Site definition

A site definition contains site-wide configuration such as navigation, common page areas, and JavaScript that you want to load on every page. A site definition also contains a reference to your theme and defines locales for entering content in multiple languages.

Do I need a site definition?

No, it is not necessary to use a site definition. A site based on concrete template definitions works perfectly well. A site definition is an advanced option. It is useful when you have a large site and want to avoid repeating similar configuration.

Without a site definition you can still:

Choose which templates are available to editors.
Add CSS and JavaScript at the page level instead of site level.
Configure variations for each page template.

But without a site definition you cannot use:

Prototype
Theme
Imaging variations
sitefn templating functions

Prerequisites

You need the Site module in order to create a site definition. The Site module may not always be included, for example when you create your own bundle based on the empty webapp. Add a dependency to the Site module in your webapp pom file.

Enterprise Edition Pro provides the multisite feature. It allows you to configure a different site definition for each website in a single Magnolia instance. Each site can be mapped to a different domain and you can serve content from different workspaces. These features are in the Multisite module.

Edition limitations

Community Edition allows one site definition
Enterprise Edition Standard allows one site definition
Enterprise Edition Pro allows unlimited site definitions

Configuring a site definition

Configure a site definition in the Site app.

Example: Site definition for the Travel Demo site that ships with Magnolia (partial example).

Node name	Value
travel
templates
availability
templates
home
id	travel-demo:pages/home
prototype
areas
navigation
footer
main
jsFiles
theme
name	travel-demo-theme
i18n
class	info.magnolia.cms.i18n.DefaultI18nContentSupport
enabled	true
locales
en
country
enabled	true
language	en
de

Nodes and properties:

`templates`	optional
`prototype`	optional The template prototype is a master template definition which applies to the whole site. Anything you configure in the prototype is applied to all page templates.
`availability`	optional Template availability defines which page templates are available to editors in the Pages app. There are more ways to control page template availability.
`enabled`	optional , default is `true` Enables and disables the site definition.
`domains`	optional Maps domain names to the site. Requires the Multisite module (EE Pro).
`theme`	optional Reference to a theme that defines the look and feel of the site. Themes are configured in `config:/site/config/themes`.
`i18n`	optional Locale configuration and support for entering and serving content in multiple languages. When configuring the i18n node, make sure to provide the properties `class` and `enabled`.
`class`	required (when using i18n) For instance use `info.magnolia.ui.framework.i18n.DefaultI18NAuthoringSupport`.
`enabled`	optional , default is `false`
`mappings`	optional URI mappings that define which node in a workspace should be served when a particular URI is requested.
`parameters`	optional Custom template properties that you can access from a script without having to write a class.
`variations`	optional Variations adapt the site for different devices or geographical locations.

The Site app is actually a shortcut that displays the configuration from:

config:/modules/site/config/site and from any extended locations in a single-site setup (Community Edition, Enterprise Edition Standard)
config:/modules/multisite/config/sites in a multisite setup (Enterprise Edition Pro)

Choosing a fallback site definition

fallback is a special site definition that is used when no site matches the request. Think of it as a "default".

When you have multiple sites, configure one of them as a fallback. Use the extends property to reference a complete site definition.

Example: Choosing travel as a fallback site definition in /modules/multisite/config/sites :

Node name	Value
fallback
extends	../travel
travel
sportstation

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