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What is the main differences between site definition and site template?
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A site definition is the basic blueprint for a site, including how it looks, what lists it contains, default
navigational structures, and so on. You normally create a site definition by hand-editing CAML. HR12061301 Software
3 Development Engineer (C#,
WPF/MVVM)
A site template can be created from within the Sharepoint application, and is basically a "diff" between Red Bull Technology
the site definition and any changes made since the site was created. A site template is based on the Milton Keynes, United Kingdom
underlying site definition, which means that if you create a new site from a template, and later change the
underlying site definition, you run the very real risk of irreversibly screwing up your site. Principal Product Manager -
Amazon Instant Video: Playback
A best practice is to configure a minimal site definition that, once created, is never modified again, and Amazon
Seattle, WA / relocation
use site templates to store reusable customizations.
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share | improve this answer answered Dec 8 '10 at 19:35 revolutionising the $33b
Bob Black Signkick
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Related
2 How do you create a new
site template for my
sites?

2 SharePoint - Determine
the Site Definition used to
Feature Stapling create a Site Template
Site Definition: Supported (.STP)
1 Site Template: Not supported
1 custom site definition
Multiple webs template wss 3.0
Site Definition: Can provision multiple webs.
Site Template: Can only provision one web. 2 Sharepoint - How to
Complexity agregate Announcements
Site Definition: Complex to create from sub-sites onto main
Site Template: Easier to create site
Permissions
Site Definition: Requires admin access to server for deploying. 0 Sharepoint site template -
Site Template: Installable from a Web UI by site owners. feature scope
Performance 2 Building sites besides
Site Definition: Files are on disk, better performance. sharepoint site template
Site Template: Files are in database, less efficient.
2 How to integrate a feature
share | improve this answer edited May 21 '12 at 12:51 answered May 21 '12 at 12:29 in SharePoint 2010 site
Peter Lang Prasanth KRN template?
23.4k 9 61 93 78 5
0 what is difference
I tried to edit your answer for better readability, but I am not familiar with this topic. Could you please check that between site definition
this is still what you wanted to say? Peter Lang May 21 '12 at 12:52 and web template?

ok good editing but previous also same answer iam giving simple answer finally thanks for editing 0 difference between team
Prasanth KRN May 21 '12 at 12:57 site and community site
and project site

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sharepoint - What is the main differences between site definition and site template? - Stack Overflow 12/28/2013

sharepoint 2013?

1 Unable to create
There are lots of main differences. Depends on what you are looking for: sharepoint site from
migrated site
0 Deciding Between Custom Web Templates and Custom Site Definitions: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en- template(.wsp)
us/library/aa979683.aspx

share | improve this answer answered Dec 8 '10 at 9:47 Hot Network Questions
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Site Definitions versus Site Templates and deciding on the correct customization approach - Brian Wilson - Site Home - MSDN Blogs 12/28/2013

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Brian Wilson 13 Jul 2008 2:02 PM 6

Options
Site Definitions Blog Home
A site definition is the core definition of what a site is in SharePoint. About
A site definition is installed on file system of web front ends, located at ..\12\Template\SiteTemplates. This directory Email Blog Author
is language-neutral. Share this
A site definition consists of .aspx pages and .xml files with Collaborative Application Mark-up Language (CAML). RSS for posts
A major benefit is that the Page and List definition is read locally from the file system, not from Content Database. Atom
A site definition Page and List definition are cached at IIS process startup
RSS for comments
Customizations made to site definition are stored in content database, not on the file system. This can be performed
via SharePoint Designer, or when custom site templates are saved.
are developer created Search
Localization: WSS 3.0 supports full site template localization (based on ASP.Net 2.0 via XML files and .ASPX files
pulling strings from RESX files. Therefore solutions can be shipped language packs of resource files. Search MSDN with Bing
Global Template defines commonality across site definitions; it gets called before any other template. It works by
injecting common provisioning content into all new sites. ONET.XML file defines base types, galleries, mobile Search this blog Search all blogs
redirects
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architecture CodePlex branding

Deployment development
Event Handlers Features field
General How To infrastructure integration

language pack list definition list template MOSS

2007 MO SS Custom Admin Pages Search site

definition site template Starter Kit UK

SharePoint Team user experience W eb Parts

WSS
Site Definitions and Configurations - http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa978512.aspx Archive
CAML - http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms462365.aspx
January 2009 (1)
Site Template July 2008 (8)
A site template (*.stp file) is created through the user interface or through implementation of the object model. It is February 2008 (1)
a package containing a set of differences and changes from a base site definition. August 2007 (1)
March 2007 (3)
The site template package is stored as a CAB-based file that can be downloaded or uploaded to site collections by February 2007 (1)
users with the appropriate rights. As before, site templates offer a measure of portability to SharePoint January 2007 (1)
Applications.

It is not as performant as a pure site definition as site definitions are cached on start of IIS on the web front ends
while site templates are stored and hence need to be fetched from the content database and merged with the site
definition code at runtime to render the site.

Also note that if you plan to transfer a site template to separate farm, that the farms have the same versions
installed of SharePoint installed. (hotfixes,etc.) This is due to the dependence site templates have on the original
base site definition they were created from.

