Helix Representation for Image Callout with Multiple structure

Question

The project site will have multiple Image Callouts that will be used in various sections of the site. These Image callouts have multiple forms. Something like below:

Questions:

With above representation should I put the Basic one (which has Title and Background Image) in the Foundation Layer?

Create Feature specific to all the individual images and then inherit both Feature and Foundation Interface templates in Data/Content templates - like say one is offer image, another is deals image?

Or nothing will be part of Foundation layer and I have to create Feature templates for all individual images with repeated fields (Title and Background Image)?

Please let me understand how we can represent this is template structure.

EDIT:

If I need to display images something like below, in a single page in multiple sections of the page, will different renderings with common template still look fine with respect to the Presentation details? Also is it possible to make a Image Listing Component (like Deals, Featured Products) having collection of these images? I might be having 10 small images in one component, and 1 large and 4 medium size images in another component.

Answer 1

Without SXA I would build this as a single feature with 4 components, all based off the same data template.

1. Create a template that contains all the fields you require. Lets call it ImageCallout
2. Create 4 renderings that have the razor setup to the 4 different styles that you have specified. They should all use your ImageCallout template as the datasource for the rendering. So you can set the Datasource Location and Datasource Template for a good Experience Editor experience ;)
3. Make sure these renderings are set as compatible renderings for each other.

Now your content editor can pick one of the 4 styles of the Image Callout rendering and start editing the content. They will only see the fields that are on that rendering, so its not a problem that some of the fields will not be filled in.

But... because they all use the same datasource template and are set as compatible renderings, you can now swap the styles, without having to create new datasources for each one.

As far as Helix goes, all this should be in a single Feature. There is no need for anything to go into a Foundation layer.

Answer 2

You have more options and they depends mainly on the requirements

Option 1

You can have all fields in 1 template and then depends on the filled fields in preview and normal mode which should be shown, but you show all as editable in Experience Editor. This is a good solution if you want editors to able to change the content dynamicly and you want to use the same placeholder for all of these components.

Option 2

You can have dependencies between modules. So you don't need to touch the Foundation layer. So you can have something like Compontents feature where you can have multiple modules and the modules can have dependencies on each other. For example:

• Components - Feature
  • Image Callouts - Module
    • Base Template for this module
    • Another Template inherited from the Base Template
  • Image Text - Module
  • etc.

Personally I would choose the first option because it is more flexible from the content editor perspective. Because if you choose the second option then the editors should change the template when they want to show more fields.

EDIT:

Yes, but it's all depends on the HTML. If you need a list then you can loop through of the children of the datasources too.

• Image List - Datasource
  • Image 1 - Child
  • Image 2 - Child
  • etc...

But you don't need a list, only if you want handle these items together. Because for example in this case you lose personalization. You can only personalize the whole list, not one-by-one.