Publication Steps and Best Practices

Last updated 4 months ago

This guide focuses on best practices for publication steps in Studio.

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  • Considerations for linked content
  • What to keep in mind when deleting content

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  • None. This is a concept guide

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Reading time: 6 minutes

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This guide is for Editors, Anyone interested in easing their publication processes in Studio.

Welcome to our guide on best practices for publication processes in CoreMedia Studio.

The following are general best practices. As with any best practice, there may be a specific scenario where the suggested course of action does not fit. Use your best judgment, and ask questions, if needed.

During Content Creation or Modification

Whether you are a content creator, editor, or manager, this guide aims to provide you with practical insights and actionable tips to maximize the potential of your CMS and deliver exceptional content experiences. Let’s dive in and unlock the power of efficient publication processes in Studio!

Clean Up Content As You Go

  • Remove all links to the content being deleted, including those in published content.

  • If unable to clean up immediately, wait to delete from Studio until a proper cleanup can be done.

  • Avoid saving content for later deletion as it leads to forgotten steps and frustration.

  • For example, if a new article is not to be published until next week, wait to link it to the homepage until then.

  • Use the Projects feature in the Control Room of Studio to manage content and release dates. See Section 4.7.5 Working With Projects in the Studio User Manual.

Approve Content for Publication When Ready

  • Avoid approving content too early, especially if it’s already linked to navigation.

  • Ensure the approved version is the desired one for production.

  • Consider using Projects for managing content approval and publication.

Publish Content Early in The Creation Process

  • If the site isn’t live yet, publishing early is harmless.

  • Approve and publish settings, themes, homepages, root pages, or content with many links at the beginning.

  • Republish manually as more content is created and linked. Note: Refer to the additional publication information below

Publishing - General Process Info and Tips

When publishing multiple pieces of content simultaneously, the publication workflows in Studio can become cumbersome due to extensive upfront checks. However, administrators have the option to publish content items directly from the library. - To do this, access the library, select a folder, switch to search view, choose all content items with Ctrl+A, and click the Publish button. - Alternatively, you can bulk-approve the search results by clicking Approve and then initiate the publication from an individual content item.

When publishing a content item, linked dependent content is automatically included in the publication set to avoid broken links. However, if the dependencies have been previously published, they won’t be automatically included in subsequent publication sets. They must be manually selected for inclusion.

If there are numerous layers of linked content across multiple locations, the resulting publication set can be substantial. To avoid issues, consider the following suggestions:

  1. Approve and publish as you go. Publish settings, themes, homepages, root pages, or any other pieces of content that will have a lot of links can be published at the beginning of content creation. As more content is created and linked, the content can be republished manually.

  2. Approve and publish child content first. Publish child content that has few or no dependencies. This can be tricky, as sometimes child content links back to the homepage.

Steps for Approving and Publishing a New Site or Set of Sites:

  1. Log in as an administrator.

  2. Publish all content items below /Settings using direct publication in the library. If you run into a timeout, you may need to complete step 4 first and return to step 2.

  3. Publish all content items below /Themes using direct publication in the library. If you run into a timeout, you may need to complete step 4 first and return to step 3.

    Now proceed one site at a time. Consider the size of each site and if content has already been published.

  4. Approve content within a site using the library. Choose one of the methods listed directly below. If the first try runs into a timeout, retry after a couple of minutes, searching for the still unapproved documents using the search filters.

    • For a small site with only a few hundred pieces of content, you can try approving the entire content set of the site.

    • For larger sites, if some content, especially root content, has already been approved or published, you can try approving the remaining content or large sections of content.

    • If nothing has been approved or published yet, approve the child content first. Start with child content that has few or no dependencies and move up the hierarchy.

  5. Search for the CMSite content item for the particular site and publish it. Because all other content items of the site are already approved, publication should succeed. While you can get smaller initial publication sets, this is a reasonable starting point.

    • If you choose to do smaller publication sets, start with content items with little to no links to other content items (for example, pictures, galleries, or site-local settings)

    • Next, publish content items with outgoing links (for example, teasers, articles, pages)

  6. Make sure all FolderProperties have been published. As these are not linked to other content, they need to be directly selected for publication.

  7. Search for unpublished content items in the site. Publish them in bulk or one by one. If you are unsure if some individual content items should be published, consider deselecting them in the library or moving them to another folder before publishing.

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