About Blueprints

A blueprint, as its name suggests, is a design for one or more publications. A blueprint is, in fact, itself a publication, but unlike an ordinary publication, it contains templates and widgets instead of ordinary sections and content items. A blueprint is basically created in the same way as an ordinary publication, using the escenic-admin web application, but must have its Publication type set to configuration (see New publications.

All Widget Framework publications are based on a blueprint, and you can easily change the look and feel of a publication by changing the blueprint on which it is based. The blueprint on which a publication is based is defined by a parameter in its feature resource (blueprint.active). This means you can completely change the appearance of a publication by redefining this parameter (see Set Publication Blueprint).

A single blueprint can be shared by several publications, making it easy to maintain a consistent appearance across a family of related publications. Sharing a blueprint does not, however, enforce total conformity – the concept of template overlays (see Overlays) makes it possible to differentiate the members of a publication family in a controlled way.

The following illustration shows a Content Studio section tree containing a blueprint (partly expanded) plus ordinary publications: