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Content Manager items used in template-based websites

Users publish one or more items in Content Manager, and the template-based publishing pipeline combines the items to create the content displayed in an SDL Tridion Sites-based website. With the legacy template-based publishing framework, this includes templates that render the content on the website.

The following is a list of the main items in the Content Manager that combine to produce web content:
Component

In Content Manager: A versioned item that is a basic building block of web content (without any design elements) that can be displayed in a webpage.

In Content Delivery: Does not exist as a separate entity.

Component Template

In Content Manager: A versioned item that visualizes (some or all of) the content contained in a Component. Component Templates can also include scripting that adds dynamic behavior to the Component.

In Content Delivery: Does not exist as a separate entity.

Component Presentation

A Component Presentation is the result of combining a Component with a Component Template. It is a basic piece of visualized, publishable content, in the form of an HTML fragment, possibly with script code added.

In Content Manager: Component Presentations do not exist as versioned or named items in Content Manager, and they are not located in any Folder, but they are entities that a user can add, remove, move or preview in the user interfaces.

In Content Delivery: If the Component Presentation was rendered using a Dynamic Component Template, the result is a Dynamic Component Presentation. Dynamic Component Presentations are stored as separate entities in the database. But if the Component Presentation was rendered using a normal (static) Component Template, the result is not stored separately, but added to the Page(s) on which it occurs.

Region

Regions are groupings of Component Presentations or of other Regions.

In Content Manager: Regions are not versioned items in Content Manager, but they can be managed on a Page.

In Content Delivery: Regions are identifiable areas of the webpage.

Page

In Content Manager: A Page is a container for Regions or Component Presentations. Technically, a Page is a special type of Region (one which cannot be contained in another Region).

In Content Delivery: Pages do not exist as separate entities, but the result of combining a Page with its associated Page Template and populating it with Regions and/or Component Presentations results in a webpage.

Page Template

In Content Manager: A Page Template defines how to render a Page (but not how to render the Components on the Page). A Page Template can include information on the look and feel of the webpage, how to render a header, footer, navigation controls and so on.

In Content Delivery: Page Templates do not exist as separate entities, but the result of combining a Page with its associated Page Template and populating it with Regions and/or Component Presentations results in a webpage.

Structure Group

In Content Manager: A Structure Group is a versioned item that can contain only Pages or other Structure Groups.

In Content Delivery: Structure Groups take the form of web folders on the website. Depending on your implementation, the Structure Group hierarchy on Content Manager can be the basis for your navigation hierarchy on the website.

Categories and Keywords

In Content Manager: Categories are versioned items that contain a flat list or tree of Keywords, also versioned items. Keywords can be applied to virtually any type of versioned item in Content Manager.

In Content Delivery: Categories and Keywords are entities on the Content Delivery side and can be used for a variety of purposes on the website, such as filtering content, creating a navigation structure, and so on.