Sitesmith User Guide

Table Of Contents

Commonly Used Terms

Keyword

Description

Keyword

Description

Sitesmith

Front end user experience that user interact with to make design selections.

Siteforge

Backend tool that takes the selections within Sitesmith and builds the website.

Content Editor (Side Panel)

As you make additions/changes in the Content Editor (Side Panel), you will see the changes happening in the Site preview.

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Site Preview

 

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Site Preview Tool Bar

With this tool bar you can update colors, change images, move sections, select variables, updating padding, take a snapshot to save the layout, and navigate between the homepage, listing page, and detail page.

 

Site Section

This is the different site sections that you can add to the homepage. You cannot use a section more than once on the homepage and you don’t have to use all sections on a website. You want to find the best combination of sections that makes the homepage look good and flow properly.

Variant

Variant is a style options within a specific section. Clients have a choice of what the section looks like. Some sections only have one style choice, while others have multiple styles to them. You can only access the Variant when using the Variant tool within an section.

Continue Button (aka Save Button)

This is aka the “Save” button, it will save the content/selections made as you continue through the process. Make sure to click Continue at every opportunity so you save your work as you move through the different selections. No matter what Continue button you click, it will save the work you have done thus far.

Notes

Anytime that you see a “Notes” field within the Content Editor (Side Panel) you will be able to add a note for that selection. The goal is to take a note on something that you are not able to accomplish within the experience and it will save that note into Salesforce for the Front End Development team to complete the request. You can include URLs so that you can give the FED a image or a example from a URL of what you are referencing.

iCC Setup

iCC Account Creation

First we will need to ensure that we have everything setup within iCC before we can start a Sitesmith experience.

  • The client account has been added

  • The client lot(s) have all been added

  • The dev domain has been added into the domain screen and the website type is set to development for a development site and set to storefront when the site is live.

  • The account node has been added into the CMS (DO NOT add a domain within the account node, Siteforge will do that for us)

iCC Dealer Detail Setup

  • Enable registrations

    • By enabling registrations this allow us to display the same Types in Sitesmith to be selected to display on the types bar.

    • We should enable all the basic RV Types in Sitesmith. The more types we have enabled, the easier it will be to add/remove types within Sitesmith. For example, if the dealer currently does not have motorhomes as a RV Type on their website, but in the onboarding call they say

  • Enable brands/models

Access Sitesmith

You will access Sitesmith from iCC. It does not matter what account you are in, you can access Sitesmith from Website > Sitesmith menu item.

 


Agreement Basics

Agreement Basics is the connection between iCC, CMS, and Sitesmith. This connection allows us to save Sitesmith experiences as we go through the design process, tells Siteforge where to place the site when a user clicks the submit button.

Within the Agreement Basic screen you will

  • Select an Account - This selection connects the account within iCC for the purposes of data, saving, and site building via Siteforge.

    • NOTE: This is a type a head field so you can start typing in the account you are looking for verse using a drop down menu

  • Select a Domain - This selection connects the domain within the account for the purposes of data, saving, and site building via Siteforge.

    • Note: This is a type a head field so you can start typing in the domain you are looking for verse using a drop down menu

  • Select the Package Type - This selection will allow different functionalities to be available within the Sitesmith tool. Depending on which package gets selected will depend on what choices a user will have within the Sitesmith experience.

    • Note: This is based on the agreement that the dealer signed, please be sure to select the correct package at this time, as this will be saved once selected and the continue button has been clicked. Once you have saved a package you cannot change the package selection without restarting

    • Selections

      • Silver (Fewer website sections are available to select)

      • Gold (Both Gold and Platinum have all website section selections available including Silver Package options)

      • Platinum(Both Gold and Platinum have all website section selections available including Silver Package options)

  • Package Content - The goal of this feature is to help enable more functionality in Sitesmith when specific pick options or package details are selected within the sales process. This will allow us to automate some of the setup of features when selected via the package content.

