Which should we use static or editable templates

[arjuns71585267]

Hi everyone,

Actually this is a simple question. As the editable templates are introduced( but seems little confusing since it comes to just drag and drop for me), I am more versed to static templates since I am an HTML developer also. My question is which should be  actually used from version 6.3 onward and which one is recommended by Adobe also?

I would require some detailed explanations on using the OOTB components in an editable page with parsys in action which will be very helpful. Any detailed answers on this question is admirable.

Thanks!

[Jörg_Hoh]

The whole idea behind editable templates is to require less developer work, and give more abilities to the (knowledgable) authors.

Jörg

[smacdonald2008 · Accepted solution]

From 6.3 on - Adobe recommends that you use editable templates. You should use editable templates, set policies (that control which components are authorable (in the page) in the layout container) and then set fixed components (like footers and headers) in the editable template.

For more information about editable templates - see these:

1 - Adobe Experience Manager Help | Creating an Adobe Experience Manager 6.4 website using Editable Temp...

2 - Scott's Digital Community: Guided Journey for Experience Manager on Editable Templates

3 - Getting Started with AEM Sites - WKND Tutorial

Hope this helps...

[Jörg_Hoh]

There are usecases for static templates, even with editable templates being available. But it's not absolutely necessary anymore to ask an developer to create a template and wait until it's deployed. Many of the usecases of templates can be solved with editable templates.

Jörg

[samanthajb]

Hi Joerg and smacdonald2008 - A few questions:

1. Can you provide some sample use cases where we would use both static and editable templates in our offering?
2. Also what kind of maintenance is required to offer both static and editable templates? Does it make deploying updates to components and pages more difficult?
3. Does the parent-child relationship get broken if one is on a static template and the other is on editable?

[Jörg_Hoh]

1) Often you have templates which serve a more "administrative" purpose, for example site settings. Or other cases where the design does not matter that much. These are still cases for static templates. But for the most internet-facing pages editable templates are a good choice.

2) Regarding deployment: You need to understand that in the case of editable templates it's nearly impossible to deply editable templates anymore, because they are now supposed to be changed on runtime. That means, you need to package them on PROD and install the package on lower environments to have proper test data (you should do the same for other "content" as well).

3) What do you mean with "paren-child relationship"? The "allowedParent" property should work as designed. So: no.

HTH,

Jörg

[samanthajb]

Thank you. This helps.

One last question - Is a migration tool of sorts available to help migrate pages that are on static templates to be on editable templates available?

I saw Adobe was considering offering this. Though I understand the complexity, especially with custom components in use.

We have hundreds of thousands of pages we have on static templates. It would take years to manually migrate them. By that time, editable templates may be replaced with new technology. Any suggested strategy for approaching this issue?

[Jörg_Hoh]

Are you referring to the AEM Modernzation toolkit [1] ?

[1] GitHub - adobe/aem-modernize-tools: A suite of tools to modernize your AEM Sites implementations off...

[samanthajb]

I checked with our dev team. Yes. Though do you know if that has been tested against editable templates? E.g. moving content from one component within static to another component editable?