Create sites

Configure the site properties

To expand your Sitefinity CMS to include additional sites, perform the following:

  1. In the upper-left corner of the page, click the dropdown button, and then choose Manage sites link.
    The Sites page opens. One or more current sites are listed.
  2. Click Create a site.
    The Create a site page opens.
  3. In Name, enter the name of your new site.
    For example, it can be a regional site, such as My site – Germany.
  4. Choose the protocol from the dropdown box.
  5. Enter the domain of the site.
    For example, you can have different domains for different sites, such as www.mysite.de and www.mysite.pl, or you can have sites as subfolders of another site, such as www.mysite.com/de and www.misite.com/pl. You can also have nested folders such as www.mysite.com/support/de.
  6. If you select This site is in process of development checkbox, you can enter a domain dedicated for testing purposes only.
  7. Decide how you want to get the site started:
    • To start creating your site from scratch, select Create empty site.
    • To setup a site based on an existing one, select Duplicate pages and settings from existing site..., and then choose the site that you want to use from the dropdown box.
      Your new site will have the same pages, page templates, widgets, widget configurations, and widget templates. You will choose which modules to activate on the next page.

      NOTE: Content is not copied or shared. You must create new content for each site.

      IMPORTANT: When you duplicate pages and settings from an existing site, the new site must have the same languages as in the site that you are copying. The default language must also be the same. Later, you can add and remove languages.

  8. Configure the languages that the site will use.
    Select one of the following:
    • Use all languages enabled for the system
      The site that you are creating will use all languages that are configured for the Sitefinity CMS instance.
    • Use selected languages...
      Click Select languages and, from the list of available languages, select which languages you want this site to use.
      For more information about how to add more languages to the list, see Multiple site management in multilingual mode.
  9. If you want to develop your site offline, select This site is in offline mode checkbox.
    Depending on whether your site is online or offline, the following icons are displayed in the grid:
    •  (Online)
    •  (Offline)
  10. If you want to add domain aliases, expand Advanced, and enter them in Domain aliases entry area.
  11. You can set a page for public user login, by expanding Advanced and choosing one of the following:
    • To select a page from the site, select Select a page…, click Select a page button, select a page from the list and click Done.
    • To manually enter the URL of the public login page, select Enter URL and enter an URL that must be of the same domain.
  12. Click Continue.
    A list of modules is shown.

Configure the site modules

  1. Select the checkboxes of the modules that you want available in the new site.

    NOTE: If you have deactivated or deleted a module in the Modules & Services management section, it does not appear as a checkbox, and you cannot select it.
    For more information, see Activate and deactivate modules.

  2. For each selected module, choose the data source by clicking its Change link, selecting one or more sources, and clicking Done.
    By default, the site uses data created with its modules. You can choose other sites to include as sources. When you choose multiple sources, you must choose which will be this site's default source.

    NOTE: If you want to manage images, videos, documents, and other files, activate the  Libraries module.

    NOTE: If you create a module with the module builder after you create a site, it is not automatically activated for this site. If you want to use it, you must manually activate it.

Configure the site users

You see this section, only if you have enabled user groups.
For more information, see Enable user groups.
  1. To change the Default user group or to add a new one, click Change user groups.
  2. In the list of all available user groups, select the ones that you want this site to use.
    For more information, see Site-specific users.
  3. To create a new group, click Create user group.
  4. Name the user group and click Create.
    You can edit the users of the group later. For more information, see Create and edit user groups.
  5. When finished selecting user groups, click Done.
  6. Click Create this site.
    The site is created and is listed on the Sites page.

When you create pages, content items, products, or classifications, you can choose in which site you want to work. You can do this by using the dropdown selector to the upper-left corner of the page. The dropdown selector also displays the name of the site where you are currently working.

Increase your Sitefinity skills by signing up for our free trainings. Get Sitefinity-certified at Progress Education Community to boost your credentials.

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