    • Note: This has not been fully built, but tow guide selection is available and does allow the tow guide section to be selected within Sitesmith when checked.

 


Site Design Process

Before getting started, if the client has a current website, you will want to ensure that website is open on another screen so that you can review their current site and capture details that you need from their current website, and apply it in Sitesmith.

During the Site Design process, you will start by utilizing the Content Editor (Side Panel) to start building out some of the design, but as you get into the look of the site, you will will want to align the sections you will want to use before continuing to use the Content Editor (Side Panel). By following the process you will save your time from added unnecessary content into an section that you may not use.

Below is the recommendation of the process that you should follow when utilizing the Site Design functionality. You will follow this process until you get to the Home Page section. At this point you will stop utilizing the Content Editor until you have completed the design phase within the site preview where you will display the sections needed, add images where necessary, and add background colors before moving on to the the process.


Site Layout

In the Site Layout, we start by selecting some of the basic sections that will be consistent through on all pages throughout the website. First you will select a starter layout that will give you a starting point. With so many sections available on the homepage, rather than displaying all sections as soon as you start a Sitesmith experience, we are providing a starting point so you don’t have to remove so many sections you don’t need.

You will also get to upload the dealer logo, select a header style, select a footer style, add the operating hours and social media icons.

Starter Layout

Goal: Select a layout that will most closely match what site design you would like to complete. You don’t have to stick with this layout, it just gives you a starting point so you don’t have to remove so many sections on the homepage.

Here we allow you to select a starting layout, because of all the different sections on the homepage, it was getting cumbersome to have to remove multiple sections to get to the layout that you want to start with. This is just a starting point and the layout can be fully customized through out the process.

  • S1 and S2 will be available for a Silver Package dealer

  • S1, S2, G1, and G2 will be available for a Gold Package dealer

  • S1, S2, G1, G2, and P1 will be available for a Platinum Package dealer

Future: This layout selection is the first iteration of a new direction that we will be moving forward with. Where we will have demo sites and layouts for the sales team to present during the sales process and select which layout the client likes best.

Take Action:

  • Select the Layout you want to start with

  • Click Continue

 

Logo

Goal: To capture the dealers logo from their current website and upload it into Sitesmith, this will provide starting colors to the website and display the dealers logo in Sitesmith.

Be sure that you have the dealers current website open.

On the dealers current website you will want to right click on the dealer logo (PC user) to save the image, and you will save it to a folder on your computer.

Once you have the dealer logo saved. In Sitesmith, you will click on the plus symbol, it will open a folder on your computer to select which image you would like to upload. Select the dealers logo that you saved.

  • Note: The logo size cannot exceed 100k, so you will need to resize the image if it is larger than 100k. This can easily be done with any image tool such as Snagit Editor.

Once you upload the logo, Sitesmith will automatically pull the colors from the dealers logo and apply them to the website and save them in the color selection to adjust a little later in the process.

 

Header

Currently there are 2 selection for the Silver Package dealers and 3 additional selection for Gold and Platinum Package dealers for a total of 5 for the higher package dealers.

  • Logo Top - Where the logo is positions on the top bar

  • Logo Float - Where the logo is position between the two bars

  • Logo Center - Where the logo is positioned in the center of the header

  • Bottom Clear - Where the logo is positioned to float between the two bars, but the navigation bar is transparent to show the hero background image.

  • Full Clear - Where the logo is positioned to float and the full header is transparent to show the hero background image.

Depending on the style, colors, size, and shape of the dealers logo will help determine the best header style to use.

Sometimes the dealers logo may look a little small, that can always be adjusted by the Design/FED team once the site is built. A note can be taken to make adjustments as needed or to add any additional logos, content, or dealer information into the header.

