Domains and branches

This article covers how domains and branches work in Finalsite Composer, including how to create a branch and why a branch cannot be selected as a navigation starting point.

In this article

• Domains
• Branches
  • Create a branch
  • What branches can and cannot do
  • Using a branch for navigation
• Choosing between a branch and a page

Domains

Composer can manage more than one website at a time, including sub-sites that exist within an organization's main website.

Each individual site is referred to as a domain. Website names such as finalsite.com are called domains when created, bought, and sold. Each domain a school controls can be added to Composer and managed independently.

Clicking a domain reveals its contents for editing.

Branches

Domains are organized into pages and branches. Pages with sub-pages saved under them show a small triangle icon; clicking that triangle reveals the sub-pages without selecting the parent page. Branches are identified by the small branch icon along their left-hand edges that turn blue when selected.

Clicking any branch, or any page with sub-pages saved beneath it, expands that section so any sub-page saved there can be selected.

Branches organize site content logically without impacting the structure of the site. Branches do not affect the web addresses of pages saved within them. They exist strictly to organize pages on the back end. Pages do not have to be saved within a branch.

Common uses for branches include grouping linked pages and vanity URLs, holding a site's Website Instructions, and separating production content from staging or archive content.

Create a branch

Branches are created at the domain level, from the Pages panel of the Composer left navigation. There is no option to create a branch beneath an individual page.

• Step 1: In the Composer left navigation, select Pages and hover over the domain that will hold the new branch.

• Step 2: Click the three-dot menu, then select New Branch.

  

• Step 3: Give the branch a name that describes what it holds, such as Redirects or Footer links, then save. The branch name is visible only to admins, so it does not need to read as a page title.
• Step 4: Add pages inside the branch the same way pages are added anywhere else. Hover over the branch, open the three-dot menu, and select New Page. For the full page workflow, refer to Create and manage pages in Composer.

What branches can and cannot do

A branch is a container, not a page. That distinction carries practical consequences that are easy to miss.

Branches can:

• Group related pages on the admin side, in any arrangement.
• Be expanded, collapsed, and reordered in the page tree.
• Hold pages, sub-pages, and linked pages at any depth.

Branches cannot:

• Be published, viewed, or linked to. A branch has no URL and never appears on the live site.
• Change the URL of any page inside it. A page address is unaffected by which branch holds it.
• Be selected in a page picker. Anywhere Composer asks for a page, including Navigation element start levels, Internal Redirect targets, and Reuse Content sources, branches are not offered as options.
• Carry settings that cascade to the pages inside them. Settings such as Hide from navigation elements are set per page, not per branch.

Using a branch for navigation

Because a branch cannot be selected in a page picker, no setting points a Navigation element at one specific branch. This comes up most often after a branch of linked pages is built and those links need to display together as a footer menu or a quicklinks list.

The only branch-aware start option in the Navigation element is Starts [X] Levels Below Current Branch, and current means the branch containing the page the element sits on. In a footer banner applied across an entire site, that resolves differently on every page and never returns the linked-pages branch consistently.

Two approaches produce the intended result.

Use a hidden container page instead of a branch

This approach keeps the menu dynamic, so adding a linked page updates the footer everywhere automatically.

• Step 1: Create a regular page to act as the container, named Footer links for example, at the top level of the site.
• Step 2: Open the container's Page Settings gear icon, select the General tab, and enable Hide from navigation elements so the container itself stays out of site menus. The page tree then shows diagonal gray lines across the page title.
• Step 3: Move the linked pages under that container page as sub-pages. Hover over a page, open More Actions, and select Move to a New Parent.
• Step 4: Add a Navigation element to the footer banner and set Starts 1 Level Below Selected Page, choosing the container page.
• Step 5: Set Ends 0 Levels Below Starting Level for a flat list of links, or 1 to 5 levels for a nested menu.

Build the menu from manual links

Footer links that rarely change do not need a dynamic menu at all. A Content element holding hand-entered links is simpler to set up and gives exact control over wording and order. Saving that element as a shared element means one edit updates every instance of it across the site.

The branch of linked pages stays exactly as it is. It continues to manage the vanity URLs, and the footer links to those addresses directly.

Choosing between a branch and a page

For more detail on how start and end levels are calculated, refer to Set up a Navigation element.