An Introduction to cPanels New Site Publisher

With the release of cPanel version 56 comes a new feature titled ‘Site Publisher’. While the name is a bit vague using the software is anything but that. In short, the site publisher is a remarkably easy to use “editor” that lets you get a quick website up in less than 5 minutes. Well, the first time may take you 5 minutes, but once you know what you’re doing it will take about 30 seconds to get the publisher working on any of your sites.

The site publisher adds (or overwrites) an index.html file to the root directory for the site(s) you’re working on. It also adds a font library, configuration file, and a sitemap but they use less than 2MB of space in total. Those files can be safely removed/overwritten at any time, they’re not critical for cPanel to continue functioning properly. You don’t need to worry about any of that though since everything you’re touching is done right through cPanel.

Accessing the publisher could not be easier. Like any function or feature in cPanel you just need to use the ever-present search to type ‘Site Publisher’. You’ll see the interface pop up, you give it a click, and just like that you’re on your way.

Click on the icon and you’ll be redirected to the publisher. Your first step is to select the domain name you’re working on. The list will be automatically populated from your existing addon/parked domains, so if you don’t see your site listed make sure you’ve added it to your account first.

Now that you’ve selected your domain you need to select a template. There are 3 simple options available: Personal, Business, and Under Construction.

Final step! All that’s left to do is fill out your basic information and you’re ready to publish. You can provide your name, a brief bio, your contact address / phone number, and even a Google Analytics tracker ID.

Once you’ve filled out all your info click ‘Publish’ and you’re good to go! The site is now live and your visitors will be greeted with an appealing and informational page. Sure beats those old ‘Hello World!’ HTML sites, doesn’t it?

If at any point you need to adjust your information or make any changes you can go through the same steps to complete the edits.

For the purpose of a basic site/splash page cPanel really nailed the essentials and presented it in a remarkably user friendly format. Even for the least technical of users the site publisher is a fantastic way to get a simple page up with all the information a potential visitor could need. We’ve already received positive feedback from our customers about this new feature and couldn’t be happier about cPanel finally supporting a native and easy to use site publisher.