 

Footer

Design

Currently there are 6 selection of footer styles. All styles will have default content and labels that most dealers will want to include in their footer. We have a Quick Links/Navigation area, Locations display, Hours display, and Social Icon display. Depending on the footer style, other footer layouts will be available

  • No Logo - standard labels - this will only display 1 lot location

  • Logo-l-iso - standard labels with the addition of the logo - this will only display 1 lot location

  • Social Bar 1 - Will have the standard labels with the addition of the logo and a social media bar at the top of the footer - this will only display 1 lot location

  • Social Bar 2 - Will have the standard labels, addition of the logo, a place to display badges/awards/etc., and a social media bar at the top of the footer with different social media icon styles - this will only display 1 lot location

  • Logo-r-sm - Will have the standard labels, smaller logo, and a place for badges/awards/etc. - this will only display 1 lot location

  • Badge Bar - Will have the standard labels, a bar for affiliations/organizations/awards/etc. - this will display multiple locations if the dealer wants multiples listed in the footer.

 

Quick Links

Within the Quick Links, we want to ensure that we have a label for the user to click on, and a URL where that text label will navigate to when clicked.

In this control, you have the ability to move and reorder the items by click and holding the double line to the left of the label and dragging it to the spot that you want it to display.

The red trashcan with the x will allow you to remove any label and link

To add any additional Quick Links you can click the Add Quicklink button and a new label and link will display.

 

Operating Hours

 

Social Media

 

Pages & Navigation

Sitesmith does more than allow us to design the homepage of the site, it also can help us by creating the secondary pages that the FED team will need to have within the CMS to help them move over the content from the dealers current website to the new website we are developing for them.

We want to first align the navigation to match what the dealer currently has so that we ensure that we have all pages that the dealer has on their current site by aligning the main navigation items and all the drop downs that come from the main navigation items. (Dealer doesn’t have a current site, that is fine, we have a default navigation bar setup to help us drive the conversation during the onboarding call)

Once we have the navigation set how we need it, we will then go into select pages to ensure that every navigation item has a link to the page it should. We have many default pages that are available to be selected, and custom pages can be added to cover those pages we don’t have by default.

Both of these process are extremely important that we take the time to get these right. The navigation bar and moving over content are very big deals to clients. So we want to put them at ease that we have identified the navigation items, created the pages to move over the content, and we will be moving over their content.

Navigation

Site Pages

 


 

Site Preview Tool Bar

First you will need to understand how to use the tool bar. Here are the icons or actions that you can take within the site preview and what they allow you to do.

Icon

Details

Action

 

The paint can icon tool will allow you to apply a color to the background of certain sections. Once you have click the paint can icon tool at the top The paint can icon will display on or in the sections where you are able to change the color. If the paint can icon does not appear after you have clicked the paint tool icon at the top, that means that section does not have the ability to change the color.

The colors available are the 4 main colors within the theme selection in the Content Editor (Side Panel). Plus standard colors such as white, grey, charcoal, and black. The only colors that can be edited are the first 4 theme colors. When you change the theme colors, it will change the colors in this tool as well.

 

 

 

 

 

The image icon tool will allow you to apply images within certain sections, backgrounds, and banners. Once you have click the image icon tool at the top, the image icon will display on or in the sections where you are able to change an image. If the image icon does not appear after you have selected the paint tool icon at the top, that means that section does not have the ability to change the image.

Actions you can take within the image selector:

  • You can filter by tag to only see the images you want to view so you don’t have to scroll through all the available images. This is a type a head feature and most of the tags are a single word.

  • You can refresh the images. This is best used when you change variant within an section where the image size may be different. You can click Refresh Images to display the images that are sized for the variant that you have selected.

  • You can preview any image to see it as a larger image by clicking the box with an eye in the upper left corner of the image.

  • When you find an image you want to use, click the checkmark icon in the upper left of the image to select the image.

  • To remove the image you have selected, you will select the full image URL and delete the image URL.

