Custom Site Templates How-To

Question

I'm absolutely not opposed to doing a good deal of reading on this topic, so feel free to recommend online (and offline) resources that I might consult that provide the kind of information I'm seeking here. In any case, here is my issue...
I have been asked to develop "custom site templates" for an existing SharePoint 2013 (on-prem) environment where the vast majority of the site collections that are likely to ever be are already provisioned. My [admittedly feeble] understanding
of the "proper" way to do site templates is to reference the master pages and style library and such that exist at the site collection root for subordinate sites that are hosted within that site collection. Buuuuut, when the site collections already
exist (i.e. you aren't creating them using a customized template that contains all that information), what is the best practice approach to handling and applying these customizations?
I will point out that I am equipped and willing to manage these custom templates using VS (2013), but if that's not entirely necessary, then I'm as willing to avoid that... ;)
If someone could get me started on the right approach or point me in the right direction, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thank you.

Answer 1

Hi Ramz_dc,
In addition to the default templates, you can create your own site template based on a site you’ve created and customized in SharePoint. This is a powerful feature in SharePoint that allows you to create a custom solution and then share that solution with
your peers, the broader organization, or outside organizations. You can also package the site and open it in another environment or application like Microsoft Visual Studio and further customize it there.
Take a look at the below links
OOB site template
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint-designer-help/save-a-sharepoint-site-as-a-template-HA101782501.aspx
Visual Studio
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/ff408263%28v=office.14%29.aspx
http://sharepoint.stackexchange.com/questions/55544/how-to-create-and-apply-custom-site-template-for-sharepoint
http://sharepoint.stackexchange.com/questions/63141/how-to-create-a-custom-web-template-not-a-site-definition-or-import-a-saved-tem
http://www.fpweb.net/support/microsoft-sharepoint/tutorials/sharepoint-2013/customization/create-site-template/#
Daniel Christian (MCTS)