based on button clicks, form submissions, or any other interactive element. For example, you can create a login button that, when clicked, sets a “loggedIn” state variable to true. Subsequently, a code override on your protected pages can check the value of this “loggedIn” variable and set the page visibility accordingly. This technique offers greater flexibility and control over the user experience. Moreover, it allows for the creation of more realistic and complex prototypes that mimic the behavior of real-world web applications. While this method requires a slightly steeper learning curve compared to manual toggling, the added interactivity and dynamic control make it a powerful tool for showcasing complex user flows and interactions. Furthermore, by combining this technique with animations and transitions, you can create highly engaging and polished prototypes that leave a lasting impression.

Understanding Page Visibility in Framer

Alright, so let’s talk about how Framer handles page visibility. It’s a pretty fundamental concept when you’re building prototypes or even full-blown web apps within the platform. Essentially, Framer gives you a few different ways to control whether a page is shown or hidden, and understanding these methods is key to creating smooth and interactive experiences. Think of it like setting up the stage for a play. You wouldn’t want all the actors on stage at once before the curtain rises, right? Similarly, you control when and how your pages appear in Framer to guide the user through your design.

One of the primary ways to manage page visibility is through the “Visible” property. Every page in Framer has this property, and you can toggle it on or off. It’s a straightforward true/false setting. If the “Visible” property is set to true, the page is shown; if it’s false, the page is hidden. This is the most basic way to control visibility and works well for simple show/hide interactions.

However, Framer provides more nuanced controls than just on/off. You can leverage the power of conditional logic and variables to dynamically control the visibility of your pages. Imagine you have a signup form in your prototype. You might want to show a “Thank You” page only *after* the user submits the form. You can achieve this by connecting the “Visible” property of your “Thank You” page to a variable that changes state upon form submission. This dynamic approach adds a layer of sophistication and realism to your prototypes, letting you simulate real-world user flows more effectively.

Furthermore, transitions and animations play nicely with page visibility. When a page’s visibility changes, you can apply smooth transitions to avoid jarring jumps. Instead of a page simply popping in or out of existence, you can make it fade in, slide in from the side, or use any number of other visual effects. These transitions significantly enhance the user experience and add a level of polish to your prototype, making it feel more professional and complete.

Let’s take a look at a simple comparison of how page visibility can be controlled:

Connecting Pages and Transitions

More information about connecting pages and transitions.

Using Overlay for Quick Interactions

More information about Using Overlay for Quick Interactions.

Toggling Page Visibility with Interactions

One of the coolest things you can do in Framer is dynamically control which pages are visible. This opens up a world of possibilities for creating interactive prototypes, like hidden menus, modal windows, and multi-step forms. Let’s dive into how to toggle page visibility using interactions.

Using the “Visible” Property

The key to controlling page visibility is the aptly named “Visible” property. Every page in Framer has this property, and it’s a simple true/false toggle. When “Visible” is set to true, the page is shown; when it’s false, the page is hidden. You can access and modify this property directly within your code.

Direct Manipulation in Code

You can directly set the “Visible” property of a page using code. For example, let’s say you have a page named “MyHiddenPage”. To hide it when your prototype loads, you would add the following code to your project:

MyHiddenPage.visible = false;

This simple line of code ensures the page starts out hidden. Later, you can change its visibility using interactions.

Connecting to Interactions

Now for the interactive part. Framer allows you to connect the “Visible” property to various interactions, such as button clicks, link taps, or even changes in other components. This connection creates a dynamic relationship where the page’s visibility changes in response to user actions.

Example: Showing a Hidden Menu

Imagine you have a hamburger menu icon. When a user taps it, you want a hidden menu page to slide in. Here’s how you’d set that up:

1. Create a page for your menu and name it something like “MenuPage”.
2. Initially set its “Visible” property to false (either in the Design panel or with code like MenuPage.visible = false;).
3. Create an interaction on your hamburger icon. Choose the “Tap” interaction type.
4. In the interaction details, set the target to “MenuPage”.
5. For the action, select “Visible” and set the value to “Toggle”.

Now, when a user taps the hamburger icon, the “Toggle” action will flip the “Visible” property of “MenuPage.” If it was hidden, it becomes visible; if it was visible, it becomes hidden. Smooth, right?

Advanced Techniques with Page Visibility

While simply toggling visibility is powerful, you can achieve even more sophisticated effects by combining it with other Framer features. Think of it as a building block for complex interactions. Here’s where things get truly interesting.

