Intro to Assets  

Assets are reusable content blocks in Modern Campus CMS designed to help editors manage content that appears in more than one place. A asset is created once and inserted wherever needed, making it easy to keep information consistent and up to date across pages, sections, or entire sites.

Assets vs. Snippets

Assets are centrally managed pieces of reusable content that live in one location but can be inserted across multiple pages. When you edit an asset, those changes automatically publish to every page where that asset appears, making them ideal for content that needs consistent updates across your site. Assets include plain text, source code, image galleries, and forms. They appear as placeholders when you're editing a page, and you need to preview the page to see the actual content.

Components, on the other hand, are form-based content elements that become unique to each page once inserted. When you add a component to a page, you fill out an interactive form with specific fields, and the component generates formatted source code to display that content with the proper styling. Unlike assets, if you use the same component type on multiple pages, each instance is independent—editing one won't affect the others. Components are particularly useful for maintaining complex design elements like slideshows or info cards where you want to ensure consistent styling while allowing page-specific content variations.

When to Use an Asset 

Use assets when the same content needs to appear in multiple locations, when updates should automatically apply everywhere, or when maintaining consistency is critical. Common examples include contact information, standard disclaimers, recurring calls to action, or policy language used across a site.

How Assets Work

Assets  are created and managed separately from pages, then inserted during page editing. Once placed, they behave like embedded content but remain centrally controlled. Updating an asset updates every instance where it is used, reducing manual edits and the risk of outdated information.

Best Practices

Use assets  for reuse, not layout; give assets clear, descriptive names starting with your department name (ie: biology-courses or cas-staff) ; avoid putting page-specific details in an asset; and periodically review assets to ensure they are still accurate and actively used.