--- schema_version: "1" id: 664bba665cec4f20e299b45378d11286e723fa40c1cb154c9cb4bb1086daa22a title: Use Site.com to Customize Your Community collection: admin version: current locale: en-us portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/admin/current/en-us/platform/264-0-0/siteforce_communities_using.md canonical_url: https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.siteforce_communities_using.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 source_site: help.salesforce.com content_type: documentation content_hash: 6273d30f76ca9329795f6802f22004ec638301fc166420823493885615b84400 description: Communities users can use Site.com to build custom, branded pages for a community. There are many approaches to building custom pages for your community, but these actions are some of the typical stages involved. products: - Salesforce Platform - Security release: "264" --- # Use Site.com to Customize Your Community Communities users can use Site.com to build custom, branded pages for a community. There are many approaches to building custom pages for your community, but these actions are some of the typical stages involved. ### Required Editions
Available in: Salesforce Classic

Available for purchase in: Enterprise, Performance, and Unlimited Editions

Available (with limitations) in: Developer Edition

User Permissions Needed
To build, edit, and manage a community’s Site.com custom pages:

Create and Set Up Communities

OR

Site.com Publisher User field enabled on the user detail page

AND

Site administrator or designer role assigned at the site level
- Import Assets—Collect the assets, images, and files you plan to use on your custom page. [Import the assets](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.siteforce_assets_import.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Contributors, publishers, and site administrators can import a variety of assets, such as images, HTML pages, and PDFs, to use in a website. You can import assets and files individually, or use a zipped file. When importing entire websites or large numbers of assets, it’s easier to create a zipped file of the content with the desired folder structure. When importing the zipped file for a website, Site.com recreates your website and places everything in the same folder structure.") into Site.com Studio, where they appear in the Assets section of the Overview tab. - Create Branded Pages—The quickest and easiest way to create branded pages is to use the Community Template, which is automatically included with all Site.com community sites. When you [create a new page based on the Community Template](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.siteforce_communities_branding_template.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Site.com Community sites include a branded template that you can use to create community site pages."), the page includes all of the branded styles in your community, including the community’s header and footer. If you want even more control over the look and feel of your community page, you can [create your own page template](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.siteforce_page_master_create.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "A page template lets you define the layout and functionality of site pages in one location. By adding common page elements to the template and then basing site pages on it, you can achieve a consistent look and feel throughout your site. And because a template-based page inherits the template's elements, you can make site-wide changes from one location."), drag community headers and footers to it from the Widgets section of the Page Elements pane, and add other community styles. ![Note](https://sf-zdocs-cdn-prod.zoominsoftware.com/tdta-platform-extend_click-264-0-0-production-enus/5f7d9219-b7b1-4552-8891-f1aba9b289fc/images/icon_note.png) Note As of Spring ’15, the Community Template is no longer available for creating communities. If you already have a Site.com that’s based on the Communities Template, it continues to work. For information on creating a community with a new Lightning Community template, see [Create an Experience Cloud Site](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=experience.networks_creating.htm&type=5&language=en_US). - Use Branded CommunityStyles—Develop the look and feel of your custom pages by using the [CommunityBranding style sheet](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.siteforce_communities_branding_applying_stylesheet.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "The CommunityBranding style sheet contains a set of CSS styles created from Network namespace expressions."), or by [creating branded community styles](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.siteforce_communities_branding_creating_styles.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Branded styles are available in Site.com sites through Network namespace expressions.") in your own cascading style sheets (CSS). If you're not completely up to speed with CSS, the [Style pane](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.siteforce_style_tab_using.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "The Style pane is a visual CSS editor that lets you modify style properties, such as the background color, font size, and border style, as you work with pages and page elements. If you're using CSS classes or IDs to style your pages, you can modify or create style items directly from the Style pane, rather than opening the style sheet.") provides an easy, visual way to create and manage styles. Or if you're a CSS expert who likes to get straight into the code, you can hand-code community styles right in your own [style sheets](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.siteforce_style_css_create_sheet.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "A default style sheet called “Site Style Sheet” is included with every site you create. However, if you're familiar with CSS and need multiple style sheets, you can create ones to use in your site."). - Create Public Pages—Using the template as a base, you can quickly [create pages](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.siteforce_page_create.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "As a site administrator or designer, when you create a site page, you can choose to base it on a layout or page template."), which automatically inherit all the elements of the page template. Or if you need a standalone page that doesn't follow the overall design, you can create a blank page instead. - Make Pages Private—By default, any page you create in Site.com Studio is publicly available. However, you can [make pages private](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.siteforce_auth_custom.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "When you select Custom authorization, you get a great deal of flexibility in controlling access to your site. Not only can you control who has access to top level resources, like folders and pages, but you can also set access at the individual resource level.") so that only logged-in Communities users can access them. - Add Features, Page Elements, and Community Widgets—Use Site.com's prebuilt [page elements](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.siteforce_objects.