When you use Hippo, content is created in the CMS. Then that content can be exposed in different ways, e.g. websites, mobile sites, RSS-feeds, RESTfull services etcetera. The first day of the training focuses on the CMS. Where and how content is stored, how it is published. The ease with which sets of content that are translations of each other can be set up is shown. Content is created using document types, so the editors can create general Text documents, News documents, Product documents and so forth. We will see how to create new document types very easily.

The CMS plugin architecture is explained. How to extend the CMS is shown by installing plugins from the Hippo Forge.

Hippo Repository 

All content and configuration in Hippo is stored in the Hippo Repository, which is an extension of the JCR repository. The inner structure of this repository is explained, with its nodes, nodetypes and properties. The difference between strict and relaxed node type definition is discussed, as well as the consequences of both approaches. 

Local development and deployment

It's essential to understand how to deal with creating and committing configuration during local development. Best practices are explained and used, including the useful feature of the Automatic Export. Extensive coverage of the deployment process is not part of this base training, but some consequences of deploying Hippo upgrades and content model updates are explained.

Expose content from the CMS using the Hippo Delivery Tier (HDT) 

In day 2 and 3 of the training we will work with the most obvious way to expose content from the CMS by creating and adapting a website. Building a website requires HDT configuration for hosts and sites. Also, a URL design and page configuration per site. The different components on a page have their own component class and template. How all these elements play their role in the complete render process is explained extensively for every element. HDT has many out-of-the-box tools, utilities and building blocks that support your work as developer. Which those are and how to use them is of course part of this training.

Multi-channel and Template composer

Hippo is suited to set up many channels from the same CMS instance. Each channel can expose its own content, for example when you have sites in different languages. Or multiple channels can expose the same content, but in a different way. We show the ways to get that done really fast, which parts of code and configuration you can share between channels and which parts need or can be channel-specific.

Faceted navigation

Faceted navigation is a important feature of Hippo, so we will see what it is and how to get it to work. In the Repository we will create configuration that builds a virtual tree for us that facilitates all the different paths or traversal along the facets. In the website we need a component and template that allows the user to traverse this tree.

This training requires Java knowledge. Experience with Maven and JSP helps, but is not a prerequisite.