Content Fragments vs Experience Fragments in AEM: Which One to Choose?

• By Shamsher Singh Bhullar

• 19th September 2024

Delivering the right content to your audience is more than just about providing information. It is about creating meaningful and personalized experiences across multiple platforms.

Many companies struggle to prioritize a flexible content approach for a seamless platform experience.

The lack of a unified strategy can slow your workflow and even lead to losing customers to competitors who deliver a unified experience across every platform. It is where AEM content fragments and experience fragments in AEM help simplify content management and distribution.
This post will explain the difference between content fragments vs experience fragments in AEM so you can understand which best fits your needs.

What are AEM Content Fragments?

AEM content fragments are free from design or layout constraints. They are structured pieces of content, such as text, images, or videos, that can be shared across different channels. AEM 6.5 content fragments are created and managed in a headless manner to deliver content to various platforms. 

AEM 6.5 content fragments let businesses share consistent information in different ways. It makes them useful for organizations that need to share content on many digital platforms. Each platform can display content in a format that suits it. Adobe AEM content fragments are stored in the DAM (Digital Asset Manager) as assets, and you can use them elsewhere on a website. 

Key Characteristics Of AEM Content Fragments:

Content fragments and experience fragments are two key components used to build efficient and scalable digital experiences. Here are the key characteristics of AEM content fragments:

1. Content-First Approach: Content Fragments in AEM focus more on content management than design. They help manage text, images, and other media independently.

2. Structured Data: The structured data approach of AEM 6.5 content fragments allows you to create and configure different types of fields, such as text, date, and reference fields, to ensure content is organized and formatted consistently.

3. Channel-Specific Customization: These fragments are not tied to any specific platform or design, which means they can be reused across various platforms based on each platform’s design requirements. A key difference between content and experience fragments in AEM is that content fragments are ideal for omnichannel delivery, while experience allows the reuse of entire components.

4. Reusable Content: Managing content across multiple platforms often leads to inconsistencies and duplication of effort. AEM’s Content Fragments address this challenge and are designed for content reuse across various locations and platforms. You can update the data centrally, which results in the changes automatically reflected wherever they are used.

5. JSON Export for Headless CMS: AEM 6.5 content fragments can be exported as JSON through AEM Content Services, making them perfect for headless CMS and API-driven content delivery. This lets you integrate with other systems and front-end frameworks like React or Angular.

6. Saves Time for Teams: You can speed up the content creation process by allowing teams to focus on content production with Content Fragments in AEM. It is easy to deploy the CF across multiple channels for faster content rollout.

7. Supports Headless CMS and API-Driven Delivery: You can export content as JSON via AEM Content Services and show the content anywhere and anyway you want via API’s. It is good for headless CMSs and allows you to share content across platforms.

8. Efficient localization: Efficient localization is critical for businesses that are looking to reach global audiences. AEM 6.5 Content Fragments makes it easier to manage content in multiple languages with its built-in multilingual support. It makes it easy for businesses to deliver relevant content globally.

9. Improved Workflow and Governance: Ensuring content quality and compliance is critical for organizations. The version control and workflow features of AEM enable content teams to track and approve changes before they are published. This ensures alignment with organizational policies and improves overall workflow efficiency.

10. Flexible Authoring Experience: The highly flexible authoring experience of AEM 6.5 content fragments is very useful for the content creators . They can easily manage complex content structures while maintaining full control by using the Rich Text Editor (RTE) and structured data fields.

11. Support for Personalization and Targeting: Organizations can enhance user engagement by utilizing personalization tools like Adobe Target. This integration helps deliver personalized experiences based on user behavior or preferences. It allows businesses to tailor content to specific customer segments and ensure consistency in their messaging across all platforms.

AEM Content Fragments Use Case:

Content Fragments are useful for websites that create new articles or news pages daily. Instead of creating a new page each time, authors can create and manage the content as fragments. It makes it easier to maintain a consistent structure and update different articles and news sections.

What are Experience Fragments? 

Experience fragments in Adobe Experience Manager are reusable pieces of content and layout which can be used on different channels. These fragments may be created on a single occasion and subsequently used in a consistent manner across a variety of channels. It ensures consistent brand experience on different places such as mobile apps, social media, websites and email campaigns.  

They are designed to streamline content reuse across various platforms, including AEM site pages and third-party systems. AEM 6.5 experience fragments allow you to create grouped components in one step instead of manually adding the same components to each page. Any changes made are then automatically updated on all pages using the fragment.

This approach improves efficiency for content authoring teams by reducing the need for repetitive content configuration. Furthermore, it mitigates the probability of user errors while guaranteeing uniformity in content across the entire website.

The use of Adobe AEM experience fragments depends on the specific content needs. They can be used alongside Content Fragments. Experience Fragments are the best option when content needs to appear in many areas of a website. Use Content Fragments for simple data-loading tasks if no design is needed. 

Key Characteristics of AEM Experience Fragments

1. Content and Design Integration: AEM experience fragments enable seamless integration of both content and layout for consistency and efficiency. It ensures a consistent design across websites, emails and social media. 

2. Reusable Across Channels: One of the key features of the Adobe AEM Experience Fragments is that you can reuse it across multiple digital channels. Once you create a fragment, you can use the same fragment effortlessly across platforms like mobile apps, websites, and emails. 

3. Editable Templates: Enjoy seamless design flexibility and brand consistency with AEM Experience Fragments. These fragments are created using editable templates and help you maintain control over layouts and components through policies set within the editable templates.

4. Variations for Multi-Channel Delivery: This feature increases efficiency and customization and allows you to create variations for different contexts or channels. You can create designs and content to meet the specific needs of each platform without duplicating effort.

