How to Create a New Site from a Template

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Install WebMatrix
By downloading and using the Web Platform Installer (WebPI), you agree to the license terms and privacy statement for WebPI. This installer will contact Microsoft over the Internet to retrieve product information. Some of the Microsoft software obtained through WebPI may use Microsoft's Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP). To view which software uses CEIP, see here.

How to Create a New Site from a Template

WebMatrix offers a variety of site templates that make it easy to create a website. This tutorial shows you how to create a site using a WebMatrix template. It also provides an overview of the WebMatrix template gallery.

1. There are two ways to launch the template gallery.

a. On the WebMatrix start screen, select Templates.

b. Or, on the File tab, click New, and then choose Site from Template Gallery.

2. In the Site from Template window, select the template you want, and then click Next.

Note: When you select a template, a description of the site that the template creates is displayed. A default name for your website is provided in the Site Name box. You can enter a different name if you wish.

3. For you to run your website locally, some templates require technologies like PHP, MySQL, or Node.js to be installed on your computer. As appropriate, follow the steps to accept the license terms and install the required products.

4. After the installation completes, you can start customizing your website!

Template Gallery

Templates in the gallery are grouped by their underlying technologies. You can view the templates by technology, or browse all of them at once by selecting All.

The description of the available templates follows.

ASP.NET

Empty Site: This template creates a bare-bones website based on ASP.NET Web Pages. Use this template if you want to build your site's functionality from scratch.
Starter Site: This template gives you a site with that has a professionally designed layout and login system for your users.
Bakery: This template creates a site that has a database for your products, different ways to display them, and an order-processing system.
Photo Gallery: This template creates a site where you can upload and display images. The site includes a login system for users.
Personal Site: This template provides a personal home page that has a modern layout and options to integrate blog feeds, twitter, and flickr photos.

PHP

Empty Site: This template creates a bare-bones website based on PHP. Use this template if you want to build your site's functionality from scratch.
Starter Site: This template is built with PHP and MySQL. It gives you a professionally designed website that has a login system for users and a simple page management system.

Node

Empty Site: This template creates a bare-bones website based on Node.js. Use this template if you want to build your site's functionality from scratch.
Starter Site: This template creates a site built on Node.js and the Express framework. It includes examples of routing, middleware, and customer errors.
Express Site: This is a bare-bones website based on Node.js and the Express framework.

HTML

Empty Site: This template creates a bare-bones website that has a default html page. Use this template if you want to build your site's functionality from scratch.
Boilerplate: This is a community-contributed template that uses best practices to build a professional and robust website based on HTML, CSS, and Javascript.