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Basic Content Manager concepts

For content authors, the most important building blocks for creating web content are Components and Pages, and the most important concept is BluePrinting, which manages content sharing and localizing between website Publications.

Components
Components define text or multimedia content.
Components are based on Schemas that define the kinds of fields you can specify.
While the Schema defines the fields to ensure consistent structure and content types, the Component Schema does not control the look and feel of the content on a published webpage. What does define the look and feel depends on how your organization has set up publishing.
Pages
Pages define web content. When you have created Components, you need to add them to Pages and publish these Pages, typically to a website.
Page Templates define how a published webpage is generally constructed and behaves. With the legacy template-based publishing framework, the Page Template also may define branding and other design elements.
Publications

A Publication organizes content using Folders and Structure Groups. Folders store content and design items, while Structure Groups store Pages.

You use a Publication to:
  • create, organize and manage content, layout and Pages
  • initiate workflow processes so that users create and edit items following a predefined set of Activities
  • share and reuse content from managed content items and connected external content libraries
  • create a site URL navigation structure through Structure Groups
BluePrinting

A BluePrint is a hierarchy of Publications in which Parent Publications share content with Child Publications. BluePrinting enables you to reuse structure, content, and design between Publications. The BluePrint panel shows you the BluePrint information for an item.

Child Publications can contain a combination of:

  • Shared items from Parent Publications (read-only items)
  • Local copies of shared items (editable copies of shared items created by localizing them)
  • Local items (items created in the Child Publication)