Detailed in this blog is a basic guide on setting up SXA and creating a basic site and adding a component.
Download
The initial support the SXA started with Sitecore 8.1. At the time of writing this it was not evident from the downloads page which version was for which version of Sitecore and it only becomes apparent when installing the package. This information is in the Installation Guide though.
https://dev.sitecore.net/Downloads/Sitecore_Experience_Accelerator.aspx
Install
When installing the module please make sure that you have the relevant version of SPE (https://doc.sitecorepowershell.com/) installed for the version of SXA
Tenant
SXA uses the concept of a Tenant to define site groups. Under this you can create a number of sites which can represent brands etc. The Tenant template is created on the Content node.
As the module is Helix based you can then choose your Feature set.
New Site
As mentioned previously you can create sites for different brands, organisations. To create a new site, right click on the Tentant previously created and select the Site template.
A new window will pop up and give you a number of options
- Features
- Themes
- Grid – Bootstrap, Foundation etc
Complete the name and Press OK to progress
SXA Site Manager
Once the site has been created this should load but you can also access it through the menu as displayed below. Click on the site and open from top right to specify the site properties
Complete the “Target Hostname” field and create a binding for this in the hosts file and the IIS bindings for the site.
Add Component
As mentioned previously the SXA module is based on Helix principles. This will be become more evident once you start adding components.
To add a component select Experience Editor (Publish Tab) for the Home page to load the accelerator editor. There are basic placeholders have been in place. To the right hand side the components list is visible
Add a component as standard and you will be presented with the renderings window. In this instance we will add a Carousel.
Create a new folder by specifying the Create button next to Carousels (Current Site)
Select Carousel
Select the Carousel itself to add it to the page.
You can now edit the component as you would any standard component developer through Sitecore.
To modify the core features of the Carousel you can edit this through parameter template properties set through Edit Component Properties
Content
To review the content added you can view them in the Helix based structure in the following locations:
/sitecore/content/Website/{Site}/Media
/sitecore/content/Website/{Site}/Data
Further Reading: