SP Online (o365) Tenant : Public Site

 

Architectural Considerations for a public facing office 365 SharePoint Online site :

Often my o365 clients who have the need for a public site have asked me to look into the option to use the default public site that comes in with the subscription. based on the below facts and changes by Microsoft architects should consider the below before utilizing what we have out of the box ..

With the new changes in place for o365 I wanted to collate all the information related to public SharePoint sites so that we can make an educated design / architectural consideration for utilizing the existing Public site feature of SP Online.

Since January 2015, Microsoft is making changes to the SharePoint Online Public Website feature. Customers who currently use this feature will continue to have access to the feature for a minimum of two years after the changeover date of March 9, 2015. New customers who subscribe to Office 365 after the changeover date won't have access to this feature. Moving forward, Office 365 customers will have access to industry-leading third-party offerings that will enable them to have a public website that provides a complete online solution and presence.

Why is Microsoft making this change?

As part of the evolution of the Office 365 service, Microsoft periodically evaluate the capabilities of the service to make sure that Microsoft's delivering the utmost value to customers. After careful consideration, they concluded that for public websites, Office 365 customers would be better served by third-party providers whose core competency is public websites. Therefore, they’ve made the difficult decision to discontinue the SharePoint Online Public Website feature so that they can focus their efforts and investments on delivering capabilities in Office 365 that will bring more value to their customers.

What does this mean for existing Office 365 customers?

Currently, the SharePoint Online Public Websites feature is primarily used by a small percentage of Office 365 customers for their own external-facing websites. Office 365 customers who currently use the SharePoint Online Public Website feature will continue to have access to the feature for a minimum of two years after the changeover date of March 9, 2015.

Moving forward, these customers will have the option of subscribing to third-party solutions for public website functionality. These customers should plan to move to one of the third-party solutions within the next two years.

What does this mean for new Office 365 customers?

As of the changeover date of March 9, 2015, Microsoft will no longer offer the SharePoint Online Public Website feature to new customers. New customers who subscribe to Office 365 after the changeover date won't have access to this feature. Instead, they'll have the option to subscribe to third-party solutions by using links from Office 365.

How will this change be communicated to Office 365 customers?

All Office 365 administrators who have provisioned SharePoint Online will receive a notification of this change in the Office 365 Message center.

Website hosting partners for Office 365

Office 365 works with other providers to let you create and host a public website to use with Office 365. The partner sites offer access to tools and services that let you create a full-featured website solution, with special discounts available to Office 365 customers who come to their sites using links from Office 365.
Important   You must go to the partner sites using the links provided in Office 365. Sign in to your Office 365 account, and follow the steps here. The discounts are not available if you go directly to the partner websites.
The following website hosting companies currently partner with Office 365.

• GoDaddy
• Wix.com

The partner site offers are supported for most Office 365 customers and markets. If a website partner does not support your country's currency, you'll be directed to the partner's US English website.
If you have questions, there's more information about changes to SharePoint Online Public Websites.

http://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-confirms-it-is-dropping-public-website-feature-from-sharepoint-online/


Here is an online article providing more information about public-facing website in Office 365.

Get started with the Public Website

SharePoint online limitations for boundaries:
SharePoint Online: software boundaries and limits

1.  Not being able to manage the Site Collection features, i,e. Not able to configure public site to use standard functionality like templates, features etc.
2.  A majority of web parts are not available in the public site collection. i.e. CWQP , “Content Search Web Part etc. 
3. Manage Site Collection Features: The link and the page are missing for a public website.
4. Manage Site Features: The link and the page are missing for a public website.
5. Site Content Types: The link and the page are missing for a public website.
6. Site Columns: The links is missing for a public website you can access the page by using the following URL: [URL]/_layouts/15/mngfield.aspx.
7. Solution Gallery: The links is missing for a public website you can access the page by using the following URL: [URL]/_catalogs/solutions/Forms/AllItems.aspx.
8. Web Part Gallery: The links is missing for a public website you can access the page by using the following URL: [URL]/_catalogs/wp/Forms/AllItems.aspx.
9. List Template Gallery: The links is missing for a public website you can access the page by using the following URL: [URL]/_catalogs/lt/Forms/AllItems.aspx.
10. Term store management: The link and the page are missing for a public website.
11. The Variations feature is available for SharePoint Online Enterprise (E1), SharePoint Online Enterprise (E3 & E4), SharePoint Online Midsized Business, SharePoint Server 2013 Enterprise. If you have another license, e.g. Small Business etc. then you don’t have that feature.

The only sub site templates that can be used on the online version are:

• Team Site
• Basic Search Site

Reference  : https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3027254