5. Export as HTML or JSON: You can export AEM Experience Fragments as HTML or JSON. This makes them compatible with many platforms and systems, including Adobe Target. You can use them in headless CMSs or traditional web environments.

6. Multi-Device Support: The responsive structure of the AEM 6.5 Experience Fragments optimizes them for different devices. This means you get the same experience on any device or screen size.

7. Efficient Updates: Any amendments made to an AEM Experience Fragment are automatically reflected in all instances of the fragment. This simplified update process improves the workflow and ensures that all instances of the fragment remain consistent.

8. Consistency in Branding: A good user experience across all digital platforms helps build strong customer relationships. AEM Experience Fragments ensures a unified user experience across all touchpoints by integrating content and design. This approach is especially helpful for global campaigns because it makes sure the brand and messaging stay consistent. Keeping everything aligned is very important for success in different regions.

9. Manage Campaign Effectively: Reusing promotional elements with the help of EF such as banners and call-to-actions across channels makes marketing more efficient. This is particularly important to deliver a consistent experience. It allows teams to launch campaigns faster while keeping a unified look and feel. Experience Fragments makes making content management easier across platforms.

AEM Experience Fragments Use Cases:

AEM 6.5 Experience Fragments allow marketers to create one experience that can be reused across different channels. This includes their platforms and third-party sites to ensure the user experience stays the same everywhere. Marketers can also use Experience Fragments to create different versions of the same experience. These versions can be tailored to meet the needs of specific audiences or campaigns. 

Experience Fragments lets marketers keep all variations in sync through Live Copy. This feature updates all the versions whenever a change is made to the original experience.

Difference Between Content  Fragments vs Experience Fragments in AEM

The difference between content fragments and experience fragments lies in their use cases. Here are some of the common differences: 

Feature	Content Fragments (CF)	Experience Fragments (EF)
What They Are	Pieces of structured content (text, images) without a specific design meant to be reused across multiple platforms in Adobe AEM content fragments.	Complete content sections with both design and layout, ready for use as part of web pages or digital experiences.
Focus	Focuses on content flexibility and reuse. It is centered on “what” (the content itself).	AEM 6.5 experience fragments focus on the presentation and how content looks and feels on different platforms. It emphasizes “how” (presentation and design).
How They Are Built	CF is built using structured data models (Content Fragment Models) for consistent and organized content.	EF is built using AEM components that define the layout and presentation of the content experience.
Design & Layout	Design is platform-specific, meaning the appearance is controlled by where the content is used, not by the fragment itself.	AEM 6.5 experience fragments include specific design and layout, ensuring a consistent visual experience across all platforms.
Content Part	Content-centric, including elements like text, images, RTE, date fields, dropdowns, and references.	Presentation-centric, including AEM components such as text, images, and custom components from your project.
Creation Process	Created using Content Fragment Models, treated as an AEM Asset.	Created using Editable Templates, treated as an AEM Page.
Component Control	Content can be configured as different elements in the Content Fragment Model (e.g., text fields, date fields, dropdowns, reference fields).	Components in EF can be controlled through policies set in Editable Templates.
Usage	It can be used in site pages via AEM’s core CF component or exposed as JSON for third-party use.	AEM 6.5 experience fragments can be used in site pages via AEM’s core EF component, exposed as plain HTML, or exported to Adobe Target as HTML/JSON.
Variations	It supports content variations but lacks live copy actions. Synchronization is possible for RTE/multiline text fields.	Variations can be created from a master EF with options like Live Copy and association with different templates.

Content fragments focus on content when comparing content fragments vs experience fragments, whereas experience fragments ensure consistency in both design and layout. Knowing the difference between content and experience fragments helps marketers and developers create better content strategies using the right tools.

When should you use a Content Fragment vs. an Experience Fragment?

You need to think about your business goals and content strategy when choosing between Content Fragments and Experience Fragments.

When comparing content fragments vs experience fragments, remember that content fragments simplify content reuse, while experience fragments streamline the reuse of entire visual and interactive experiences. 

Content fragments allow you to reuse text across platforms for consistent messaging and scaling. On the other hand, Experience Fragments lets you reuse entire content experiences for a consistent experience across channels. The choice depends on how complex your content needs are. 

Understand the strengths and use cases of both to optimize your content management. If you need help with Content or Experience Fragments or have questions about your information architecture, please contact us.

We at Deftsoft, a professional AEM development company, help businesses magnify their digital presence by realizing the full capabilities of Adobe Experience Manager (AEM). Our team of experienced AEM developers and architects delivers customized solutions to ensure your business stays ahead in the ever-changing digital landscape. 

FAQs:

1. What are Content Fragments and Experience Fragments in AEM? 

Content Fragments in Adobe Experience Manager are reusable pieces of structured content. They are usually text that can be created once and reused across different platforms without including any design. Experience Fragments are different because they contain both the content and the layout. This lets you use the same design and content across many channels.

2. What is the use case of Experience Fragments in AEM?  

Experience Fragments are used when you need to reuse entire content experiences with the same design and layout. This works well when you want to make sure that the user experience is consistent across websites, mobile apps, email campaigns, and other platforms.

3. When should I use Content Fragments over Experience Fragments in AEM?  

You should use Content Fragments when you need reusable structured content that can work across different platforms. This is good when your content needs to be updated easily or when you are managing text-heavy content like blogs and product descriptions.

4. Can I use Content Fragments and Experience Fragments together in AEM? 

Yes, you can use Content Fragments and Experience Fragments in AEM. Content Fragments can be added inside Experience Fragments so you can use structured content while also making sure the design looks good on all platforms.

5. Which feature is available in Experience Fragments but not in Content Fragments?

Experience Fragments allows you to manage both the layout and the design, along with the content. You cannot do this with Content Fragments. This makes Experience Fragments useful for delivering full visual experiences that can be reused on multiple platforms.