Sites
Digest
Sites are containers for organizing all Home and Administration area assets for a website. Site administrators can grant access to Site content for specific Users and Groups in Cascade Server. Users and Groups can also be assigned Site-specific Roles to grant or restrict their abilities on a particular Site.
Users can switch Sites by using the dropdown menu at the top of the screen.
Sites dropdown menu
Concept
More Insight into the addition of Sites to the system
Before Cascade Server 6.0, Targets were used to organize content as a website. Since Cascade Server 6.0, Targets have been deprecated in favor of Sites. For more insight into migrating from Targets to Sites, visit our Site Migration Wizard documentation.Top 5 Site-Related Things to Note
- Sites contain their own Home area Assets and Administration area Components. The Adminstration Area has some changes.
- Targets are no longer are available in Sites. Target properties are redistributed to Sites and Configuration Sets (see the "Target properties mapping in Sites" table below). All Destinations publish all Configurations.
- Site Roles are assigned to Users and Groups for specific abilities in the context of a Site.
- Many Components and Assets can be shared across sites (see the "Component and Asset sharing Site-to-Site" table below). As of Cascade Server 6.2, cross-site linking is available for all Assets.
- Changes to the user interface include:
Target properties mapping in Sites
| Target property | Location in Sites |
|---|---|
| Output File Extension | Configuration Set |
| CSS Classes | Site |
| CSS File | Site |
| Type of Data | Configuration Set |
| XML Declaration | Configuration Set |
| Include Target Path | N/A |
| Remove Base Folder | N/A |
| Scheduled Publishing | Site |
Component and Asset sharing Site-to-Site
| Type | Cascade 6.0 | Cascade 6.2+ |
|---|---|---|
| Asset Factories | No | No |
| Configuration Sets | No | Yes |
| Content Types | No | Yes |
| Data Definitions | Yes | Yes |
| Metadata Sets | Yes | Yes |
| Publish Sets | No | No |
| Destinations | No | No |
| Transports | Yes | Yes |
| Workflow Definitions | Yes | Yes |
| Block | Yes | Yes |
| Format | Yes | Yes |
| Template | No | Yes |
Site Properties
Site objects have the following properties:
- URL - The URL to which the Site will ultimately be published.
- CSS Classes - List of CSS classes available in the WYSIWYG editor's "Styles" dropdown. Requires "CSS File" to be set.
- CSS File - The CSS file with styles and classes for the WYSIWYG editor. Overrides the Global CSS file from Content Options.
- Default Metadata Set - The Metadata Set that is used for every asset by default.
- Asset Factory Container - Asset Factories that appear in the New Content Wizards on the Dashboard of the Site.
- Starting Page - Page that populates the Starting Page on the Dashboard.
- Scheduled Publishing - Settings for publishing the entire Site on a schedule.
Site Publishing
The entire Site can be published by the Publish tab. Sites can also publish automatically with scheduled publishing.
Site Deletion
In order to delete an entire Site, the User must have the following permissions and abilities:- Access to the Site Management area
- Write access to the Site object itself
- Write access to all assets in the Site's Home area
- Write access to all assets in the Site's Administration area
Technical
Create a Site
- To create a new Site, click the Global System Menu and select "Site Management."
- In the Site Management interface, select "Create a new site."
- Complete the Name, URL, and CSS Classes fields.
- Select any neccessary CSS Files and/or Metadata Sets, or leave the Default Metadata Set blank to have a default Metadata Set automatically created inside the site.
- Choose if, when, and how often to schedule Site publishing.
- Click Submit.
Set Site Asset Factory Containers and Starting Page
- Go the the Site Management interface
- Select a particular Site and click "Edit"
- Select the desired default Asset Factory Containers and starting page to associate with the Site
- Click "Submit" to save the changes
Users of that Site will now have the selected Asset Factories and Starting Page on the Dashboard.
Site Migration Wizard
Cascade Server 6.0 has a Site Migration Wizard to guide Administrators through the process of migrating from Targets to Sites.
Cross-Site Relationships
For more information on Cross-Site relationships for Sites, check out our Cross-Site relationship rules page.