---
title: "Structure and systems"
description: "Models, types, components, CMSs. The scaffolding under the words, and why it decides what you can reuse."
canonical: "https://contentlexicon.com/categories/structure-and-systems"
---

# Structure and systems

Models, types, components, CMSs. The scaffolding under the words, and why it decides what you can reuse.

- [Atomic content](https://contentlexicon.com/atomic-content): Content broken into small, structured, reusable pieces that get assembled into pages rather than copied between them.
- [Backend](https://contentlexicon.com/backend): Everything behind the scenes that stores, shapes and supplies the content people meet in a website, app or other channel.
- [CMS](https://contentlexicon.com/cms): The software used to store, organise and publish content.
- [Component](https://contentlexicon.com/component): A reusable part – of content, design or code – made once and used in many places.
- [Content model](https://contentlexicon.com/content-model): A structured definition of the content types an organisation has and the fields, parts and rules that make each one work.
- [Content pattern](https://contentlexicon.com/content-pattern): A proven, recognisable approach to something content needs to do again and again, adapted each time it is used.
- [Content type](https://contentlexicon.com/content-type): A category of content with a defined purpose and structure, such as a case study or an event.
- [Create once, publish everywhere](https://contentlexicon.com/create-once-publish-everywhere): The idea that content should be created once in a structured form and reused across channels instead of rewritten each time.
- [Database](https://contentlexicon.com/database): A structured place to store information so it can be queried, related and reused.
- [Design system](https://contentlexicon.com/design-system): A shared, maintained collection of components, patterns and guidance that teams use to design and build digital products and services.
- [Domain model](https://contentlexicon.com/domain-model): A representation of the important concepts, relationships and rules in a defined area of knowledge or activity.
- [DRY](https://contentlexicon.com/dry): “Don’t repeat yourself”: keep one reliable source of truth instead of many drifting copies.
- [Findability](https://contentlexicon.com/findability): The ease with which people and systems can locate content they know or suspect exists.
- [Frontend](https://contentlexicon.com/frontend): The part of a website, app or other channel that people see, hear and interact with.
- [Headless CMS](https://contentlexicon.com/headless-cms): A content management system that stores content separately from the places where that content is presented.
- [Information architecture](https://contentlexicon.com/information-architecture): The way information is grouped, labelled and connected so that people can find it and make sense of it.
- [Knowledge base](https://contentlexicon.com/knowledge-base): A structured collection of useful knowledge that people and systems can search, link, maintain and learn from.
- [Metadata](https://contentlexicon.com/metadata): Information about content that helps it be found, filtered, understood, reused and managed.
- [Microsite](https://contentlexicon.com/microsite): A small, focused website or section created for a campaign, product, audience or specific purpose.
- [Paddle, swim, dive](https://contentlexicon.com/paddle-swim-dive): A way to organise one topic at different, useful depths, so people can get an overview, more detail or the full evidence without being sorted into fixed audience segments.
- [PDF](https://contentlexicon.com/pdf): A fixed-layout document format often used for reports, forms and downloads – useful sometimes, overused often.
- [Schema](https://contentlexicon.com/schema): A definition of what information something contains and how it is structured.
- [SEO](https://contentlexicon.com/seo): Improving how content is discovered and presented in search engines.
- [Structured content](https://contentlexicon.com/structured-content): Content broken into meaningful parts so it can be managed, reused and presented in different ways.
- [Taxonomy](https://contentlexicon.com/taxonomy): A controlled set of categories or labels, usually arranged from broad to narrow, used to classify content consistently.
- [Ubiquitous language](https://contentlexicon.com/ubiquitous-language): A shared, precise vocabulary used across conversations, documentation and systems within a defined area of work.
- [Versioning](https://contentlexicon.com/versioning): Keeping track of different versions so changes can be compared, reviewed or restored.
- [Wireframe](https://contentlexicon.com/wireframe): A sketch of the structure of a page or screen before the final design is made.