Website mode lets you present a space as a public website with automatic site navigation, a header area, and a footer area. Use it when you want your program, community, or course to have a polished public home without building a separate site.
Before you start
Enable website mode
Open the space you want to use as your website home.
Make sure you are in edit mode.
In the design toolbar, select Layout.
Turn on Website mode.
When website mode is enabled, the layout panel shows a focused set of options: Website mode, Show spaces in page, Hide Sutra header, and Wide page.
How site navigation works
When you enable website mode, Sutra automatically builds site navigation from your space's sidebar structure. The child spaces listed in your sidebar become navigation links in the website header for visitors.
In edit mode, you still see the sidebar so you can manage your spaces and content. In view mode and for visitors, the sidebar is hidden and the navigation appears in the header instead.
You can control whether each child space appears in the navigation by adjusting its visibility setting. Click the 3 dots in the sidebar next to the space and select the option you want (show in document, show in nav bar, neither or both).
Edit mode vs view mode
In edit mode, managers see the full editing interface with the sidebar, design toolbar, and content editor. In view mode, managers see the same clean website that visitors see — with the site navigation in the header and the sidebar, page title, and breadcrumbs hidden.
Use Preview website in the top actions bar to open the view-mode website in a new tab. This shows exactly what visitors will see.
Edit the website content
Edit the page content the same way you edit a regular Sutra space. Use the website header area for site-wide branding or links, and the website footer area for information that should appear on every page.
If the site header or footer has been moved into the document body, a notice appears with a Restore button. Click Restore to move it back into the website shell.
Website root
The top-level space where you enable website mode becomes the website root. Its configuration — navigation structure, header, and footer — cascades to all child spaces within the site. Child spaces inherit the root's website shell automatically.
Set up a link or domain
Share the website using the standard Sutra space link. You can customize the space's Sutra subdomain from the space settings.
For a full custom domain, confirm the setup requirements with Sutra support before changing DNS records.
What happens next
Website mode affects the public view of your space. Registration, checkout, and private access pages still use their own flows, so visitors can register or pay without the website header and footer appearing.