This post is Part 2 of a 5-part series: Architecting Widgets in Sitecore.
You can navigate to other posts in this series by clicking on the links below. You can always refer back to Part 1: Introduction, key questions and terminology for any clarification around Sitecore terminology used in this series.
- Part 1: Introduction, key questions and terminology
- Part 2: Clean and Simple: Using a rich text area
- Part 3: Usability Plus: Using the Page Designer
- Part 4: Mix n’ Match: Building a widget library
- Part 5: Ultimate Flexibility: Complementing the Page Designer with a data source
In this post, we will be looking at how a rich text area field can provide the simplest solution for adding widgets to your Sitecore build.
Clean and Simple: Using a rich text area
Implementation: Easy
Content Authoring Process: Medium
The simplest scenario for using widgets in Sitecore 6 involves setting up your right-hand column as one big rich text area. In this case, content authors are responsible for creating widgets themselves within the Sitecore rich text editor, using editing options (such as tables) to create the appropriate layout. This, of course, requires some skill with web layout and/or HTML, as content authors will likely have to edit the source HTML to set the correct CSS classes. There isn’t any short-cut option here, as it’s not recommended to cut and paste Javascript or embedded objects (such as video players) in the source code of Sitecore’s Rich Text Editor (which will strip out any existing scripting).
* A developer can custom-code the layout to walk up the content tree and display the same widgets on child items as its parent item. However, along with the custom development requirement, this option has another caveat: The repeated items do not exist as independent items in the Sitecore content tree. Their repeatability is strictly code-level and can not be altered by a content author.
In this post, we’ve looked at how a Rich Text Area field can be used to implement widgets. Stay tuned for Part 3: Usability Plus: Using the Page Designer where we’ll explore how Sitecore’s Page Designer feature can be used to drag and drop widgets onto your web pages. Part 3 will be published on Tuesday, May 5.