Content is created by authors and the model should allow them to easily craft content from the get-go. Complex and detailed structures may be in the requirements briefs but it might cause more harm than good by implementing everything to the dot.
You can involve stakeholders to discuss how complex structures might negatively affect the usability and the project outcome. Some of the requirements can be offloaded to other systems if they are not tightly related to content operations. Content creation can be a multi-step process where authors (employees with ideas) enter basic information and someone else (for example, editors, or creative writers) forms the actual content.Even if requirements can't be changed or the mind can't be shifted, there are options. Adding missing features needs a bit of creativity, but it can be done:
Missing Rich text features?
You can add embedded formatting options via components.
You can establish automatically applied formatting options by establishing agreed-upon conventions, which will be well described (using screenshots) in the guidelines element.
Missing configuration options?
Any configuration options can be added via a dedicated configuration content item or elements, which will then drive your desired behavior.
Keep the content model hierarchy as flat as possible (2–3 levels deep) to avoid loss of context for content creators. Another approach on how to battle context loss is by using Web spotlight for navigation purposes. This way, editors will know exactly in which context the content item appears.It's tempting to implement a domain model of all of your information, but bear in mind that this could hurt usability by over-complicating your content model. A content model should contain only useful information, so it's a subset of the domain model. That also means that even though schema.org can be used for sanity checks or inspiration, your content model shouldn't mirror it.Your content model needs to support your unique business requirements, which generic models usually don't support. And as with the domain model approach, schema.org contains a lot of information that may not be particularly useful for your business.
What's next?
Make your model extensible, maintanable, and adaptible
In a utopistic world, once you implement your content model, that’s it. In reality, it’s almost impossible to get it right the first time. However, you can implement certain techniques to make sure you can adjust your content model to fit your ever-changing needs.
