Glossary

This glossary provides an overview of Xperience by Kentico terminology you may encounter when using the product or reading the documentation. The intended audience is all roles interacting with the system, from technical (developers, administrators) to business users (content editors, marketers).

You don’t need to learn all these terms by heart, but you can use the tables below as a reference if you encounter a new phrase while working with the system. If you think an important term is missing from this reference, leave us feedback via the Send us feedback button at the bottom of the page.

General

Term	Description
Administration	The Xperience administration interface is a graphical interface for Xperience functionality that allows you to set up and configure websites and manage their content. Users manage websites via applications within the interface. In the background, the administration application accesses and modifies the database shared with the live site application.
Application	Applications group together features and related functionality. They display information related to the encapsulated functionality and enable related tasks and configuration. For example, the Languages application allows you to manage and configure languages for the content of your project’s channels.
Application dashboard	The application dashboard is the first page you see when signing in to the Xperience administration. The dashboard provides quick access to applications. Applications and objects on the dashboard have the form of tiles. You can return to the dashboard from any part of the system by clicking the Home icon in the administration header.
ASP.NET Core	ASP.NET Core is an open-source framework for building web applications. ASP.NET Core framework supports the MVC architecture and other modern approaches.
Code name	A code name refers to text that serves as a unique identifier of an object in Xperience. Most objects also have a Display name – human-readable text displayed in the administration. Code names for certain objects can be pre-filled by a value generated from the Display name or, alternatively, can be set manually.
Continuous Integration	Continuous Integration allows users (usually developers) to serialize data from the database into XML files on the file system. These files can then be added to a source control system and used to synchronize database data between different Xperience instances.
Cookie level	The cookie level is a scale used to implement cookie policy in Xperience. The cookie level set for each visitor controls which cookies get stored in their browser, as different cookies used by the Xperience system require different cookie levels.
Dancing Goat	Dancing Goat is a sample website project that showcases the features of the Xperience platform. Suitable for evaluating or demonstrating the capabilities of the system.
Deployment environment	In the SaaS environment, you can deploy to either QA, UAT, or PROD deployment environments. Each deployment environment holds a single isolated application instance.
Display name	A display name refers to the text displayed in the administration interface to identify an object or interface element. Most objects also have a Code name – a unique identifier for the object in the system.
Event log	The event log is an application that allows administrators to view important actions and events that happen in the system, for example, authentication attempts or various errors.
Live site application	An application that provides a presentation layer for the content managed by Xperience.
SaaS environment	A Kentico-managed Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) providing deployment environments. See Deploy to the SaaS environment.
Xperience Portal	Use Xperience Portal, available at xperience-portal.com, to access Xperience Portal projects and the applications deployed in the SaaS environment.
Xperience Portal project	An Xperience Portal project provides access to the applications deployed in the SaaS environment. Access the Xperience Portal project to manage the application deployments. See Xperience Portal.

Content management

Term	Description
Website channel	Website channels encapsulate websites managed by Xperience. Each channel is an independent entity with its own domain name configuration and content management. Channels store content in pages and linked content items. Every website channel has its own application in the Xperience administration, where content editors create and edit pages.
Content model	A content model documents all the content that an organization produces. It should cover every piece of content used for your online presence: content used on your website, applications, different marketing channels, etc.
Content type	Content types define a blueprint for any piece of content that editors produce. Each content type defines a specific structure and fields for inputting and storing data. Typical content type examples are articles, news, or product pages. Website structure can also contain content types that represent much smaller pieces of information, such as videos, addresses of offices, or user testimonials. These content types are often repeated in different places or contexts across the website, thus making the content reusable. In Xperience, content types also enable page features of content items, such as content tree-based routing or Page Builder.
Content item	Content items are a universal and reusable way of working with content managed in the Content hub application. Content items are pieces of structured content (text, images, other linked content items, etc.). Each content item is based on a content type, which specifies the fields and features of the content item.
Content item asset	Content item assets are content items of certain content types that allow content editors to upload and store various types of files, for example, photos, pictures, sound files, videos, package files, presentations, or documents. You can reuse assets stored in the Content hub throughout the system.
Headless channel	Headless channels encapsulate content that is intended to be served using HTTP requests and GraphQL. Such headless content can be displayed or otherwise consumed by various types of applications, services or websites (e.g., mobile apps, external websites, single-page applications running within Xperience, etc.). Every headless channel has its own GraphQL API endpoint, which is secured by one or more API keys. Each channel also has its own application in the Xperience administration, where editors can manage content intended for headless distribution.
Headless content item	Headless items store content that is intended for distribution through a headless API (GraphQL). The items may also reuse content from Content hub that is shared between all types of channels.
Item status	Each page, content item, headless item and email has a status that describes its current position within the content life cycle. This can be a specific workflow step, another status such as Untranslated or Archived, or a sending status for regular emails.
Language	Languages are system objects that enable content editors to create multilingual content. Once languages are configured in the Languages application, content can be translated in the Content hub or in channel applications. Instances of content items (pages, emails, reusable content) translated into various languages are referred to as language variants of said content item.
Media library	Media libraries allow you to store various types of files, for example, photos, pictures, sound files, videos, package files, presentations, or documents. You can reuse files stored in media libraries throughout the system.
Page	Pages are a special type of content item created in a website channel. A page in the system usually corresponds to a page on your website. Pages can contain Page Builder content or structured content within their fields and can be accessed via a URL.
Rich text widget	The Rich text widget allows editors to add styled content to Page Builder pages.
Tag	Tags are keywords assigned to individual pieces of data. Tags can be assigned to individual pieces of content for multiple purposes including but not limited to modeling relationships, categorization, and organization and classification of data. Tags are defined in a hierarchical structure in a taxonomy.
Taxonomy	Taxonomies are structured collections of tags that organize and categorize data into hierarchical relationships. Each taxonomy contains a hierarchical structure of related tags. Examples of taxonomies are clothing colors (white, black, blue…), car fuel types (petrol, diesel, hybrid…), and PC features (external GPU, disc drive, tower size…).
Workflow	Worklows allow you to customize the life cycle of content types by adding custom workflow steps between the default Draft and Published steps. You can use workflows to set up content approval processes tailored specifically to your editing flow.
Workflow step	A step represents a specific phase within a workflow, which can include both custom steps and predefined steps such as Draft and Published.

