Create page component configuration types
The page component configuration types in Content Template Catalog were designed to be useful in a wide variety of cases. This flexibility results in configuration types that may be more complex or contain more fields than the authors need. Creating customized page component configuration types allows us to reduce the number of fields or provide more validation for less technical authors.
We can copy one of the existing authoring templates as a start to creating our own. If we re-use the header, footer, style sheet, and other elements, we can re-use some of the existing rendering code. Here are some examples of new configuration types:
- Provide a more specific interface for a particular type of design content For example, we could create an interface for authors who need to create an external advertising block. It would be similar to a Teaser, but with fewer fields and less complexity.
- Represent a new type of widget For example, we could create an image gallery. The Slideshow and Carousel components provide good examples for working with widgets. Both of these expect the supplied result design to write markup or data in a form the widget will use. A script in the footer then bootstraps the widget code into the page, and does any necessary setup – such as passing in the data and setting configuration parameters. The configuration of the widget is represented to the user as a series of fields with pre-defined selection values where appropriate.