How the CMS is organized

The CMS rests on three rules. The rest of this guide refers back to them.

1. A page is an ordered list of blocks. A page has no single large text field holding its body. The page is assembled from separate components, called blocks: a heading, a passage of rich text, an image, a table, a call to action. Each block is added, filled in, and dragged into the position it should be read in.
2. Every save creates a new version, and versions are kept. Saving does not overwrite the previous state of the page. It records a new version alongside the earlier ones, so any earlier state of the page can be brought back, and saving again never destroys earlier work.
3. Saving and publishing are separate actions. A saved version is a draft, which only signed-in staff can see. The published version is the one visitors see. A published page can also hold a newer, unpublished draft; the public site keeps showing the published version until the draft is published.