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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.

The following table illustrates the concepts involved:
Part of the webpageUnderlying conceptTemplateSchema
The webpage itselfPage (top-level Region)Page TemplatePage Schema (a type of Region Schema)
An area on the webpageRegionnoneRegion Schema
A piece of contentComponentComponent 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

Depending on how your organization has set up publishing, the use and function of Templates is as follows:
  • 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.

For example, a Page or Region may be constrained to contain:
  • 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
If your organization uses a template-based publishing model, the Page or Region may also be constrained to contain:
  • 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.