Concepts and basics

This part of the 4.x documentation is for eZ Publish 4.0, only reference section is common for all eZ Publish 4.x versions as well as eZ Publish 5.x "LegacyStack", please select the version you are using for the most up to date documentation!

The purpose of this chapter is to introduce and describe the most important concepts of eZ Publish. A rookie developer should definitively read through this chapter in order to understand the basic terms, models, structures and building blocks of the system.

This chapter is more generic than technical, it is meant to teach the concepts rather than explaining details. People previously unfamiliar with eZ Publish should be able to collect enough information in order to understand the following issues:

The way eZ Publish is built up
The main directory structure
The concept and necessity of separating content and design
How eZ Publish stores and manages content
How eZ Publish handles issues related to design
How eZ Publish manages different sites
The concept of modules and views
The way eZ Publish works with URLs
The configuration system
The structure of the workflow system
How the access/permission system works
How the webshop works
A typical page request cycle