tag:help-archives.hannonhill.com,2010-02-09:/discussions/how-do-i/20287-decide-between-subdomains-subdirectories-multiple-sites-one-siteCascade CMS: Discussion 2015-12-02T16:10:53Ztag:help-archives.hannonhill.com,2010-02-09:Comment/383386452015-11-09T20:09:34Z2015-11-09T20:09:34ZDecide between subdomains / subdirectories / multiple sites / one site?<div><p>Hi Jon,</p>
<p>To be as detailed as possible, please see my thoughts inline.
Thanks!</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Our older Cascade instance is still all one Global site (using
Targets), but this year we are redeveloping the websites from
scratch.</p>
<p>The question has been raised about changing from site subdomains
to subdirectories, e.g. liberalarts.udmercy.edu —>
udmercy.edu/liberalarts</p>
<p>We were told by Beacon Technologies that we would enjoy easier
sharing/maintenance of common page elements (design / look &
feel, etc.) if we keep content all together in one domain/site in
Cascade Server.</p>
<p>Would anyone share their thoughts / experience about this? I'd
like some clarification on whether they really meant one Cascade
Server site. I am guessing that they meant one domain.</p>
<p>QUESTION 1: Is it actually more difficult to maintain common
design across Cascade Server Sites than if you keep all web content
within the same Cascade Site?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>We would definitely recommend breaking content into sites. It is
pretty easy to centralize all of your design elements into one site
and then share it across multiple sites.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The other advantage we're told of going from subdomains to
subdirectories is that the subdirectories approach provides some
kind of boost in search engine results for combined site
content.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I have heard this as well.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Also, is this whole question extraneous? For example:</p>
<p>QUESTION 2: Is it possible to maintain separate Cascade Sites
but have them publish to subdirectories within a single live
website?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Yes. Definitely. This is what a lot of Cascade Server clients
do. For each site, you can determine if it should go to a subdomain
or a sub folder. That is up to you.</p>
<p>Moving from Global to sites will mean that you will be able to
more easily share elements and content across sites.</p>
<p>Please let me know if I missed anything. Thanks!</p></div>Pennytag:help-archives.hannonhill.com,2010-02-09:Comment/383386452015-11-09T20:53:42Z2015-11-09T20:56:59ZDecide between subdomains / subdirectories / multiple sites / one site?<div><p>Hi Jon,</p>
<p>Centralizing common assets shared by various sites will reduce
maintenance tremendously. For example, you can have a single RWD
design and implementation in a site shared by multiple other sites.
When a page is moved from one site to another site, it will adapt
to its environment, picking up specific site information, without
any modification to the page. This approach will also reduce the
number of content types. We actually use only one RWD content type
in the entire Cascade installation, and converting a non-responsive
site to a responsive site just requires running a web service
script.</p>
<ol>
<li>For a presentation we gave in the last conference on
implementation of RWD at Upstate, see <a href="https://hannonhill.wistia.com/medias/i8jk5qu9rj">The
Superpage</a><br></li>
<li>For a discussion on issues related to architectural designs,
see <a href="http://www.upstate.edu/cascade-admin/training/architecture/index.php">
Architectural Design</a><br></li>
<li>For a demo site, including demo pages on the megablock, see
<a href="http://www.upstate.edu/cascade-admin/rwd/index.php">RWD</a></li>
</ol>
<p>Wing</p></div>Wing Ming Chantag:help-archives.hannonhill.com,2010-02-09:Comment/383386452015-11-13T20:33:04Z2015-11-13T20:33:04ZDecide between subdomains / subdirectories / multiple sites / one site?<div><p>Thank you, Penny and Wing!</p></div>whitenjg