Setting up a new site

There are two ways to create a new site in Blueprint: using the site editor in your browser, and using the command-line interface. Both methods can be used locally, but only the latter method can be used remotely.

Using the site editor in your browser

To set up a new site, start the Blueprint server and go to http://localhost:3000 in your browser. Blueprint will dock automatically and the sites admin interface will load:

You'll see all the sites you currently have on this computer (if any), and, beneath that, an option to create a new site. Click 'new' to begin the process.

Give your site a name, and enter the domain it will live at when it goes live. You can also enter an alternative domain or domains - this is useful if you intend to use a staging server for demonstrating the site to your client before it's finished. It could be a sub-domain of the real URL (like 'test.inventivelabs.com.au') or a sub-domain of your own business domain ('clientX.yourbusiness.com.au').

Under 'advanced options', enter your repository details (if you don't know what this means, skip it for now!), and enter your own details.

You then need to select the different Blueprints your site will use. See the complete list of available Blueprints if you need help deciding which ones you'll need for this site.

Click 'create site' and you're done - your new site will be activated in the browser, and a folder containing all the default templates for your site will have been created under blueprint/sites.

If you want to check your new site into your sites repository to make it available to other users, or for deployment to a server, you'll need to run rake site:specify for the domain from the command-line.

Using the command line interface

If you prefer messing around on the command-line, you can also create a site and define its properties via your console.

In your console, go to the /blueprint directory and type rake:site:specify. Follow the prompts to create your new site.