Deciding Between Site Definitions and Custom Site Templates

See : http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa979683.aspx

When choosing whether to create a site template or a site definition, first consider the following issues:
Are the changes you need to make simple or complex? If, for example, you need to make only minor changes in

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/brianwilson/archive/2008/07/13/site-definitions-versus-site-templates-and-deciding-on-the-correct-customization-approach.aspx 3/5
Site Definitions versus Site Templates and deciding on the correct customization approach - Brian Wilson - Site Home - MSDN Blogs 12/28/2013

the look of certain pages and add a few fields in particular lists, you should create a custom site template.
However, if you need to create new content types, add new Web Part definitions, and significantly restructure sites,
you should create a custom site definition.
Can you deploy changes to the front-end Web server? If you do not have access to the file system of the
computers running Windows SharePoint Services, you have no choice but to create a custom site template.

Custom site definitions hold the following advantages over custom templates:
Data is stored directly on the Web servers, so performance is typically better.
A higher level of list customization is possible through direct editing of a Schema.xml file.
Certain kinds of customization to sites or lists require use of site definitions, such as introducing new file types,
defining view styles, or modifying the Edit menu.

Site definition disadvantages include the following:

Customization of site definition requires more effort than creating custom templates.
Editing a site definition after it has been deployed is difficult.
Doing anything other than adding code can break existing sites.
Users cannot apply a SharePoint theme through a site definition.
Users cannot create two lists of the same type with different default content.
Customizing site definitions requires access to the file system of the front-end Web server.

Custom templates hold the following advantages over customization of site definitions:
Custom templates are easy to create.
Almost anything that can be done in the user interface can be preserved in the template.
Custom templates can be modified without affecting existing sites that have been created from the templates.
Custom templates are easy to deploy.

Custom template disadvantages include the following:

Custom templates are not created in a development environment.
Custom templates are less efficient in large-scale environments.
If the site definition on which the custom template is based does not exist on the front-end server or servers, the
custom template does not work.

WSS, MOSS 2007, architecture, development, site definition, site

template

Comments

13 Jul 2008 2:43 PM #

PingBack from http://blog.a-foton.ru/2008/07/site-definitions-versus-site-templates-and-deciding-on-
the-correct-customization-approach/

petronella mhishi 21 Jul 2008 11:51 AM #

Hi

You can create custom templates in development . You need to deploy them see example of how to
deploy a list template here

You can also do the same for site templates

http://www.sharepointblogs.com/tonstegeman/archive/2007/07/10/deploy-a-sharepoint-list-template-
to-sharepoint-mysites.aspx

Ven 7 May 2009 11:39 AM #

Excellent Article ...Hats-off.. Looking forward to more articles like this from you in future

Chalapathi 18 Aug 2009 3:23 PM #

Hello,

As part of SharePoint rollout in our company, we are in the process of developing custom site
definitions/templates for team sites, project sites etc

We understood that new site definitions/templates required configuration (adding new views to lists,
adding webparts to pages etc) can be built in three ways. They are

Custom site template (do all the required configuration in a site and store it as .stp file to be used to
recreate sites)

Custom site definition (do all the required configuration in onet.xml of a custom site definition in 12
hive)
Feature ( do all the required configuration in a dll through object model and attach the dll to Feature, to

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/brianwilson/archive/2008/07/13/site-definitions-versus-site-templates-and-deciding-on-the-correct-customization-approach.aspx 4/5
Site Definitions versus Site Templates and deciding on the correct customization approach - Brian Wilson - Site Home - MSDN Blogs 12/28/2013

be called when a new site is created using Feature site template association)

Instead of preferring option 2. above, we are leaning more towards option 3. (actually combination of 2.
and 3. with bare bones site definiton) as this would help change the site definition ( by changing the dll)
without touching the site definition files in 12 hive ( best practice from MS is not to touch the site
definition files in 12 hive once site collections are created). This would help us in the version
management of site definitions.

But while preferring option 3., we are facing some challenges in doing the required configuration
(changing some webpart settings) through code.
So, do you have any idea if combination of 1. and 3. will be robust enough? By combination, I mean
doing most of the changes in the custom template (option 1. above) and include some changes into
Feature (option 3.) which are not doable through custom template.

From the best practice perspective, do you suggest the above combination of 1. and 3. or you think it is
better to go with 2. and 3. (with all the configuration done through code and just a bare bones site
definition in 12 hive this would require more time to resolve our challenges but will prefer if this is the
best way to go.)?

With Regards,

Chalapathi

Florin 22 Sep 2009 4:42 AM #

Very nice post, however a few comments:

I agree with you that site definition are harder to develop but I do not agree that it is difficult to change
after it has been deployed. I say this mainly thinking at feature stapling (I have seen on the MS site that
changing site definitions already in use is not supported fo feature stapling is the only solution left :)).

I always leave the onet.xml file blank and I only set the list of site/web features to be activated by default.
By doing this I have never seen the issue you mentioned about 2 lists of the same type (I have never tried
using SharePoint themes directly in the site definition, but I think it should be possible).

Also, 3 important points about site definitions/templates comparison :

- site templates cannot be multilingual

- you cannot create a site template from a publising site (actually it works, if you use the correct Url but I
think it is not supported, the link to create a site template is removed in the site admin page)

- you cannot create a site template for the root site of a site collection (at least I haven't found a way to
do it)

- using site templates require extra work when working with multiple site collection/web application
(you have to manually/automatically deploy the .stp files in the gallery)

Arun Kumar Arora 12 Apr 2012 7:05 AM #

Excellent Post..This is what I was looking for.. Thanks

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