  • You are able to use outside images by copying the image URL from the outside source (i.e. dealers current site) and paste that URL into the Image URL and it will display that exact image in Sitesmith. When the site builds, it will save that image as a new URL so we won’t loose that image. You are copying the image as is, so how ever big that image is from that outside source it will try to use that same size. You may have to resize the image and update the URL with the resized image to make it look proper.

  • You can apply an overlay on the image to make it darker or lighter or have no overlay to the image. When you apply the overlay the text color will automatically adjust if there is text overtop of the image.

  • Make sure to click Save after you have selected your image or added a image URL from an outside source.

 

 

 

 

This sections icon allows you take actions with the section and change out the different styles (variants) for that section.

Actions you can take within the variant selector tool:

  • Change Variant - allows you to select the way the section looks on the homepage, some sections have more variants than others.

  • Insert Section - allows you to insert an section that may not be displayed yet. If you click the insert section and you do not see any available sections, that means you have all available sections displayed on the homepage. When you select an section to be inserted, it will place the section below the section that you selected the icon on. When you insert a section, that section control will show up in the Content Editor (Side Panel) for you to add content.

  • Move Up and Move Down - allows you to reposition the section up or down the homepage.

  • Remove section - allows you to remove a section from the homepage. If you remove the section it will be removed from the Content Editor (Side Panel) as well.

 

 

 

 

 

The spacing icon will allow you to adjust the padding of certain sections. Not all sections have the ability to adjust the padding, so you will need to click the icon to see which sections have the ability to adjust the padding.

You can adjust the Top Padding or the Bottom Padding.

Options are: Extra Small, Small, Medium, and Large.

When to use this? The best scenario is where you see a lot of blank space you want to reduce that blank space as much as possible. You don’t want to totally remove all padding, but you might want to bring things closer together to make them look better.

Sometimes you may need to adjust the top of one section and the bottom of the other to bring two sections closer together.

 

 

 

 

The Snapshot tool allows you to save multiple layouts and select from the layouts. This helps during the onboarding call with the client to be able to have a few different layouts that allows you to jump back and forth quickly so if the client wants to see a few different layouts we can switch back and forth quickly to show them the selections they are interested in.

Prior to getting on the call with the client you could design multiple options and save them in the snapshot so you can show them the options quickly by loading the different options for them on the call.

Actions you can take within the snapshot tool:

  • Save snapshot - you can save the layout how it is by clicking on the icon, within the pop up window you will want to name your snapshot with something that helps you remember the styling of this layout, and click Save.

  • Load snapshot - you can load the snapshot that you have saved by selecting the name and click Load.

  • You can delete saved snapshots from the load snapshot drop down. There is a red trashcan, click that to delete a saved snapshot.

 

 

 

 

This allows you to quickly toggle between the homepage, listing page, and detail page without having to click into the Content Editor (Side Panel)

 

 

 

Clicking any section within the site preview will open the Content Editor (Side Panel) to the the section you clicked on so that you can quickly navigate where you need to take an action within the Content Editor. Sometimes the section may not have any action you can take in the Content Editor (Side Panel), but many times there are additional controls within Content Editor (Side Panel).


Home Page

This is the list of all available sections on the Homepage, this does not mean we should display all sections, but for the user guide purposes, we are listing all available with the details for each. You will want to align your homepage sections to what the clients current site has or based on preference that the client has mentioned.

sections

Details

Action

sections

Details

Action

Hero

This is a multiple select section meaning that you will have some functionality that you can take within the Content Editor (Side Panel) and you can use the variant selection icon to choose which variant you want to display. You will also need to use the Image Selection Tool depending on the variant you select.

Within the Content Editor you can enter the slogan for the hero, if the variant you selected has it available (not all variants have a place for a slogan).

Depending on if you want to use a Text Slogan or a Slogan created via an image, you have the ability to do either or, but you cannot currently do half text, half image.

