# Configuring website sections Source: https://docs.arcxp.com/en/products/arc-xp-administration/site-service/configuring-website-sections.html Use the Sections page in Site Service to add sections at the root of the website or as children of a parent section. Content is circulated, or published, into one or more sections in a website. In Arc XP, a site section is a content container within a website that organizes and categorizes content. It serves as a logical grouping within a website’s structure, typically used to manage content based on topics, themes, or content types. Site sections are part of your larger website hierarchy, which defines the organization and navigation of content on the site. For example, if your website is `example.com`, your sections might be `example.com/fashion` and `example.com/travel`. Each site section contains a name and ID. The section name is for display in Arc XP applications. The section ID is the Arc XP unique identifier and defines how the section may appear in your URL. For instance, an APAC news section might have the name _Asia Pacific News_ with the section ID of `/apac-news`. Overall, site sections help organize content in a way that makes sense for your website’s audience while supporting the logical flow of how you present content on your site. Sections can be customized to hold configuration information. This configuration information is collected through custom fields you create in the UI and add to a section’s edit form. See [Configuring section custom fields](https://docs.arcxp.com/en/products/arc-xp-administration/site-service/configuring-section-custom-fields.html). Examples of often used custom section fields include: - **Menu Title** \- the section name that you want to appear in your site navigation. - **Description** \- the website SEO description for use in the HTML metadata and `og` tags. - **Section About** \- an end user-facing description for use in the “about” page of the site. ## Scenario: organizing a website into sections An administrator of The Herald wants to divide the website into sections for news and sports content. The administrator wants content in these sections to have URLs that include `/news` and `/sports` after the domain. The administrator wants these segments in content URLs to be generated automatically, reading from information stored with the sub-directories themselves. After the administrator creates these sections, they can use the Canonical URLs application to create URL rules to enforce that section IDs are automatically applied. ## Procedures ## Creating a section To create a section, you must have a website in Site Service, see [Defining your organization’s websites](https://docs.arcxp.com/en/products/arc-xp-administration/site-service/defining-your-organization-s-websites.html). You open the Sections page from the Websites page. All section IDs begin with a forward slash (`/`). The number of forward slashes show the level of a section’s hierarchy. For example, `/sports` is a top level section; `/sports/volleyball` is a second level section. The root section of a website is simply forward slash (`/`). The root section is the parent of all first level sections you create. The root section can contain the same configuration information as other sections, if you add the custom fields to the root section’s form. However, the root section cannot be used to circulate content 1. Navigate to the **Site Service** app. The Websites page opens. 2. Filter for your website name if necessary: - Enter the website name in the search bar at the top of the Websites page. The list of sites filters to match your search term as you type it. Clear the search to reset the list. 3. Click your website name. The Sections page opens displaying a filterable list of sections in your website. NoteTo return to the websites page click **Switch Website** next to the website name above the sections list, or click **Websites** in the top menu. 4. Click **New Section**. The Create New Section page opens. 5. Complete the following fields: - **Section name** \- enter the display name of the section, for example, `Sports`. Section names can contain uppercase and lowercase characters from Latin and non-Latin alphabets, numbers, spaces and punctuation. - **ID** \- enter a unique identifier, often included as a path segment of content URLs, for example, `/sports` or _/sports/volleyball_. Section IDs can contain only lowercase Latin alphanumeric characters, underscores ( \_ ), dashes ( - ), and forward slashes ( / ). - **Website** \- a read-only field, displays the site this section is associated with. - Complete any additional fields configured to display on the form. NoteThe sections form shows additional items when you have created custom fields with a _default field_ property in the **Fields** page, or when you add custom fields to the form with the Edit Fields link at the top of the form.See [Configuring section custom fields](https://docs.arcxp.com/en/products/arc-xp-administration/site-service/configuring-section-custom-fields.html) for more information. 6. Click **Save.** ## Editing a section You can update an existing section as needed, but changes to a website or a section do not auto-populate to the existing Arc XP Native Specification (ANS) of a story, video, or gallery. To update the ANS of a story, video, or gallery with the updated fields, you must republish the content. If frequent changes occur, we recommend instead you include a call to the Site API in your content-source to override the outdated fields. 1. Navigate to the **Site Service** app. The Websites page opens. 2. Filter for your website name if necessary: - Enter the website name in the search bar at the top of the Websites page. The list of sites filters to match your search term as you type it. Clear the search to reset the list. 3. Click your website name. The Sections page opens displaying a filterable list of sections in your website. 