Orchestrating Animations with Page Visibility

Imagine you don’t just want your hidden page to appear abruptly, but to smoothly slide in from the side. You can achieve this by combining page visibility with Framer’s animation capabilities. First, ensure your hidden page is positioned off-screen (e.g., to the left). Then, when you toggle its visibility to “true”, simultaneously trigger an animation that moves the page into view. This creates a seamless, polished transition.

Creating Conditional Logic

You can use code to create more complex logic around page visibility. For instance, you might want a page to appear only after a user completes a specific set of actions. You can use variables and conditional statements (if/else) in your code to manage the “Visible” property based on these conditions. This opens up powerful possibilities for creating interactive tutorials, multi-step forms, and other dynamic user flows.

Playing with Transitions

Framer offers several transition options when changing the visibility of a page. These include “Instant”, “Ease-In”, “Ease-Out”, and more. Experiment with these transitions to find the effect that best suits your prototype. A gentle ease-in transition can make a hidden element appear more organically, while an instant transition is ideal for elements that should appear immediately.

Overview of transitions and visibility combinations:

By mastering the “Visible” property and combining it with interactions, animations, and conditional logic, you can create highly interactive and engaging prototypes in Framer. So, go ahead and experiment—see what you can build!

Utilizing Frames for Conditional Page Display

Frames in Framer are incredibly versatile, acting like containers that hold other elements. Think of them as magical boxes that can appear and disappear based on certain conditions. This makes them perfect for controlling page visibility, essentially allowing you to “hide” a page without actually deleting it. By leveraging the power of conditional logic and frames, you can dynamically show and hide content based on user interactions or other triggers, creating a more interactive and tailored user experience.

Controlling Visibility with Boolean Properties

At the heart of this technique lies the “visible” property of frames. This property accepts a boolean value (true or false). When set to “true,” the frame and its contents are displayed. When set to “false,” the frame vanishes from view. This simple toggle provides the foundation for conditional page display. Imagine you have two frames: “Page1” and “Page2.” You can easily switch between them by setting the “visible” property of one to “true” and the other to “false.”

Linking Visibility to User Actions

To make this truly dynamic, connect the “visible” property to user interactions. For example, you could have a button that, when clicked, sets the “visible” property of “Page1” to “false” and the “visible” property of “Page2” to “true.” This creates the illusion of navigating between pages, even though both pages exist within the same Framer project. You’re simply toggling their visibility.

Example: Navigation with Buttons

Let’s say you have two buttons: “Show Page 1” and “Show Page 2.” Here’s how you would set up the interactions:

This simple setup ensures that only one page is visible at any given time, creating a clean and organized user experience.

Managing Multiple Pages Efficiently

When working with several pages, managing visibility can become a bit more complex. Imagine having five pages instead of two. Toggling visibility for each button press would require a lot of repetitive code. To streamline this process, consider using a state variable to track the currently active page. This variable can then be used to dynamically control the visibility of all your pages. For instance, you could have a state variable called “currentPage” that stores the name or number of the active page. Then, within each button’s interaction, you simply update the “currentPage” state and have a separate code block that sets the visibility of all pages based on the value of “currentPage.” This centralized approach keeps your code cleaner and easier to manage, especially as the number of pages increases. Consider storing page names in an array or object to further improve organization and scalability. This allows you to iterate through your pages and dynamically adjust visibility based on the current state. This method minimizes repetitive code and enhances maintainability for complex projects with numerous pages. Additionally, you can leverage Framer’s override properties to streamline animations and transitions between pages. By animating the “visible” property itself, you can create smooth fades or other visual effects as pages appear and disappear, enhancing the overall user experience. This method offers a clean and efficient way to control page visibility while keeping your Framer project organized and scalable.

Considerations for Page Transitions

While simply toggling visibility works well for basic page navigation, consider incorporating smooth transitions for a more polished experience. Framer allows you to animate the “visible” property itself. By animating the opacity alongside the visibility, you can create fade-in/fade-out effects as pages switch, making the transitions feel less abrupt. This small detail can significantly enhance the overall feel of your prototype and make it appear more professional.

Troubleshooting Common Page Hiding Issues

So, you’ve hidden a page in your Framer prototype, but things aren’t quite working as expected? Don’t worry, it happens! Hiding pages, especially in more complex prototypes, can sometimes lead to a few hiccups. Let’s walk through some common issues and how to fix them.

Check Your Connections

First things first, double-check your connections. Framer relies on connections between frames and components to determine navigation flow. If a hidden page is still showing up, it might be inadvertently connected to another visible element. Go through your prototype’s connection lines and ensure that the hidden page isn’t linked to anything currently active in the user flow.

Inspect Your Layers Panel

The Layers panel is your best friend when troubleshooting Framer prototypes. It provides a clear view of your entire project’s structure and can help identify hidden elements that might be interfering. Sometimes, a page might appear hidden on the canvas but still be visible in the Layers panel, indicating a potential issue. Ensure the page is genuinely marked as hidden within the panel.