When using the image selector, you will need to save the image on your computer to be able to upload the image. There is a size limit of 100k

There is an HTML editor option that will allow some additional styling features for text slogans.

As always there is a notes area to include additional notes for the design/FED teams.

Be sure to click the “Continue” button after using the tool so that it saves any work done.

Highlighted Product Types

This is a multiple select section meaning that you will have some functionality that you can take within the Content Editor (Side Panel) and you can use the variant selection icon to choose which variant you want to display. You will also need to use the Image Selection Tool depending on the variant you select.

Before starting this step, someone should have already enabled all the necessary product registrations within iCC for this dealers account. The product registrations are what help drive this feature within Sitesmith. Without the registrations, there would be nothing to select in this section.

To get a type to display with in the types bar, you will check the box for the default type available, or click the Add Type button to add a custom type to the bar. It’s best to use the check boxes when available.

When adding a custom type, you will want to select the proper graphic for the type you are adding. In some cases you will want to add a custom type when grouping types such as motorhomes together into one icon. When adding in custom types you will want to make sure you link the page to the correct URL. Here is a list of default product page names to use Standard Pages. If the page is not listed here, follow the same pattern as (/product/type-name/) for an RV type.

Note: You can add in custom non-type icons into the types bar. Maybe the dealer wants to use a type space to display Used RVs as a type or use a space for another graphic such as Shopper Guide. These custom pages do not need to follow the same structure as the types, this icon can link to any page within the website, just make sure you link the page correctly.

You have the ability to select which type of icon graphics are used. More realistic 3rd graphics or silhouette graphics.

You can also display or not display the New and Used links below the type icon. Due note that no matter what icon is there it will apply the new and used links. Notes will have to be taken for any custom work done by the FED team.

As always there is a notes area to include additional notes for the design/FED teams.

Be sure to click the “Continue” button after using the tool so that it saves any work done.

 

 

Tow Guide CTA

This is a multiple select section meaning that you will have some functionality that you can take within the Content Editor (Side Panel) and you can use the variant selection icon to choose which variant you want to display.

Within the tow guide section you are able to adjust the heading and sub heading text. Currently no other options are available to adjust on this section.

As always there is a notes area to include additional notes for the design/FED teams.

Be sure to click the “Continue” button after using the tool so that it saves any work done.

 

 

Shop Guide CTA

This is a multiple select section meaning that you will have some functionality that you can take within the Content Editor (Side Panel) and you can use the variant selection icon to choose which variant you want to display.

For the shopper guide, you are able to adjust the heading and sub heading text. Currently no other options are available to adjust on this section.

As always there is a notes area to include additional notes for the design/FED teams.

Be sure to click the “Continue” button after using the tool so that it saves any work done.

 

 

Lifestyle Links

Within the Lifestyle Links we have 3 defaults that you can select. You also have the ability to add your own lifestyle links by entering in a link and clicking the plus icon, you will also want to add a label to display on the button on the website. The max you are able to display is 3.

You will need to add a Target URL for each selection so the button links to a listing page. You will have to take notes for FED to make sure the listing pages have the proper settings on the listing page to display the units to match the Lifestyle button.

As always there is a notes area to include additional notes for the design/FED teams.

Be sure to click the “Continue” button after using the tool so that it saves any work done.

 

 

 

Rotating Banners

You will want to use the Image Selector tool to select the available banners within the image gallery. There is nothing more you can do within the Content Editor for this section.

As always there is a notes area to include additional notes for the design/FED teams.

Be sure to click the “Continue” button after using the tool so that it saves any work done.

 

Shop Your Way

This is a multiple select section meaning that you will have some functionality that you can take within the Content Editor (Side Panel) and you can use the variant selection icon to choose which variant you want to display.

Within the Shop Your Way section you can select up to 4 max services to display on the website. Each service has default text links within the groups that are set based on commonly used groupings for each service.

