Electric Citizen Compares Subsite and Microsite Options

Smaller web experiences inside large organisations require decisions about structure, governance, and long-term ownership, according to Dan Moriarty’s Electric Citizen post, Subsite and Microsites, published on 16 June 2026. The post explains how cities, universities, marketing teams, and other organisations can decide whether a focused project, campaign, department, event, or content area needs a subsite, a microsite, a separate platform, or only a redirected URL.

Dan defines a subsite as a section of an existing website that usually lives at a path, such as city.gov/artfair, and can share the main CMS while using its own navigation, branding, or layout. A microsite is described as a more distinct experience, often with its own domain or subdomain, separate identity, navigation, and design. The post notes that Drupal can support both approaches within a single installation, including microsites with separate branding and domains, using tools such as the Domain module or custom implementation.

The article compares several implementation paths: using SaaS products such as Wix or Google Sites, building within the existing CMS, launching a new CMS, or setting up a URL redirect when only a shorter or branded address is needed. It also points to Electric Citizen’s work for the City of Santa Barbara, where branded microsites for departments such as Parks, the Public Library, and the Airport run inside one Drupal installation while using separate subdomains. For long-term management, the post recommends tracking each site’s name, URL, purpose, domains, costs, hosting, software, content owner, access, security owner, publishing dates, and archive plan.