# Site Builder

The Site area turns imported and computed project content into the public portal
structure. This is where you shape pages, navigation, and presentation before
you move to Publish.

## What this stage is for

Use Site to:

- edit shared pages such as the homepage or methodology
- configure collection pages
- organise navigation and page order
- check the live page preview while you edit

If you are not there yet, start with [collections.md](collections.md).

## 1. Edit shared pages

Use the main Site Builder view to shape the pages that define the public portal.

![Site Builder home page](../assets/screenshots/desktop/21.site-builder-home-page.png)

This is the right place to work on:

- homepage structure
- introductory content
- page order and navigation
- the overall feel of the generated site

## 2. Build the supporting pages

The Site area is not limited to the front page. Use it to document methodology
or other static pages that give readers context.

![Methodology page in the Site Builder](../assets/screenshots/desktop/22.site-builder-methodology-page.png)

Treat this stage as the editorial layer of the project: the part that turns raw
project outputs into a coherent site people can actually read.

## 3. Configure collection pages

Collections can also feed their own public-facing pages inside the site.

This is where the Collections stage and the Site stage meet:

- Collections defines the reusable outputs
- Site decides how they appear inside the portal

## Behind the UI

If you look at the project config directly, this stage mainly maps to the site
structure stored in `config/export.yml`. The desktop app keeps that complexity
behind the interface, but it helps to know that page and navigation edits are
driving the generated site definition.

## What comes next

Once the site structure looks right, move to [publish.md](publish.md) to build
the output, inspect the generated preview, and deploy it.

## Related

- [collections.md](collections.md)
- [preview.md](preview.md)
- [publish.md](publish.md)
- [../06-reference/configuration-guide.md](../06-reference/configuration-guide.md)