Role of Schemas and Templates
Each part of the page is associated with a Schema, to define its structure and what it can contain, and, optionally, with a Template, to define how its contents will appear on the website.
Basic concepts
The webpage above is divided into several areas (indicated by the boxes with a dashed red line) which in turn contain pieces of content (indicated by the boxes with a solid red line). Note that the webpage itself is also an area.
| Part of the webpage | Underlying concept | Template | Schema |
|---|---|---|---|
| The webpage itself | Page (top-level Region) | Page Template | Page Schema (a type of Region Schema) |
| An area on the webpage | Region | none | Region Schema |
| A piece of content | Component | Component Template (template-based publishing only) | Component Schema |
So the image above shows a webpage (corresponding to a Page, which is a type of Region), divided into three areas (corresponding to Regions), containing a total of five pieces of content (corresponding to Components). Note that Regions are not separate items in Experience Space: you cannot create one in a Folder or Structure Group, like you would, say, a Component or Page. Rather, Regions are defined for you already in a Page, and you specify their contents.
Templates
- Page Templates define how a published webpage is generally constructed and behaves. In a template-based publishing model, the Page Template normally includes Template Building Blocks that define branding and other design elements.
- If your organization uses a template-based publishing model a Component Template defines how Components are displayed and behave on a webpage. In a template-based publishing model, the combination of the Component Template with the Component creates a publishable piece of content called a Component Presentation.
Ask your application administrator if your organization uses template-based publishing or templateless, data-only publishing.
Schemas
Pages and Regions are defined by their Page Schema or Region Schema, respectively. Such a Schema defines which, and how many, Regions and/or Components can be placed in the Page or Region. We call these the constraints of the Page or Region.
- no Components at all, only (a fixed set of) Regions
- no Regions at all, only Components
- at most three Components
- at most one Component
- only Components that are based on a specific Schema
- only Component Presentations that have been rendered with a specific Component Template
- only Component Presentations that are based on a specific Schema and have been rendered with a specific Component Template
- any number of Component Presentations, based on any Schema and rendered with any Component Template
Components are defined by their Component Schema (also simply called Schema). Such a Schema defines the structure of the content stored in a Component based on that Schema. We call these the fields of the Component.