Migration to the new, Region-based Page design
SDL Tridion Sites 9 deprecates the old, "flat" Page design in favor of a new, Region-based Page design. You can choose to continue using the deprecated feature, but because it may be dropped in the next release, you may want to migrate already to the new functionality.
In the old Page design, only the Page Template determines the number, type and location of Component Presentations on a published webpage. This makes the Template developer responsible for the layout and type of content on the published webpage.
In the new design, a Page is divided into Regions (which may contain further Regions), each of which can restrict the number and type of Component Presentations within it. This makes the Page editor responsible for the layout and type of content on the published webpage.
- Region Schema design
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Analyze your current Page Templates to find out how they divide the published webpage into physical areas (regions) such as a main content area, a sidebar, a footer and so on, and the types and number of Component Presentations that are allowed in each area.
Use this information to create, for each existing Page Template, a corresponding Page Schema (that is, a Region Schema for the entire Page), with further Regions defined inside it, each with their own Region Schema. As part of defining these Region Schemas, you also specify how many Component Presentations are allowed in each Region, which Schema or Schemas they can be based on, and which Component Template or Compontent Templates they can be rendered with.
- Page Template rewrite
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Modify your current Page Templates so that it no longer performs the logic now encoded in the Region Schemas, such as checking Schemas and Component Templates.
Additionally, modify your Page Templates to gather up Component Presentations from the Page's Regions, rather than directly from the Page itself. SDL Tridion Sites 9 includes a new Template Building Block to help you do this.
- Training Page editors
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When you roll out the new setup in your production environment, explain to your Page editors what this change means for new and existing Pages:
- When creating a new Page, in the Design tab of the Page dialog, authors should place Component Presentations in Regions, which will automatically enforce the restrictions placed on each Region.
- When modifying an existing Page, in the Design tab of the Page dialog, authors should use the cut-and-paste feature to move Component Presentations from the top (Page) level into the Regions where they belong. Depending on how strictly you defined the Page Schema, Page editors may only be able to save the Page after they have moved all Component Presentations out of the top level.