While some dealers want to customize this more, this section allows us to create the structure for the FED to add custom selections or make custom groupings based on what the client is looking for.

As always there is a notes area to include additional notes for the design/FED teams.

Be sure to click the “Continue” button after using the tool so that it saves any work done.

 

RV Explore

Within the RV Explore section you are able to adjust the heading, sub heading text, and where the button links to. You also have the ability to select a background image for the section.

You will want to select an image where the focus of the image is more on the right side because of the text box being on the left side.

For any additional work, we will need to involve the design/FED team.

As always there is a notes area to include additional notes for the design/FED teams.

Be sure to click the “Continue” button after using the tool so that it saves any work done.

 

Featured RVs

Currently there is no ability to select a different variant or make any changes within the Content Editor (Side Panel) for this section.

For any changes/additions to this section, we will have to involve the design/FED team.

As always there is a notes area to include additional notes for the design/FED teams.

Be sure to click the “Continue” button after using the tool so that it saves any work done.

 

 

Highlighted Services

This is a multiple select section meaning that you will have some functionality that you can take within the Content Editor (Side Panel) and you can use the variant selection icon to choose which variant you want to display. You will also need to use the Image Selection Tool depending on the variant you select.

Within the Highlighted Services section we have the ability to select up to 4 total Highlighted services. Whether you select from the default or create custom Highlighted Services we can only display 4.

When creating a custom service, you will need to first type in the name of the service then click the plus icon. You will then need to add a Label to display on the website, add Action Text, and type in the Target URL (Note: When you type in the page name, if you currently don’t have that page created in the site page section, you will need to add the page in the Site Pages section.)

Note: When switching between different card variants (Tall vs Short), you will need to make sure you are refreshing the images within the image selector tool because the size of the images are different between tall card vs short card.

For anything custom, you will have to include the design/FED team to make customizations.

As always there is a notes area to include additional notes for the design/FED teams.

Be sure to click the “Continue” button after using the tool so that it saves any work done.

 

Brand Display

Before starting this step, someone should have already enabled all the necessary brands/models within iCC RV Library for this dealers account. The RV library is what helps drive this feature within Sitesmith. Without the models enabled there would be nothing displayed in this section.

We want to ensure we have all the proper brands/models enabled prior to the call with the client so that they can see and validate that we have enabled all the correct brands.

If a dealer sells many different manufacturers on their lot, we will want to select the first option “Show manufacturer logos with brand listed in dropdowns.”

If a dealer sells one manufacturer we should display the second options “Show all brand logos (without manufacturers)” so it appears like they have more logos vs just showing on manufacturer logo.

It is up to the client what they want to do, but we should not have too many logos or too few logos displaying on the homepage.

As always there is a notes area to include additional notes for the design/FED teams.

Be sure to click the “Continue” button after using the tool so that it saves any work done.

 

 

Reviews

This is a multiple select section meaning that you will have some functionality that you can take within the Content Editor (Side Panel) and you can use the variant selection icon to choose which variant you want to display. You will also need to use the Image Selection Tool depending on the variant you select.

Within the Reviews section, you have the ability to add static reviews to the homepage. You can add a name, location, and a short review.

You also have the ability to link where the Read More Reviews would go to. You can link it to our default testimonials page or to a 3rd party review page.

As always there is a notes area to include additional notes for the design/FED teams.

Be sure to click the “Continue” button after using the tool so that it saves any work done.

 

Welcome Section

This is a multiple select section meaning that you will have some functionality that you can take within the Content Editor (Side Panel) and you can use the variant selection icon to choose which variant you want to display. You will also need to use the Image Selection Tool depending on the variant you select.

Within the Welcome To Section, you will be able to edit the Heading and add the body content.

As always there is a notes area to include additional notes for the design/FED teams.

Be sure to click the “Continue” button after using the tool so that it saves any work done.

 

Theme

Colors

 

Fonts

Listing Page

Detail Page


Review Screen