The September 2024 release of XM Cloud Sites brings a fresh set of features aimed at making website management smoother and more collaborative for teams. With improvements focused on organizing site collections, creating new websites, and managing settings, XM Cloud Sites offers powerful tools to support large-scale, multi-site environments. Let’s dive into what’s new and how these updates can simplify your workflow.
Easily Create and Manage Site Collections
One of the standout updates in the September release is the ability to create and manage Site Collections. This feature helps you structure and group related sites, making them easier to manage. Each site collection enables the sharing of content, templates, and configurations across multiple websites. You can now name your site collections with both a Display Name for internal use and an Item/System Name for more stable technical referencing.
Site collections make it possible to tailor workflows to specific teams or campaigns, helping marketers and developers focus on their core areas while keeping everything neatly organized.
Simplified Site Creation with Templates
Creating new sites within XM Cloud has been significantly streamlined. Users can now build websites quickly by selecting a Site Template that suits their needs. Each template provides detailed information, so you’ll know exactly what you’re getting before setting up the site. After defining essential details like the site name and language, you can choose to add the new site to an existing collection or create a new collection directly during the setup process.
This flexibility allows teams to spin up new websites with ease while maintaining consistency across the entire ecosystem—ideal for enterprises handling multiple websites or regional variations.
Enhanced Search for Better Site Management
Managing a growing number of websites can get overwhelming, but with the new Site Search functionality, finding the right site has never been easier. Whether you’re working on a large-scale environment or managing several campaigns at once, the improved search feature allows you to quickly locate specific websites by filtering through your collections. Need to reset the filters? A single click lets you clear them and start fresh.
For anyone responsible for maintaining a multitude of websites, this feature is a game-changer, cutting down the time spent searching and organizing.
Comprehensive Site Settings Management
The Site Settings section offers even greater control over your website’s configuration. Users can now access and update settings like Display Names, regenerate thumbnails, or even upload custom images directly from the interface. For teams handling multiple websites, the ability to mark a site as shared is particularly useful, allowing shared content and configurations to be reused across different sites in the same collection.
In addition, design elements such as page layouts, rendering variants, and styles can now be managed centrally, ensuring a consistent look and feel across all your websites.
Multi-Language and Host Configuration Made Simple
With the increasing need for global websites, the latest update to XM Cloud Sites makes managing multi-language sites straightforward. Adding a new language is simple—just configure it in the settings and start creating content tailored to your audience in that language. Alongside this, you can also configure Site Hosts, including the default language, rendering host, and the editing host, giving you full control over how your site appears to different audiences.
This feature is particularly valuable for businesses looking to expand internationally, ensuring their content reaches users in their preferred language while maintaining a localized experience.
Analytics and Personalization at Your Fingertips
Personalizing user experiences is essential for modern websites, and with the Analytics and Personalization tab, XM Cloud Sites makes it easier to manage these elements. Users can now configure their site identifier for Sitecore CDP and Personalize, ensuring seamless integration for data-driven personalization. This helps organizations deliver tailored content and experiences based on user behaviors and preferences.
Instant Access to Documentation and Support
To ensure a smooth user experience, the September release introduces integrated Documentation and Support Tickets. A new help feature, accessible via a simple click on the question mark icon, offers immediate access to documentation, guiding users through any challenges. Should you encounter an issue that requires more than a manual, you can now easily raise a support ticket without leaving the interface.
Check out the video from Sebastian Winter at Discover Sitecore that will visually walk you through all above:
You can also check out the XM Cloud Sites – What’s new? (September 2024) post for more information!
And do check out the user documentation on Sites.
Happy Sitecore-ing!
–Robbert
