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What is a site?

A site is a website that you can use to feature content from your portal to non-GIS users.

What can I do with a site?

Every site includes a layout, configuration options, and a set of drag-and-drop cards so that you can share content in the following ways, no HTML required:

  • Content integration—Display a variety of content types, including content you've already created using other ArcGIS products, along with your own graphics, media, and narratives.
  • Search experience—Create a search experience that enables visitors to discover content, including data, apps, maps, and other items, by entering a key word or phrase on your site's search bar.
  • Configurable branding options—Brand your sites with your organization's logo, theme, social media, and custom domain.
  • Global navigation and site mapping—Build your own site navigation using pages and menu links. This mobile-responsive navigation bar helps people to explore your content on any device.

Who can create sites?

To create and share a site, an administrator can configure your account with a custom role based on the Publisher role and the following administrative privileges:

  • The Create with update capabilities (Groups) privilege allows you to create a core team. The update capability means that anyone who's a member of the group (core team members) can update any item shared to the group.
    Note:
    Without the Create with update capabilities privilege, you’ll need to have an administrator activate your site’s core team if you want to collaborate with other members of your organization.
  • The Assign Members (Groups) privilege allows you to add members directly to the core team without sending an invitation to their email. This privilege is recommended because it enables you to immediately share content with new members. The next time that they sign in, they can read their notifications to know which team they've been added to and see any items that have been shared with the group.

For more information on the privileges needed to create and share sites, see Configure roles and privileges.

Default site item and groups

Every site you create is added to your organization's portal as a Site-name Site Application item with two default groups. These groups enable you to control what content is shared on your site and with whom. They also enable you to control who can edit your site's content. For more information, see Adjust sharing controls.

GroupItems shared to this group

A Site-name Content group

This group manages the items (content) that you want to share on a site. When you and your site's core team members add items to the content library, they are sharing items with this group. Because this is a view-only group, only the item's owner can edit them.

A Site-name Core Team group

This group manages the items (content) that you want site core team members to edit. The site is automatically shared to this group, so that core team members can make edits. You can select additional items you want to share with this group using the item's sharing controls.

Get started

To create a new site, follow steps in Start a new site. Then, you can open your site in edit mode to do the following: