Optimizely uses preview on-edit view as a default. However, some may prefer edit view as a default. Here is how to do it via code.

In order to change the default view to edit view, you need to create a custom UI descriptor for the given type. Additionally, surround the class with the UIDescriptorRegistration attribute, so it will be automatically registered. For example:

[UIDescriptorRegistration]
public class CmsUiDescriptor : UIDescriptor<IContentData>
{
    public CmsUiDescriptor()
    {
        DefaultView = CmsViewNames.AllPropertiesView;
        PublishView = CmsViewNames.AllPropertiesView;
        CreateView = CmsViewNames.AllPropertiesView;
    }
}

You may specify your type for the view setting, e.g.:

• IContentData: for CMS pages
• CatalogContentBase: for Commerce catalog content
• BlockData: for CMS blocks

You can also narrow down the type to a specific type.

For example, the Alloy MVC example uses it for the ContainerPage type (link):

[UIDescriptorRegistration]
public class ContainerPageUIDescriptor : UIDescriptor<ContainerPage>
{
    public ContainerPageUIDescriptor()
        : base(ContentTypeCssClassNames.Container)
    {
        DefaultView = CmsViewNames.AllPropertiesView;
    }
}

Behind the scenes and additional notes

Please note the view properties are set according to the default view, publish view, and create view. You may set them to different views if needed.

The AllPropertiesView is a formedit string and is passed to the frontend engine. If you need to use a different view, you may specify it as:

• OnPageEditView (= onpageedit)
• PreviewView (= view)

See the CmsViewNames for all the options.

Also, if you want to use the edit view for developers locally only, you may add #if DEBUG directive to the code. This way, the edit view will be used only in the debug mode.

Sticky mode

There's also a sticky view mode which can be an alternative or addition to the default view.

"Sticky" means that, when navigating the content tree, the previously used view is loaded instead of the default view. This functionality is enabled for every content type by default.

Whenever you change the view using the toggle button, the currently selected view is saved in the local storage and is used when you change the context.

It can just be set as a property EnableStickyView under UI descriptor (Wiecheć, 2017).