AEM’s core components may help developers build sites faster, but are they worth it?
Building a website or web application from scratch is a time-consuming process. Even if you’re working with a professional agency, a serious project can require a timeline of weeks to months. Over the last few years, Adobe has released several features to make web development faster and simpler, one of them being core components.
“Core components” refers to a set of production-ready Web Content Management (WCM) elements built for users working with Adobe’s AEM. Adobe started by releasing simple components, such as title, text, image, and carousel, but this list has since grown to include 28 core web elements.
Adobe’s core components provide developers with generic, out-of-the-box support for some of the most common features you can find on a website. However, they don’t come without limitations.
Let’s go through some of the pros and cons, and we’ll leave you with our final thoughts about how essential core components can be to building digital experiences with AEM.
The Pros:
1. A well-maintained library
Over six years, Adobe’s core components library has grown from its inception in 2016 tremendously. The library now contains 28 components that are easy to use and perform very well with AEM. Here are just a few of these components:
- Navigation
- Language toggle
- Quick search
- Teaser
- Embed
- Social media sharing
- Progress bar
- PDF viewer
- Carousel
2. A strong team of developers
Core components are distributed via GitHub, which allows Adobe to quickly add functionality to the components and allow for community input. The core components library, which provides samples allowing users to view components in various configurations, is supported by a robust team of over 11 developers, who have contributed more than 30 updates, fixes, and enhancements.
3. High-performing components
Core components were designed to be production-ready and cloud-ready, so you can trust that each component will perform exceptionally well. The core components library is truly new, and takes advantage of the latest JAVA features, including annotations, lambda functions, and parallel computing.
4. Faster time-to-market
If your company is using AEM and you are looking to accelerate the design process, core components can be an excellent option for you. Since the components are ready-to-use, they require less technical knowhow to implement, which ultimately trims down your website’s time to market.
The Cons:
1. Lack of extensibility
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to web development. Delivering the right message to your clients means providing a level of personalization and customization. Unfortunately, customizing Adobe’s core components is no easy task. Altering even the slightest behaviour within a component is extremely difficult.
2. Developer-built
Too many of the dialogs in Adobe’s core components reflect a clear pattern that a developer created them. Relying on components prebuilt by external, third-party developers can clash with the rest of your website’s conventions and preferences.
3. Relies on a custom HTML framework
Adobe’s core components operate on a custom HTML framework, and this creates headaches for developers further in the design process. The main problem is that custom elements may conflict with standard frameworks, which could mean your site doesn’t ultimately look the way you want it to. With custom components, we always follow the most current HTML standards to save reconfiguration grunt work down the road.
4. One size does not fit all
While they provide a simple way to create website elements, core components don't give you much latitude to optimize these elements to suit your business’ needs. Serious web projects require more than cookie-cutter components, which is why we build components specifically tailored to our clients’ requirements and preferences.
Our take
In our view, the cons of Adobe’s core components feature significantly outweigh its pros. If you’re already building a website using AEM, chances are you’ve already invested heavily into the Adobe ecosystem, so trying to cut costs with a generic, out-of-the-box framework is penny-wise, but pound-foolish. In the world of web development, businesses don’t spend the majority of their cash and energy on simple components, such as navigation and titles. Integrations and customized user interfaces, which are far more complex and resource-intensive, will likely comprise a more significant chunk of your budget. Basic components, including those we’ve mentioned above, have never added significant scope to our AEM projects, which is why we don’t use Adobe’s core components in our work. At Digital On Six, we prefer our Bootstrap 5 framework that has been customized for better accessibility and deeper integration into AEM.
Want to learn more about how you can unlock the power of AEM?
Contact Digital On Six for your next project today.
