Summary of "From Zero to Landing Page: A Hands-On Payload CMS Blocks Tutorial (Beginner's Guide)"

High-level overview

Hands-on beginner tutorial showing how to build a simple landing page with Payload CMS using Blocks and the Form Builder plugin. It covers:

Create a Pages collection with required title and slug.
Add a layout field of type blocks to Pages — stores an ordered array of block objects.
Define block types (examples shown in the tutorial):
- Hero block: heading, subheading (Rich Text), image (media), CTA button (label + URL).
- Content block: heading + Rich Text body.
- Newsletter form block: heading + relationship to a Form (from the Form Builder plugin).
Blocks act like “Legos” — editors compose pages by adding multiple block instances in any order.

Install and configure the Payload Form Builder plugin. It creates Forms and Form Submissions collections.
Create a form in the admin (example: “newsletter form one”) with fields such as: first name, last name, email, submit label, confirmation message.
Attach that form to the newsletter form block via a relationship field.

Server-side page fetch: query Payload for a page by slug using the Payload client; the response includes the layout array.
Render blocks by mapping over page.layout and using a renderBlocks(block) function.
Use a switch on block.type (or block.blockType) to render the appropriate React component for each block.
Create separate components for each block (e.g., HeroBlock, ContentBlock, NewsletterBlock) and organize them in a components/blocks folder.
Use Payload’s RichText renderer for rich text fields.
Use Next.js <Image> or equivalent after checking the media object exists (defensive checks before rendering).

The Newsletter block dynamically renders inputs by iterating over form.fields provided by the form relationship, preserving the order defined in the admin — keeps the front end flexible.
Client-side submission flow:
- Gather form values into an array of { field, value } pairs.
- POST JSON to Payload’s form submission endpoint with the form id and submissionData mapped as field/value pairs. Example payload shape: json { "form": "FORM_ID", "submissionData": [ { "field": "firstName", "value": "Jane" }, { "field": "lastName", "value": "Doe" }, { "field": "email", "value": "jane@example.com" } ] }
- Use async / try-catch and set Content-Type: application/json.
- Manage local form state: loading, error, success.
- On success: show the confirmation message (rich text), reset the form, hide the submit button while showing confirmation, then clear success state after a timeout.
- Submitted results appear in the Form Submissions collection in the admin.

Extract block types from the Pages layout type to define component props (e.g., heroProps, contentProps, newsletterProps).
Destructure block objects to get fields and guard against undefined media.
Separate components for readability and reusability; keep blocks in a dedicated folder.

When adding new fields/blocks repeatedly, the schema may need a rebuild or the dev server restarted.
Keep styling minimal for tutorial focus; enhance UI later.
Render defensive checks for media objects and optional fields to avoid runtime errors.
Use the admin UI to preview API structure and confirm data shapes before wiring the front end.

A working minimal landing page composed of Payload blocks (Hero, Content, Newsletter).
A dynamic form built in the admin that renders automatically on the front end and submits to Payload’s submissions collection.
Source code (author provides it) and a repeatable pattern for adding more blocks and forms.

Video presenter / channel author (walks through the tutorial and code).
Payload CMS (documentation and Form Builder plugin used as authoritative sources).