Contribution Model

As with the presentation model, the contribution side of Site Studio Web sites separates site content from presentation, as shown in Figure.

Contribution Model for Site Studio Web Sites

Description of Contribution Model for Site Studio Web Sites

When site contributors decide that they want to edit the contents of a web page, they press a key combination to reload the page in contribution mode. (The default key combination is Ctrl+Shift+F5, but this may be modified.)

After a page is in contribution mode, all contribution regions (that is, editable areas) on a web page are marked and underlying code has been added to the page to identify what placeholder is associated with the contribution region. Based on this information, Site Studio can establish what placeholder definition and region definition are used for the placeholder. The region definition identifies the structure of the content in the contribution region in terms of its constituent data segments (elements). Each element has an element definition, which defines what editing options are available to contributors for the element.

When the contributor decides to edit the content in a contribution region, its associated contributor data file is checked out of the content server. The structure of the data file matches that of its associated region definition in terms of number and types of elements. The data is loaded from the data file and presented in the Contributor editor. Each element in the data file is presented as an editable element in the editor, with the editing features as defined in the element definition for the element type.

When the contributor is done editing and clicks the save icon in the Contributor editor, the data file is updated and checked into the content server again. The web page is then updated in accordance with the site update schedule.

Please note that the Contributor editor always shows all elements in the region definition (and hence, data file) associated with a contribution region, even if they are not used in that particular region. The other elements may be used elsewhere on the Web site, so editing that information may affect other pages on the site.