4. Filter for your section name, if necessary: - Enter the section name in the search bar at the top of the Available items list. The list of sections filters to match the search term as you type it. Clear the search to reset the sections list. 5. Click **Edit** next to the section you want to update. The Editing section page opens. 6. Complete the following: - Update editable fields you want to change. NoteYou cannot edit the Section ID and website fields. - Add custom fields, see [Adding a custom field to a section](https://docs.arcxp.com/en/products/arc-xp-administration/site-service/configuring-website-sections.html#UUID-0833a31a-9908-60b3-50b2-20ccb3909c83%5FUUID-94f51687-9541-68af-2409-b7994b010beb). - Delete custom fields, see [Deleting a custom field](https://docs.arcxp.com/en/products/arc-xp-administration/site-service/configuring-section-custom-fields.html#UUID-f17623c0-584b-251b-949d-3a754d4344f7%5FUUID-dba433cf-e704-6b8e-ced3-3d25f48a22ec). 7. Click **Save.** ## Editing the root section The root section of the website can be customized to hold configuration information. 1. Navigate to the **Site Service** app. The Websites page opens. 2. Filter for your website name if necessary: - Enter the website name in the search bar at the top of the Websites page. The list of sites filters to match your search term as you type it. Clear the search to reset the list. 3. Click your website name. The Sections page opens displaying a filterable list of sections in your website. Your website name appears above the list of sections on the Sections page. 4. Click **(edit top section)**, next to the website name. The Editing section page displays. 5. Complete the following: - Update editable fields you want to change. NoteYou cannot edit the Section ID and website fields. - Add custom fields, see [Adding a custom field to a section](https://docs.arcxp.com/en/products/arc-xp-administration/site-service/configuring-website-sections.html#UUID-0833a31a-9908-60b3-50b2-20ccb3909c83%5FUUID-94f51687-9541-68af-2409-b7994b010beb). - Delete custom fields, see [Deleting a custom field](https://docs.arcxp.com/en/products/arc-xp-administration/site-service/configuring-section-custom-fields.html#UUID-f17623c0-584b-251b-949d-3a754d4344f7%5FUUID-dba433cf-e704-6b8e-ced3-3d25f48a22ec). 6. Click **Save.** ## Deleting a section You can delete sections beneath the root section, if they are _without_ child sections. 1. Navigate to the **Sections** page. 2. Filter for your section name, if necessary: - Enter the section name in the search bar at the top of the Available items list. The list of sections filters to match the search term as you type it. Clear the search to reset the sections list. 3. Click **Delete** next to the section you want to delete. NoteOnly sections _without_ child sections display the Delete button. ## Managing child sections Every section can have child sections that represent even more granular divisions of your website. For example, you may want subsections under `/sports` for `/sports/football` and `/sports/rugby`. 1. Navigate to the **Sections** page. 2. Filter for your section name, if necessary: - Enter the section name in the search bar at the top of the Available items list. The list of sections filters to match the search term as you type it. Clear the search to reset the sections list. 3. Click **Create Child Section** to add a new child section. The Create New Section page opens. 4. Complete the following: - Update editable fields you want to change. NoteThe ID field is seeded with the parent sections ID. You can add to the ID or the UI will complete the ID value automatically based on the section name. - Add custom fields, see [Adding a custom field to a section](https://docs.arcxp.com/en/products/arc-xp-administration/site-service/configuring-website-sections.html#UUID-0833a31a-9908-60b3-50b2-20ccb3909c83%5FUUID-94f51687-9541-68af-2409-b7994b010beb). - Delete custom fields, see [Deleting a custom field](https://docs.arcxp.com/en/products/arc-xp-administration/site-service/configuring-section-custom-fields.html#UUID-f17623c0-584b-251b-949d-3a754d4344f7%5FUUID-dba433cf-e704-6b8e-ced3-3d25f48a22ec). 5. Click **Save.** The Sections page opens. 6. Click your section name to view its list of child sections. NoteSections with child sections are clickable in the list, and do not display a Delete button. Sections without children are not clickable and display a Delete button. ## Adding a custom field to a section While you are editing a section, you can add or delete custom fields to the edit form. 1. Navigate to the **Editing section** page. 2. Click **Edit fields**. The Optional fields panel opens from the left side of the Editing section page. 3. Filter for your field name if necessary: - Enter the field name in the search bar at the top of the Optional fields panel. The list of fields filters to match the search term as you type it. Clear the search to reset the fields list. 4. Click ![icon_plus.jpg](https://docs.arcxp.com/images/learning-center/image/img-9a72b3b6e81c8bdb53ee73b1150761ff.jpg) next to the field you want to add: The field appears in the form at a location described in the field’s configuration. See [Configuring section custom fields](https://docs.arcxp.com/en/products/arc-xp-administration/site-service/configuring-section-custom-fields.html) ## Removing a custom field from a section While you are editing a section, you can add or delete custom fields to the edit form. 1. Navigate to the **Editing section** page. 2. Click **Edit fields**. The Optional fields panel opens from the left side of the Editing section page. 3. Click ![icon_delete.jpg](https://docs.arcxp.com/images/learning-center/image/img-04214b6739567e1d34839da03048b5c3.jpg) next to the custom field you want to delete. The field immediately disappears from the section form, reappearing as an item in the Optional fields panel.