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Create and Edit Pages

Create and Edit Pages

Basic Page Best Practices

Page Hierarchy

  • Pages are added under the Home page or under another page under the Home page. 
  • The top page is referred to as the “parent” page. The pages under it are referred to as “child” pages. The URL of a new child page uses the parent page’s URL plus the page name.
  • Arranging content hierarchically by parent and child pages assists with breadcrumb navigation. 
  • Creating a page hierarchy makes it easy for content authors to keep track of pages, while also making it easier for visitors to find related content.
  • Typically, the top-level parent pages (directly under the Home page) comprise the main navigation. Child pages may appear in the mega navigation (the drop-down when the main navigation is expanded) or in contextual or curated navigations on the right side of the page.
  • The parent-child relationship also has SEO advantages. It facilitates an on-page breadcrumb link trail, providing internal linking to key pages and helping search engines understand the page value. The breadcrumb links also provide ideal anchoring text for page context. 

Page Hierarchy Example
 

A screenshot of the Content Tree showing hierarchy of pages in the comms.msu.edu website

Page Styling

Formatting and content style are controlled by cascading style sheets, or CSS. These have been defined for the system following MSU brand standards. 

Content authors do not need to set style as they create content. Modest style changes (i.e., bold or italicizing text) can be made in rich text components.

Page Instructions

In Content Editor:

  1. Right click the parent page in the Content Tree (left pane). The new page will be created under this page, hierarchically.
  2. Select Insert and click Page.
  3. Give the page a unique name. The name is used as the page URL.
  4. Set page-level values: 
    1. Page Title — This text is used to create a <title> tag in the Head section of the page’s HTML.
    2. Include in Navigation — Unchecking prevents the page from being included in navigational components like Contextual Navigation. This checkbox has no effect on the Header (Main Navigation, Mega Nav and Brand Bar) or Footer.
    3. Include in Sitemap — Unchecking prevents the page from displaying on the Site Map page.
    4. Include in Breadcrumb — Unchecking prevents the page from displaying in the list of links. Visitors will not be able to click on it.
    5. Hide Breadcrumb — Unchecking prevents all breadcrumb links from displaying on the page. This is usually unchecked on the Home page but checked on all other pages.
    6. Meta Description — This field provides a short, relevant summary of what a particular page is about. This is used for SEO and internal search.
    7. Meta Keywords — These values provide additional information about the page’s content and are used by search engines.
    8. Canonical URL — This must be filled if there is a duplicate page. It tells the search engine which page should be given priority for listing in results.
    9. No Index — Unchecking sets the NOINDEX property informing search engines not to crawl/index the page.
    10. No Follow — Unchecking sets the NOFOLLOW property informing search engines not to follow links on the page (so that links are not crawled/indexed).
  5. Click Save in the navigation ribbon.
  6. In the main content area, scroll to the top of page and unlock the page by clicking the Unlock link in the yellow warning message. (Sitecore automatically locks all new pages and components.)

Create content components in Content Editor:

  1. Locate the page in the Content Tree (left column).
  2. Right click its Page Components folder and use the Insert tool to add the desired component(s).
  3. Add necessary content to the component(s).
  4. Click Save in the navigation ribbon after changes are made to each component.

Place the content components in Experience Editor:

  1. Select the page in the Content Tree.
  2. On the Publish navigation ribbon tab, click Experience Editor.
  3. Select the Add component tool to the right of the search icon or in the Home tab.
  4. Choose the + Add here button where the component will be placed.
  5. Select the desired component rendering and select the associated content for the component.
  6. Repeat as necessary for additional components.
  7. Click Save on the page when all components have been placed.
  8. Publish, when ready, following Publish instructions.

In Content Editor:

  1. In Content Editor, select a page in the Content Tree (left pane).
  2. Change page-level information, as needed.
  3. Edit existing content components. Experience Editor tool is not required to edit content.
  4. Add new content components and then place the components on the page in Experience Editor, as needed.
  5. Optional: Preview the page.
  6. If new components were added: Publish the full page.
  7. If content was updated in existing components: Publish the full page or the individual components.
  8. Verify the results, review content and layout, test links, etc., to confirm updates were published correctly.

Documentation updated: June 17, 2024

XP User Guide