Page Builder

Term	Description
Component	Page Builder components are the building blocks of the Page Builder interface. They include widgets, page templates, sections, and personalization condition types.
Component configuration properties	Component properties are variables that allow content editors to customize a component’s behavior or modify its content directly in the Page Builder interface. Developers define these properties when developing individual Page Builder components.
Editable area	Editable areas are the top-level layout elements that limit where the Page Builder interface is available. Developers define editable areas in the code of page or template views.
Editing component	The documentation uses the term editing components when referring to UI form components used as editors for the values of other component properties. For example, a text input form component becomes an editing component when used to edit a widget property via the widget’s configuration dialog.
Inline editor	Inline editors are interactive Page Builder elements that allow content editors to enter or select the values of widget properties within the output of the related widget. They can be used as an alternative to or in combination with the property configuration dialog. For example, inline editors can range from simple value inputs to more advanced options, such as file uploaders or text areas with rich formatting options.
Landing page	Landing pages are one of the primary use cases for Page Builder. Landing pages are created specifically for marketing purposes. They are places where potential customers get redirected after clicking a link in an email or on a social network.
Page Builder	Page Builder is a graphical interface for designing and editing pages in Xperience. It uses widgets, modular components prepared by the developers, and other features to set the page layout and content.
Page template	Page templates allow content editors to choose from predefined layouts for new pages.
Personalization condition	Personalization conditions are a digital marketing feature supported by Page Builder widgets. The conditions allow editors to display different content per visitor. For example, you can show modified text or additional offers to visitors from a specific contact group.
Section	Sections are reusable Page Builder components that determine where widget zones can be placed. Sections are fully customizable, and developers control each section’s layout. In the Page Builder interface, content editors can choose which sections to add to a page and adjust the structure that way. A section may contain multiple widget zones.
Widget	Widgets are reusable Page Builder components that content editors and other non-technical users can easily manipulate. Widgets give non-technical users more flexibility when creating pages or adjusting existing content.
Widget zone	Widget zones are individual areas within a Page Builder section where content editors can place widgets.

Form Builder

Term	Description
Form Builder	The Xperience form builder offers an intuitive graphical editor that allows content creators and marketers to compose online forms. It is available on the Form builder tab of the Forms application when editing a form.
Form component	Form components are reusable elements used to create and edit forms in Form Builder. Each component represents a form input type, such as a text box or a group of radio buttons. Users can add, remove, or reorder individual form components and specify their properties via the form builder interface in the Forms application.
Form section	Form sections define the layout of forms. They represent reusable pieces of markup that can store any number of form zones – areas where content editors can place form fields.
Form widget	The form widget is provided in Kentico Xperience by default. It allows editors to place forms into the content of pages that use Page Builder. The Form widget can be found only when editing pages in the Page Builder within a website channel application.

Digital marketing

Term	Description
Activity	Activities represent actions that website visitors perform on the live site. For example, the system logs activities when visitors view pages or submit forms.
Contact	Contacts represent individual visitors who view your websites. Contacts include anonymous visitors and users who provide personal information by registering, filling in a form, subscribing, etc. The system automatically gathers data about contacts based on the actions and input of the associated visitors.
Contact group	Contact groups are segmentation units that enable you to sort contacts. The system populates groups automatically based on dynamically evaluated conditions.
Email channel	Email channels are a dedicated medium of communication between you and your audience. Each project may contain multiple email channels, focusing on different content strategies, languages and audience engagement techniques. Every email channel has its own application in the Xperience administration, where marketers create and send emails. Channels allow for clean separation of your organization’s emails. The defining property of every email channel is a sending domain, which represents your company or brand, and is used in all sender addresses for the channel’s emails.
Email	The system allows marketers to create and send emails with various different purposes, such as form autoresponders or regular emails sent to subscribed recipients. Every email belongs under an email channel, and is based on an email content type and email template.
Email template	Templates define the overall layout of emails and add fixed content, such as a header or footer. You can reuse a single template for any number of emails. Templates contain macros that serve as placeholders for the fields of email content types, as well as system elements, such as a regular email’s unsubscribe link URL.
Recipient list	A mailing list containing contacts who opt in to receive regular emails. Marketers select a recipient list when sending out emails.

System customization and API