How do you use Sitecore SXA to create reusable components and layouts?

Imagine you're building a website for a company that sells various products. Instead of designing a unique header, footer, and navigation for each product page, you create reusable components for these elements. Now, whenever you add a new product page, you can simply apply these components, ensuring a consistent look and feel across the entire website. Additionally, by using reusable layouts to define the page structure, you can easily maintain a cohesive design while saving time on development. #Sitecore #SXA

In Sitecore, reusable components refer to modular and encapsulated pieces of content or functionality that can be used across different pages or areas of the site. These are typically created using Sitecore's renderings, such as view renderings, controller renderings, or Sublayouts (in older versions of Sitecore). These components can be configured with dynamic data, making them adaptable for various contexts. The primary goal of reusable components is to ensure consistency and efficiency. For example, a news article component can be created once and used on the homepage, in news sections, and even within other content types while dynamically pulling in the relevant content.

I believe one of the biggest roadblocks to SXA is the Enterprise Architect / Engineering Manager who doesn’t allow leaders to deploy SXA. Every time I see a business/ IT leader request to enable SXA, I have observed resistance by the the very people who are supposed to enable it. This resistance ends up making Sitecore practically useless and deteriorates any value it could have delivered. I wish @Sitecore challenged these Engineers who undersell it and simply say “It’s complicated and just not feasible” when you simply ask them to leverage SXA.

In Sitecore Experience Accelerator (SXA), crafting reusable components involves using its toolbox to design custom or pre-built elements that maintain consistency and functionality across various pages or sites. These components are easily configurable, ensuring adaptability without the need for duplication. Similarly, reusable layouts define page structures with placeholders for components, ensuring consistent design and ease of implementation across different pages or sites. SXA's approach streamlines development, fosters consistency, and simplifies maintenance for efficient web development practices.

Empowering your Sitecore projects with reusable components is a game-changer. Dive into the Experience Accelerator toolbox, a treasure trove of pre-built components waiting to transform your web design journey. Navigate effortlessly through categories like media, commerce, and more in the Experience Editor mode. Unleash your creativity with custom components using the Creative Exchange feature—seamlessly import and export HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files. Elevate your development experience and embrace the art of reusability with Sitecore's innovative tools. #Sitecore #SXA

Reusablilty is the core benefit of Sitecore and by using SXA, we get Shared Site terminology within a Tenant, which allow to create Shared Page design, Shared Partial design, Share themes along with OOTB SXA component to create multisites very quickly. Feature like rendering variants also help to get different view of components which is shared across the Sites under same Tenants. This all benefits make Sitecore SXA, a very powerful accelerator.

Sitecore Experience Accelerator (SXA) introduces a robust grid system for crafting reusable layouts. Seamlessly integrated into the Experience Editor mode, the SXA grid offers a flexible structure of rows and columns, providing developers with the tools to arrange components effortlessly. #Sitecore #SXA

The full recipe to create reusable layouts in Sitecore SXA: Create a Page Template: Go to Templates > Project > Your Project Folder, create a new template, and define sections and fields. Create a Layout: In Layouts > Renderings > Project, create a layout, define placeholders, and set it as the default layout in the template's standard values. Create Partial Designs: Go to Partial Designs, create new designs, and add components/placeholders. Set Up Page Designs: In Page Designs, create designs, reference partial designs, and assign as default for specific templates. Apply Layouts: Under Site Grouping, configure layouts and partial designs for different site sections. Test: Use Experience Editor to preview and optimize for performance.

Be careful what you take from AI generated articles on Sitecore, like the parent I’m replying to. For example, Templates and Layouts are very specific entities in Sitecore. A Page Design is neither of those, and it is not managed on the presentation tab.

Now you can apply these reusable components in Experience Editor: Open Experience Editor: Navigate to the page you want to edit in the Content Editor and click on "Experience Editor." Select a Layout: Click "Design" in the ribbon, then choose "Select Layout" to apply a predefined layout to the page. Add Reusable Components: Click "Add Here" within any placeholder, then select from the available reusable components in the toolbox. Configure Components: After adding a component, click on it to access its settings and configure it according to your needs. Save and Preview: Save your changes and preview the page to ensure everything displays as expected.

The Experience Editor in Sitecore serves as a visual playground for direct, user-friendly editing of website components and layouts. It offers a convenient, point-and-click interface where users can swiftly modify properties, styles, data sources, and personalize elements. This real-time editing tool ensures quick adjustments while maintaining consistency and reusability across the site. Ultimately, it empowers users to efficiently fine-tune and customize their web content without the need for extensive technical know-how.

Testing your pages could include the following steps: 1. Preview the page: after adding components, click "Preview" in the Experience Editor to see how it looks on various devices and screen sizes. 2. Test components functionality: Interact with components (ie. links, forms) to ensure they behave as expected. 3. Check placeholders: verify that components are correctly placed within their designated placeholders and that the layout matches the intended design. 4. Enable "Debug" in the ribbon to see placeholder names and verify component bindings. 5. Test layout across different pages and components to ensure reusability and consistency. 6. Cross-browser testing: preview in different browsers to ensure compatibility and responsiveness.