Shared Content On AEM

How to share content across pages on the a site built on AEM.

This article details the option to create content that can be shared across other pages on a site being built in AEM.

The OPPORTUNITY

This can be a simple typical use case for most authors on AEM (or any Content Management System). Write once, Use it across the site.

But how do it that in AEM? And without the need for a developer?

Some examples:

• It’s like Header, Footer of a website. These are common across every page while the source of the content is done at one place.
• A disclaimer to be shown on some pages at the end of the page (not footer)

The PROBLEM

Why is this even a problem in AEM? It is such a typical use-case and AEM is such a sophisticated CMS.

The problem lies in the way AEM structure its Pages, Components and Content.

AEM is built on top of JCR (Java Content Repository using Apache Jackrabbit implementation which is a part of Apache Sling).

AEM — (runs on) →Apache Sling — (uses) → Jackrabbit (for data store)

So the process would be to Create a Page, Add components to it, Add content. And this content stays in that Page’s node. Now if we create another page, it is a new node. This way content is tightly bound to components placed on pages and does not live freely.