Real World Content Modeling: A Field Guide to CMS Features and Architecture

Too often, content models are developed with no consideration of the system in which they have to operate. This book is an examination of how content actually gets modeled inside a CMS -- what features and architectures are available to translate a theoretical domain model into something that a CMS can manage. If you're looking for a CMS, what features should you look for? Does your current CMS measure up to the state of the market? What is possible in content modeling at this point in the industry?

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• About this Guide
• How a CMS Helps (Or Hinders) Your Content Model
• The Anatomy of a Content Model
• Eval #1: What is the built-in content model?
• Timeout: What's the difference between built-in and custom?
• Eval #2: Can the built-in model be extended with custom content types?
• Timeout: Opinionated Software
• Eval #3: What built-in attribute types are available?
• Timeout: How Content Is Stored
• Eval #4: How is content represented in the API?
• Eval #5: How can attribute values be validated?
• Eval #6: How is the model supported in the editorial interface?
• Eval #7: Can an attribute value be a reference to another object?
• Timeout: Let's Evaluate the Current Level of Functionality
• Eval #8: Can an attribute value be an embedded content object?
• Eval #9: Can custom validation rules be built?
• Eval #10: Can custom attribute types be created?
• Eval #11: Can attribute values repeat?
• Eval #12: Can types be formed through inheritance or composition?
• Eval #13: Can content objects be organized into a hierarchy?
• Eval #14: Can content objects inherit from other content objects?
• Eval #15: What is the relationship between "pages" and "content"?
• Eval #16: Can access to types and attributes be limited by user permissions?
• Eval #17: How can rich text fields be structured?
• Eval #18: What options are available for dynamic page composition?
• Eval #19: What aggregation structures are available to organize content?
• Timeout: What Is and Isn't Considered "Content"?
• Eval #20: How can types be changed after object creation?
• Eval #21: How does the system model file assets?
• Eval #22: By what method is the content model actually defined?
• Eval #23: How does the system's API support the model?
• Conclusion
• Postscript: Thoughts on Model Interoperability
• About the Author