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Setting Up Your Homepage
Your homepage is the first thing visitors see when they open your Bamboo website or apps.
In this guide, you'll create a simple homepage by organizing your content into categories and connecting it to your navigation menu.
This guide focuses on the homepage only. For complete website and app configuration, including branding, domains, and publishing, see Setup Your Bamboo OTT Site & Apps.
Prerequisites
Before setting up your homepage, make sure you have:
- Several uploaded videos — We recommend uploading at least 5–10 videos so your homepage displays full content rows.
- An account with website support — Websites are available on Trial accounts and Pro plans or higher.
- Administrator access — You must have permission to edit your account's Platform settings, Categories, and Navigation.
Table of Contents
- Upload Your Videos
- Build Your Category Tree
- Assign Videos to Categories
- Customize Your Homepage Categories (Optional)
- Add Your Homepage to the Navigation Menu
- Bamboo Tips
- Related Articles
Upload Your Videos
Upload the videos you want to display on your homepage.
Each video should include:
- A title
- A thumbnail
- The video file
- Any optional metadata you want your viewers to see
Your videos can be assigned to categories now or later.
Learn more: See the Uploading Videos tutorial for a complete guide to video management.
Build Your Category Tree
Create the category structure that will organize your homepage.
For a simple website, we recommend creating:
- One Homepage category
- Several content categories beneath it (for example: Featured, Movies, Series, Documentaries, or New Releases)
When using the Dynamic Rows (Netflix Look) homepage layout, each direct sub-category becomes its own row on the homepage.
Learn more: See Building Your Category Tree to understand the basics, or Category Tree – Advanced Guide for more advanced structures.
Assign Videos to Categories
Open your videos and assign each one to the appropriate content category.
For example:
- Action videos → Action
- Documentaries → Documentaries
- Kids content → Kids
Once assigned, the videos will automatically appear anywhere those categories are displayed.
Bamboo Tip: A single video can belong to multiple categories without creating duplicate content.
Customize Your Homepage Categories (Optional)
Your homepage consists of a parent category (selected in the Navigation Menu) and the content categories beneath it. Each content category becomes its own row on the homepage.
For a basic website, no additional configuration is required. By default, every category uses the Gallery View Type, which works well for most websites.
If you want to customize the appearance of individual rows, edit each content category and choose a different View Type, such as:
- Slider
- Large Posters
- Landscape Cards
You can also configure additional category settings, including sorting, images, visibility, and subscriptions.
Learn more: See Create & Edit Categories for a complete explanation of every category setting and available View Types.
Add Your Homepage to the Navigation Menu
Open Platform → Navigation and add a new item to your Navigation Menu.
For a basic website:
- Set the Type to Dynamic Rows (Netflix Look).
- Select your Homepage category.
- Enter a label, such as Home.
- Save your changes.
Your homepage is now ready to be displayed on your Bamboo website and apps.
Learn more: See Navigation Menu for all available navigation types and settings.
Bamboo Tips
- Start with a small number of well-organized categories and expand your homepage over time.
- Gallery is the default View Type and is a great choice for most websites.
- A video can appear in multiple categories without increasing your storage usage.
- Don't worry about making everything perfect on your first attempt. You can easily adjust your categories, layouts, and navigation as your content library grows.