Site Planner Overview

Video Resources:
- Content Explorer vs. Site Plan




What is Site Planner?

Site Planner is the Content Management component of Site Stacker. Site Planner is organized into two sections: Content Explorer, on the left, allows you to create content. Site Plan, on the right, allows you to publish content. 

Content Explorer

Content Explorer is where content is created. Content in the Content Explorer is not necessarily published to the website. To see if an item is published to the website, right-click an item and select Show in Site Plan. The search bar at the top can be used to quickly navigate to items.

Content in Content Explorer is published by content type and organized into folders. A Content Type Folder is used to create content of a given type. An Organizational Folder is used to organize Content Type Folders. If nothing is in the Type column of a folder, it is an organization folder. Otherwise, it's a content type folder. 

A Content Item is a unique item that can be published to the site. A content item will conform to its content type and must be created within a corresponding Content Type Folder. Anytime you add an item to a content type folder you will be creating a new content item. Content types include modules, components, menus, static, wrapper, and several giving campaign categories including Missionaries, Projects and Children, as well as service Opportunities, and Articles.

Types of Content Items

Dynamic Content Types - There are several content types that are designed for creating a specific category of content that has unique characteristics and is published as a group. Rather than being static, these content types are dynamic and may be customized to your template. Dynamic content types may include giving campaigns (such as Missionaries, Ministries, Projects, or Children), service opportunities (such as Opportunities or Events), or Articles (such as blog posts, news updates, prayer requests, or online resources). 

A Component Page is a predefined tool that will allow users on your website to perform a specific action. An example of this is the Checkout component page. Additional configurations for components can be accessed by right-clicking on the Site in which it is published, and apply everywhere the component is published on that particular site.

A Module is a specialized, configurable tool that provides additional functionality for a variety of use cases. Usually they are used to provide interactive and modifiable elements such as search results, dashboards, data grids, and more.

A Menu is used to display navigational links on your website. When publishing a menu to Site Plan, visibility conditions can be set on entire menus or specific menu items so that only users who meet certain criteria can view the menu or its specific items. A Wrapper is a special item that can be published on the site to customize how content items are published in the Site Plan.

A Static content item is generic item that may include text, images, links, or buttons that is created to be published on a specific page of the site. 

Tags are used to categorize dynamic content such as giving campaigns, opportunities, or articles. Tags and Tag Categories can be managed from the Tags component in Site Stacker and then applied to individual content items in Site Planner. Once items have been tagged and published, the search module can be configured and published to the site so that users can search dynamic content based on tags.

Site Plan

Site Plan holds content that has been published to your website. It is where you will publish the content items that you create in Content Explorer so that your content can be accessed on the front side of your website. Similar to Content Explorer, Site Plan is organized by folders.

To see where a content item was created in Context Explorer, right-click an item and select Show in Explorer. To quickly find a published page in the Site Plan, search using the name of content or page, or search using the alias for the web page. 

A Site Channel is a brand or website with a unique template and one or more unique domains. Depending on how your organization is using Site Stacker, you may have one site channel for your public website, and one site channel for your dashboard site, though you may only have one or the other.

Folders are added to a Site Channel and can be used to organize and structure your website. If a folder is created and given an alias that alias will now effect the address of the pages within it. Content can be published to every page within a folder by dragging a content item into a folder. This content will then become an inherited item on every page within the folder. Visibility conditions can be set on folders so that only users who meet certain criteria can view pages within the folder.

Pages are where you will publish the various content items you have created in Content Explorer. More than one content item can be published to a single page. Entire folders from Context Explorer can also be dynamically published to a page so that all content items within the folder will be displayed. Each page includes an alias that becomes part of the url where the page is accessed. Visibility conditions can be set on pages so that only users who meet certain criteria can view the page. Metadata information and Redirects can also be configured. 

There are several types of pages. One unique page type to take note of is a full view page. This is a page that has designated to act as a template for a folder of content items. An example of a full view page is a blog post page, a missionary profile, or a page that displays all the details of your project. 

Wrapper - A container that is published on a page and holds content. Wrappers can be used to control the position of content (where it is displayed on a site) and view (how it is displayed on a site). Depending on the position and view chosen, various view classes can be chosen to customize how the basic wrapper will display content. Wrappers can be nested in order to further customize how content is displayed. Visibility conditions can be set on wrappers so that only users who meet certain criteria can view content published within the wrapper.