Preview Mode vs. Actual Prototype

Sometimes, what you see in Framer’s preview mode isn’t entirely representative of the final exported prototype. It’s always good practice to export your prototype and test it in a real browser environment. Discrepancies between preview mode and the exported prototype can sometimes reveal hidden page issues that might be related to browser compatibility or specific interactions.

Review Overflow Settings

Overflow settings dictate how content behaves when it extends beyond the boundaries of its container. If a hidden page has content that overflows its container, it might still be partially visible. Check the overflow settings of the hidden page and its parent frames. Ensure the overflow is set to ‘hidden’ to clip any overflowing content properly.

Conditional Logic and Variables

If you’re using conditional logic or variables to control page visibility, ensure your logic is correct. A small error in a conditional statement or an incorrectly set variable can prevent a page from being hidden as intended. Carefully review your code and test different scenarios to ensure the logic behaves as expected.

Restart Framer

Sometimes, the simplest solution is the best. If you’ve tried everything else and are still stumped, try restarting Framer. A fresh restart can often resolve unexpected behavior and clear out any temporary glitches that might be affecting page visibility.

Nested Frames and Components

When working with nested frames and components, ensure the hidden page and its parent containers have consistent visibility settings. If a parent frame is hidden, its children, including any hidden pages, will also be hidden. Check the visibility of all parent frames and components to ensure they don’t conflict with the hidden page’s intended behavior.

Browser Compatibility

Although less common, browser compatibility issues can occasionally affect page visibility. Test your exported prototype in different browsers to ensure consistent behavior across platforms. If you encounter browser-specific issues, consider adjusting your prototype’s styling or layout to address compatibility challenges.

Animation Conflicts

Sometimes, animations or transitions can interfere with page hiding. If a page is hidden during an animation, it might create unexpected visual glitches. Ensure your animations are timed and sequenced correctly to avoid conflicts with page visibility. You might need to adjust animation durations or use delays to prevent overlapping actions.

Pay particular attention to any exit animations on the page you’re trying to hide. These animations might momentarily make the page visible before it disappears. Consider disabling exit animations on hidden pages or adjusting their timing to ensure a seamless transition. Also, review entrance animations on other pages. Sometimes, a page’s entrance animation might inadvertently reveal a hidden page if the timing overlaps. Clearly define the sequence of events and ensure animations are not interfering with page visibility logic. If a page is set to be hidden on load, ensure that any initial animations respect this state.

Hiding a Page in Framer

While Framer doesn’t offer a direct “hide page” feature in the traditional sense of making it completely inaccessible, there are several strategies to achieve a similar outcome depending on your specific goal. If you aim to prevent a page from appearing in the navigation or sitemap, you can control its visibility through conditional logic and route protection. For instance, you could use a state variable to determine whether a link to the page is displayed in the navigation. Alternatively, if you want to conditionally render content on a page, you can employ similar logic based on user roles, states, or other criteria. If your goal is to temporarily remove a page from the published site while working on updates, you can utilize branching and version control within Framer. Publish from a branch excluding the page in question, allowing you to work on the hidden page in a separate branch without affecting the live site.

People Also Ask About Hiding a Page in Framer

How do I prevent a page from showing in navigation?

To remove a page from your navigation menu, you can utilize conditional rendering based on a state variable or user authentication status. Create a state variable (e.g., “showPage”) and set its default value. In your navigation component, use this state variable to conditionally render the link to the page. For example, you might display the link only if showPage is true. This approach allows you to dynamically control the visibility of the navigation link without deleting the page itself.

Example using State Variables:

Imagine you have a state variable called isLoggedIn. Within your navigation component, you could include the following logic: {isLoggedIn && Profile}. This would only display the link to the “/profile” page if the user is logged in.

Can I hide a page from search engines?

While not directly within Framer, you can manage search engine indexing through methods like robots.txt or meta tags within the \<head\> section of your HTML. For example, adding `` to the page’s code will instruct search engines not to index that specific page, effectively hiding it from search results.

What about password-protecting a page?

Password protection is typically handled at the server level or through third-party authentication services integrated into your Framer project. Framer itself doesn’t have built-in password protection features. You can, however, implement custom logic to redirect users to a login page if they attempt to access a protected page without proper authentication.

How do I completely remove a page from the published site temporarily?

Using version control and branching within Framer is the recommended approach for temporarily removing a page from production. Create a new branch for your work and remove the page or its associated routes in that branch. Publish your site from this branch. When ready, merge the changes back into your main branch and republish to restore the page.