FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions about eZ Products

eZ Platform is open-source. Enterprise Edition bases on eZ Platform and adds new functionalities.

eZ Platform is fully open-source and available at Github.

eZ Enterprise is a commercial solution.

If you are using eZ as an editor or content manager, you do not need to have any programming knowledge.

Installing and configuring eZ will require at least basic familiarity of web development. Some more advanced customization possibilities may require programming skills (such as knowledge of PHP or Twig).

Demo Bundle is a sample website you can get with your installation of eZ. There are two different Demo Bundles: one for eZ Platform and one for eZ Enterprise.

The Bundle contains a small number of initial preset Content Types. You can apply them directly in your website or use them as a starting point to create your own Content Types.

See requirements for the configuration required for installing eZ.

 See installation for a guide on how to install eZ products.

eZ offers three different work modes: Content mode, Page mode and Performance mode.

Content mode gives access to the content repository. It is mostly the role of eZ Platform, but for users of eZ Enterprise it is enriched with specific Studio functionalities.

Its focus is creating, modifying, organizing and publishing Content items. Content mode is an interface for the repository, that is the place in which eZ stores all the content.

This mode lets you navigate the Content tree and edit any content present in it, as well as to move, copy and delete it. You can also create new content using the previously defined Content Types.

You can preview any Content within the tree, but the Content mode does not allow you to edit a Content item directly from this preview.

Page mode allows you to manage website pages and website content from the pages themselves. It is only available for eZ Enterprise users. It can be enriched by eZ Services functionalities for users subscribed to them.

It allows front-end editing, that is modifying pages directly from their preview. Using a special Timeline toolbar you can also preview and modify the content of a page at a future date.

The Page mode offers a special functionality of creating a Landing Page - a special kind of Content with advanced customization options.

Performance mode gives access to optimization capabilities such as Analytics and cloud services management tools.

You can restrict access to your website per User or User group. Each User (or group) can be assigned Roles and Policies which define the operations they can perform on the website. You can assign them globally or only to parts of the website, by applying Sections.

See Managing permissions for more information.

Policies are basic elements of the permissions system. They are rules defining access to one functionality of one module (for example modifying articles), with possible further limitations.

See Managing permissions for more information.

Roles are an element of the permissions system. They are collections of Policies assigned to a particular user Role (for example a sports section editor).

See Managing permissions for more information.

 You can do it in the Admin Panel by selecting the Roles tab.

See Managing permissions for more information.

Sections can be used to divide your content tree into separate parts. This is done for the purpose of limiting access to some of these parts for selected Users or User groups.

See Managing Sections for more information.

You can divide your Content tree into sections in the Admin Panel, see Managing Sections.

Then you can create Policies which concern only this Section.

 Yes, every Content item can have multiple language versions. See Editing content language versions and Managing languages for more information.

It is a collection of configuration settings provided when accessing a website. A single site can have multiple siteaccesses which define the content and design of the page that will be displayed. This functionality can be used for example to create separate versions of the website for visitors and for administrators, or for different language versions.

See Siteaccess for more technical information.

You can control the look of your website with great precision by creating and applying Twig templates. You can also create custom layouts for Landing Pages.

See Design for more technical information.

Technical documentation for Platform and Enterprise is available in: eZ Developer documentation.

You can find the technical documentation for eZ Publish 5.x (an earlier version) in eZ Publish 5.x Developer Documentation.

To find more information about the company and products, have a look at ez.no.

If you need more questions answered, have a look at our Support and Maintenance services.

If you would like to share your questions or ideas with other eZ users, you can do it on:

• eZ Community portal.
• eZ Community Slack channel where you can discuss the software and ask for help or support.

If you would like to contact eZ or any of our offices, you can find the contact information here.

You can download the current version of eZ Platform from: http://share.ez.no/downloads/downloads.

Here is a guide to installing eZ products (covering both eZ Platform and eZ Enterprise).

In the broad sense, content is everything that is placed on a site for the visitor to see.

In the narrow sense, a Content item is a single object used on a site. It can be, for example, an article, a photo gallery or a blog post. Technically, a Content item is an instance of a Content Type (that is, it is a single object created on the basis of a "blueprint" which is the Content Type).

Content Types can be treated as templates or blueprints for Content. They define Fields and their Field Types which are then assigned values when a Content item is created based on this Content Type.

Content Types are conceptually similar to classes in object-oriented programming.

A small set of ready-to-use Content Types is provided with the Demo Bundle.

Yes, you can adapt any Content Types provided in the Demo Bundle to your needs. See Creating and managing Content Types for more information.

 Yes, you can freely create any new Content Types. See Creating and managing Content Types for more information.

Field Types define type of data which can be stored in a Field. Field Types which make up Content are defined in the Content Type.

Field Type is conceptually similar to a data type in programming. However, the available Field Types include both simple data types (for example integer or float numbers) and more complex structures (for example image, media file or binary file).

Yes, you can create custom Field Types. However, this is not available from the Admin Panel (like creating Content Types). Instead, they have to be created using PHP.

You can create a new Content item in the Content mode by clicking Create. See Creating content for more information.

A Content item in itself does not have a place in the Content tree and is not visible for a visitor of the website. To take its place in the website it has to be assigned a Location ID.

A single Content item can have more than one Location ID, that is, it will be shown in more than one place in the Content tree. A single Location, however, can only have one Content item in it.

When you create a new Content item, it will automatically be given a Location ID and placed as a child of the Content item you were viewing when you clicked Create.

You can limit the visibility of a Content item by hiding the Location it is placed in. Hiding a Location also hides all other Locations that are under it in the content tree.

In Content mode you cannot edit Content while previewing it (this option is available only in Enterprise).

You can preview your content while editing it by clicking one of the icons under Preview in the action bar. See Optimizing content for more information.

The Save function allows you to save the current working copy into a draft to potentially reuse it later. The new version will not be published and then not visible on the site or through the API as published content

The Publish function allows you to publish the final version of the content object. As a result the working copy turns into a published version that is visible on the site and available through the API as a publish content.

Yes, eZ Enterprise is based on eZ Platform and contains it with all of its functionalities.

eZ Enterprise offers a number of additional features aside from what is available in Platform. The key of them are:

• Easy creation of Landing Pages
• Intuitive Page mode editing
• Flex Workflow functionality for managing the review process
• Automated scheduling of the times when new content is aired on the page.

Here is a guide to installing eZ products (covering both eZ Platform and eZ Enterprise).

A Landing Page is a special kind of a Content item. It is a page designed to be the visitor's entry point into your website.

A Landing Page has a customizable layout with multiple zones where you can place predefined blocks with dynamic content.

You can create a new Landing Page in the Page mode by clicking Create. See Creating content - Landing Page for more information.

Here is the list of predefined Landing Page blocks.

You also have the possibility of creating your own, custom blocks.

You can use the Schedule Block to select Content items and plan the times at which they will be displayed on a Landing Page.

The Working with timeline lets you preview changes that will happen to your Landing Page with time. Simply drag the slider at the top of the page to the time you wish to view.

You can use the Flex Workflow functionality to send your Content to review. You can access it from the Action bar in Content mode. See Content review workflow for more information.