Pages and Postings

Pages and Postings

Pages and postings are closely related. Indeed, from the perspective of content contributors using the Web Author application, the difference is not apparent. When they switch to the mode in which they can edit the site, they are presented with commands like Create New Page and Create Connected Page. In this process, both pages and postings are created, but from the author's perspective, it is just a new page.

When a content author using Content Management Server 2001 uses the Site Builder application to create new pages, the differences between pages and postings will be more apparent. (Note that the Site Builder application is not even available in Content Management Server 2002; it has been renamed Site Manager, and has been re-factored as a tool for site administrators only.) In the Site Builder application, content authors begin by creating pages in the folder hierarchy, choosing the appropriate page template upon which to base the page. The author then adds content to each of the placeholders in the page template, such as by dragging or copying and pasting, text from another application such as Microsoft Word. The author can also set page properties, including custom properties, to establish the page as having certain characteristics. Eventually, the author submits the page that he or she has created to be approved by an editor.

At some point, a posting must be created for the new page. In the Site Builder application, the author might create the posting prior to submitting the page to an editor for approval, or the author might let the editor create the posting for the page during the approval process. In any event, a page cannot appear on the Web site unless it has been posted. In the Web Author application, the page and the corresponding posting are created at the same time.

A posting is a page that has been assigned to a channel, which specifies the location within the Web site where the page will appear. Postings have some other properties that serve to extend the properties associated with the corresponding page. For example, postings are assigned lifetime properties, such as the date at which they should first become available on the Web site, and the date or duration after which they should no longer be available. Other properties can be used to mark a posting as important, hidden, and subject or not to crawling and indexing by Web robots.

Note that in Content Management Server 2002, there will be no distinction made between pages and postings. Essentially, what are "pages" in the 2001 version will now move behind the scenes in the 2002 version, and what are "postings" in the 2001 version will be called "pages" in the 2002 version.

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