Custom Site Definition in SharePoint

Steps to create custom Site Definition
1. Log on as an administrator
2. Browse to C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\TEMPLATE\SiteTemplates.
Copy STS folder-> Paste it at same place -> Rename it as TIGER.
3. Open the folder Tiger
4. Search for default.aspx
5. Open default.aspx in notepad.
6. Modify code. Here we need to add code for site definition.

Default.aspx
<%@ Page language="C#" MasterPageFile="~masterurl/default.master"   
Inherits="Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages.WebPartPage,Microsoft.SharePoint,Version=12.0.0.0,Culture=neutral,
PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %>
<%@ Register Tagprefix="SharePoint" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %> <%@ Register Tagprefix="Utilities" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.Utilities" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %> <%@ Import Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint" %> <%@ Register Tagprefix="WebPartPages" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %>

<asp:Content ID="Content1" ContentPlaceHolderId="PlaceHolderPageTitle" runat="server">

          <SharePoint:EncodedLiteral runat="server" text="<%$Resources:wss,multipages_homelink_text%>" 

EncodeMethod="HtmlEncode"/> - <SharePoint:ProjectProperty Property="Title" runat="server"/>

</asp:Content>

<asp:Content ID="Content2" ContentPlaceHolderId="PlaceHolderPageImage" runat="server"><IMG 

SRC="/_layouts/images/blank.gif" width=1 height=1 alt=""></asp:Content>

<asp:Content ID="Content3" ContentPlaceHolderId="PlaceHolderPageTitleInTitleArea" runat="server">

                    <label class="ms-hidden"><SharePoint:ProjectProperty Property="Title" 

runat="server"/></label>

</asp:Content>

<asp:Content ID="Content4" ContentPlaceHolderId="PlaceHolderTitleBreadcrumb" runat="server"/>

<asp:Content ID="Content5" ContentPlaceHolderId="PlaceHolderTitleAreaClass" runat="server">

<style type="text/css">

TD.ms-titleareaframe, .ms-pagetitleareaframe {

          height: 10px;

}

Div.ms-titleareaframe {

          height: 100%;

}

.ms-pagetitleareaframe table {

          background: none;

          height: 10px;

}

</style>

</asp:Content>

<asp:Content ID="Content6" ContentPlaceHolderId="PlaceHolderAdditionalPageHead" runat="server">

          <META Name="CollaborationServer" Content="SharePoint Team Web Site">

          <script type="text/javascript">

          var navBarHelpOverrideKey = "wssmain";

          </script>

</asp:Content>

<asp:Content ID="Content7" ContentPlaceHolderId="PlaceHolderSearchArea" runat="server">

          <SharePoint:DelegateControl runat="server"

                   ControlId="SmallSearchInputBox" />

</asp:Content>

<asp:Content ID="Content8" ContentPlaceHolderId="PlaceHolderLeftActions" runat="server">

</asp:Content>

<asp:Content ID="Content9" ContentPlaceHolderId="PlaceHolderPageDescription" runat="server"/>

<asp:Content ID="Content10" ContentPlaceHolderId="PlaceHolderBodyAreaClass" runat="server">

<style type="text/css">

.ms-bodyareaframe {

          padding: 0px;

}

</style>

</asp:Content>

<asp:Content ID="Content11" ContentPlaceHolderId="PlaceHolderMain" runat="server">

          <table cellspacing="0" border="0" width="100%">

            <tr>

             <td class="ms-pagebreadcrumb">

                   <asp:SiteMapPath SiteMapProvider="SPContentMapProvider" id="ContentMap" SkipLinkText="" 

NodeStyle-CssClass="ms-sitemapdirectional" runat="server"/>

             </td>

            </tr>

            <tr>

             <td class="ms-webpartpagedescription"><SharePoint:ProjectProperty Property="Description" 

runat="server"/></td>

            </tr>

            <tr>

                   <td>

                    <table width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 style="padding: 5px 10px 10px 10px;">

<tr>

<td valign="top" width="100%" colspan="3">

<WebPartPages:WebPartZone runat="server" FrameType="TitleBarOnly" ID="Top" Title="loc:Top" />

</td>

</tr>

                     <tr>

                      <td valign="top" width="70%">

                                <WebPartPages:WebPartZone runat="server" FrameType="TitleBarOnly" ID="Left" 

Title="loc:Left" />

                                &nbsp;

                      </td>

                      <td>&nbsp;</td>

                      <td valign="top" width="30%">

                                <WebPartPages:WebPartZone runat="server" FrameType="TitleBarOnly" ID="Right" 

Title="loc:Right" />

                                &nbsp;

                      </td>

                      <td>&nbsp;</td>

                     </tr>

                    </table>

                   </td>

            </tr>

              <tr>

              <td valign=”top” width=”100%” colspan=”3”>

                 <WebPartPages:WebPartZone runat="server" FrameType="TitleBarOnly" ID="Bottom" 

Title="loc:Bottom" />  

              </td>

              </tr>

          </table>

</asp:Content>
7. Register new site definition to SharePoint.
8. Open the folder
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\TEMPLATE\1033\XML
9. Copy the file WEBTEMP.XML and save it as WEBTEMPTIGER.xml. here make a note that , we need to append name of folder which we created in step 2 ( in this case it is tiger) to WEBTEMP. So here name would be WEBTEMPTIGER.xml
10. Open WEBTEMPTIGER.XML in notepad and replace it with following content.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<!-- _lcid="1033" _version="12.0.4518" _dal="1" -->

<!-- _LocalBinding -->

<Templates xmlns:ows="Microsoft SharePoint">

  <Template Name="TIGER" ID="10009">

    <Configuration ID="1" Title="Tiger Definition" Hidden="FALSE" ImageUrl="/_layouts/images/Eye.GIF" Description="Tiger Site." DisplayCategory="Custom" AllowGlobalFeatureAssociations="False" >    </Configuration>

  </Template>

</Templates>

Make sure here ID should be greater than 10000. It must not collide with id of any other Site Definition.
11. Restart IIS. Go to Start->Run->IISRESET
12. Now you would be able to see this Site Definition inside Custom category.