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Page elements are the building blocks of your site pages and page templates. Combined, they provide the page's structure and content.") to add features such as [navigation menus](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.siteforce_menu_add.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "By default, when you create a menu, it's generated from the pages and site map links in the Site Map folder in the Site Pages view. However, you can also create a menu that's generated from the pages in the Landing Pages folder or from the child or sibling pages of a site page."), [images](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.siteforce_image.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "As a site administrator, you can add images directly to your site pages and page templates or you can add images to content blocks."), [content blocks](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.siteforce_contentblock_add.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Content blocks contain the text of your website pages, and can also house images, videos, and hyperlinks. Designers and site administrators can add content blocks to pages when in Design Mode."), and community [widgets](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.siteforce_communities_widgets.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Use the Chatter News Feed to display a Chatter feed on your site pages, or display the feeds of a particular group using the Chatter Group Feed."). Retrieve data from your organization’s objects and dynamically display it on your site pages using [data repeaters](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.siteforce_data_repeater.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Use a data repeater to connect to a standard or custom Salesforce object and retrieve a dataset based on the filter criteria that you specify.") and [data tables](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.siteforce_data_table.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Use a data table to connect to a standard or custom Salesforce object, retrieve a dataset based on the filter criteria that you specify, and display one or more record as rows in the table."). Alternatively, gather and submit data from visitors using [forms](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.siteforce_data_form.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Use forms to collect data from your site visitors and submit the data to standard or custom Salesforce objects. Create web-to-lead forms, capture customer details, or gather feedback on your products or services."). - Add and Edit Content—At this stage, the page is usually ready for you to add and edit content such as [text](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.siteforce_contentblock_edit.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Designers and site administrators can edit content blocks on the page. Content blocks contain the text for site pages, and can also house images, videos, and hyperlinks."), [images](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.siteforce_contentblock_image.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Designers and site administrators can add images to content blocks when viewing a page in Design Mode."), [videos](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.siteforce_contentblock_video.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Designers and site administrators can add YouTube®, Google®, Adobe® Flash®, Windows Media®, and Apple QuickTime® videos to content blocks when viewing a page in Design Mode."), and [hyperlinks](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.siteforce_contentblock_hyperlink.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "When viewing a page in Design Mode, designers and site administrators can create hyperlinks to external Web pages or websites, pages and assets in the site, email messages, and anchors on the page."). And as you work, you can [upload](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.siteforce_assets_import.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Contributors, publishers, and site administrators can import a variety of assets, such as images, HTML pages, and PDFs, to use in a website. You can import assets and files individually, or use a zipped file. When importing entire websites or large numbers of assets, it’s easier to create a zipped file of the content with the desired folder structure. When importing the zipped file for a website, Site.com recreates your website and places everything in the same folder structure.") any images or files you need. - Review and Test the Page—Testing the changes to your page happens throughout the development cycle. Always [preview your changes](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.siteforce_preview.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Contributors, designers, and site administrators can preview site pages to see how they look when rendered in a browser window. It's always a good idea to make sure your changes are displayed correctly, as this preview is how the pages appear on the live site.") to ensure they display as expected in a browser. You can also send a preview link to reviewers so they can review the finished product before it goes live. - Publish the Page—After testing is complete, you're ready to make the page available to your community by [publishing your changes](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.siteforce_publish.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "When you publish a site in Site.com, you make its pages and assets live on the Internet so site visitors can access them."). - Add Authenticated Pages to Your Community’s Tab—Now that the page is tested and published, if you’re working with authenticated pages, the final step is to [add the page to a tab](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.siteforce_communities_tab.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "After you create a private Site.com page, you can add the page to a tab in your community.") in your community. - Use Site.com in Sandbox—Site.com is now available on sandbox. When you create a sandbox copy from a production organization, you can include your Site.com sites. You can also copy your sandbox site back to production using the [overwrite](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.siteforce_website_sandbox.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Export a copy of your site, and then use the overwrite feature to replace your current production Site.com or Site.com community site with the exported file.") feature. #### See Also - [Create a Site.com Community](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.siteforce_communities_overview.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Each community has one associated Site.com site that lets you add custom, branded pages to your community. By default, Site.com pages are publicly available and don’t require login, but you can also create private pages that only community members can access.") - [Experience Cloud](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=experience.networks_overview.htm&type=5&language=en_US) - [Brand Your Salesforce Tabs + Visualforce Site](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=experience.networks_customize_branding.htm&type=5&language=en_US)