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Blueprints

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Blueprints are powerful templates that allow you to standardize content creation across your website. They provide a consistent structure while allowing for customized content, significantly speeding up your content production workflow.

What Are Blueprints?

Blueprints in Optimizely CMS are predefined templates that contain a specific arrangement of content blocks/elements. For example, if your blog posts typically follow the same structure with components like:

  • HeroBlock
  • InfoBlock
  • ContactBlock

You can create a blueprint with these blocks already arranged in the correct order and with the proper settings.

Benefits of Using Blueprints

Faster Content Creation

Instead of building each page from scratch, content editors can simply select the appropriate blueprint and focus on filling in the content. This dramatically reduces the time needed to create new pages.

Consistency

Across Your Website Blueprints ensure that all pages of a certain type maintain the same structure and appearance, creating a cohesive user experience throughout your website.

Simplified Workflow for Content Editors

Content editors don't need to remember which blocks to add or how to arrange them - the blueprint provides a ready-to-use template with the approved structure.

How to Use Blueprints

  1. Create a Blueprint: Set up a page with the desired blocks and structure
  2. Save as Blueprint: Save this arrangement as a reusable blueprint
  3. Create New Content: When creating new content, select the appropriate blueprint
  4. Customize Content: Fill in the specific content for each block while maintaining the structure

Example Use Case

Let's say you run a blog where each post follows the same structure:

  1. A hero section with a featured image and headline
  2. An information section with the main article content
  3. A contact section with author details

Instead of recreating this structure for each new blog post, you can:

  1. Create a blueprint with these three blocks already arranged
  2. When creating a new blog post, select the Blog Post blueprint
  3. Simply fill in the specific content for that post This approach allows you to create content at a much faster pace while ensuring all your blog posts follow the approved template structure.

Best Practices

  • Create blueprints for commonly used page types
  • Include all necessary blocks in the correct order
  • Set default values where appropriate
  • Document the purpose and usage of each blueprint
  • Review and update blueprints as your content strategy evolves

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