Sites and site collections overview (SharePoint Foundation 2010)
Applies to: SharePoint Foundation 2010
A Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 site collection is a hierarchical site structure that is made up of one top-level site and any sites below it. This article describes site collections and sites and contains information about the site templates that are used to create sites in SharePoint Foundation 2010.
In this article:
Site collections overview
Sites overview
Site templates included in SharePoint Foundation 2010
Site collections overview
The sites in a site collection have shared administration settings, common navigation, and other common features and elements. Each site collection contains a top-level site and (usually) one or more sites below it in a hierarchical structure.
You must group your site's content and features into a site collection. This provides the following benefits:
For site designers, a site collection's galleries and libraries (such as the master page gallery or the site collection images library) provide a means for creating a unified, branded user experience across all sites in the site collection.
For site collection administrators, a site collection provides a unified mechanism and scope for administration. For example, security, policies, and features can be managed for a whole site collection; Site Collection Web Analytics Reports, audit log reports, and other data can help administrators track site collection security and performance.
For farm administrators, site collections provide scalability for growth based on how much content is stored. Because each site collection can use a unique content database, administrators can easily move them to separate servers.
For site authors, a site collection's shared site columns, content types, Web Parts, authoring resources, workflows, and other features provide a consistent authoring environment.
For site users, a site collection's unified navigation, branding, and search tools provide a unified Web site experience.
Sites overview
A site collection consists of a top-level site and one or more sites below it. Each top-level site and any sites below it in the site structure are based on a site template and can have other unique settings and unique content. Partition your site collection content into separate sites to obtain finer control of the appearance, content, and features of the various pages in your site collection. The following list includes site features that you can configure uniquely:
Templates You can make each site have a unique template. For more information, see Site templates included in SharePoint Foundation 2010.
Language If language packs have been installed on the Web server, you can select a language-specific site template when you create a new site. Text that appears on the site is displayed in the site template’s language. For more information, see Deploy language packs (SharePoint Foundation 2010).
Security You can define unique user groups and permissions for each site. For more information, see SharePoint 2010 Governance Planning (white paper).
Navigation You can fine-tune your site's navigation experience by configuring unique navigation links in each part of your site's hierarchy. Site navigation reflects the relationships among the sites in a site collection. Therefore, planning navigation and planning sites structures are closely related activities. For more information, see Site navigation overview (SharePoint Foundation 2010).
Web pages You can make each site have a unique welcome page and other pages.
Site layouts You can make unique layouts or master pages available in a site.
Themes You can change colors and fonts on a site. For more information, see Plan for using themes (SharePoint Foundation 2010).
Regional settings You can change the regional settings, such as locale, time zone, sort order, time format, and calendar type. For more information, see Regional settings (SharePoint Foundation 2010).
Search You can make each site have unique search settings. For example, you can specify that a particular site never appears in search results.
Content types You can make each site have unique content types and site columns. For more information, see Content type and workflow planning (SharePoint Foundation 2010).
Workflows You can make each site have unique workflows. For more information, see Plan workflows (SharePoint Foundation 2010).
Site templates included in SharePoint Foundation 2010
The following section contains information about the site templates that are included in SharePoint Foundation 2010. Although you can use a site template with its default configuration, you can also change the site’s default settings by using the site administration pages, and then saving the site as a new template. In addition, you can modify a template's design and features by using Microsoft SharePoint Designer 2010 or Microsoft Visual Studio 2010.
The following table lists every site template, describes the purpose of each, and indicates whether the template is available at the site collection level, site level, or both. The category that is used to group the templates might be different, depending on the level at which a site is created.
| Template | Purpose | Category in Site Collection | Category in Site |
|---|---|---|---|
< Select template later> |
An empty site for which you can select a template later. |
Custom |
N/A |
Basic Meeting Workspace |
A site on which you can plan, organize, and capture the results of a meeting. It provides lists for managing the agenda, meeting attendees, and documents. |
Meetings |
Meetings |
Blank Meeting Workspace |
A blank meeting site that you can customize based on your requirements. |
Meetings |
Meetings |
Blank Site |
A blank site that you can customize based on your requirements. |
Collaboration |
Blank & Custom |
Blog |
A site on which a person or team can post ideas, observations, and expertise that site visitors can comment on. |
Collaboration |
Content |
Decision Meeting Workspace |
A site on which you can track status or make decisions at meetings. It provides lists to create tasks, store documents, and record decisions. |
Meetings |
Meetings |
Document Workspace |
A site on which colleagues can work together on a document. It provides a document library for storing the primary document and supporting files, a tasks list for assigning to-do items, and a links list to point to resources that are related to the document. |
Collaboration |
Collaboration, Content |
Group Work Site |
This template provides a groupware solution that teams can use to create, organize, and share information. It includes the Group Calendar, Circulation, Phone-Call Memo, document library and other basic lists. |
Collaboration |
Collaboration |
Multipage Meeting Workspace |
A site on which you can plan a meeting and capture decisions and other results from the meeting. It provides lists for managing the agenda and meeting attendees. It also provides two blank pages that you can customize based on your requirements. |
Meetings |
Meetings |
Social Meeting Workspace |
A site on which you can plan social occasions. It provides lists for tracking attendees, providing directions, and storing pictures of the event. |
Meetings |
Meetings |
Team Site |
A site on which a team can organize, author, and share information. It provides a document library, and lists for managing announcements, calendar items, tasks, and discussions. |
Collaboration |
Collaboration |
See Also
Concepts
Plan sites and site collections (SharePoint Foundation 2010)
Site navigation overview (SharePoint Foundation 2010)
Plan site navigation (SharePoint Foundation 2010)