Contentful glossary

Stuck or confused about a term used in the Contentful universe? Check our list of commonly used terms and their definitions here.

App

Apps help you with your work, integrate with external services, and add additional functionalities to the Contentful web app. You can create apps of your own, or install pre-existing ones from the Contentful Marketplace. See also "Extension".

Asset

A media file (image, video, etc.) and its associated metadata. See also "Media".

Content 

Content is any text, video, music or image—anything that you put into a field.

Content, structured

Structured content is a general term referring to content that is organized in a predictable way, usually classified with metadata. All content used in Contentful is considered structured content because it is organized into fields and entries, making it reusable and easily distributed across any and all channels. 

Content type

A content type works like a stencil that defines the structure of an entry. Each content type comprises fields that denote the kind of content that will be included in the entry. Content types are created in spaces. When a content type is created and activated, editors are able to create individual entries using it.

Content model

A content model is the collection of all content types in a space. It is a template for your space, and determines what kinds of content can be created within it. Models belong to spaces and can be customized accordingly. Think of it as the bones of your project. It gives structure and organization to your content. When the time comes to tweak your model, you can edit, disable, or delete fields as needed.

Content modeling 

Content modeling is the process of structuring your content. It’s focused on designing content types and workflows. Contentful doesn’t restrict your modeling with predefined content types, so it can do anything that you need — you make the model to fit your content. We encourage you to have cross-functional teams modeling content collaboratively, so that it works for everyone involved in the lifecycle of content, including developers, administrators, authors, and editors.

Entry

A piece of content, based on a content type. Entries are comprised of different fields. Think of them as the drawing you create with your content type stencil. See also "Content type".

Extension

Extensions allow developers to extend the basic functionality of the Contentful web app. They can be used to update an existing field, like creating a different interface for editing JSON fields, or building something completely new, like integrating third-party data in Contentful. See also "App".

Fields

Fields are what content types are comprised of. They are defined by you. Common field types include short text field, media field, and reference field. 

• Short text field: Short texts are relatively small tokens of text, often used for titles and names.

• Media field: These include images, videos, PDFs and similar files.

• Reference field: Contentful uses reference fields to create relationships between content types. A basic example of using a reference field is to link a blog post to its author.

Folder

A folder is a group of saved views, often related by theme. They are used to organize your content in the sidebar of the web app. See also "Saved view".

Headless content management system (CMS)

A headless CMS comprises three parts: a backend, APIs, and an interface. The backend stores content and organizes data. APIs connect the database to presentation layers. These presentation layers are independent from the CMS and thus malleable. Headless CMSes are defined by this lack of presentation layer. (If you were looking for it, this is the head in headless CMS.) Going headless allows you to distribute content through multiple channels on all sorts of platforms at scale.

Localization and locales

As you create content, you may end up needing to translate it into multiple languages for different markets. The process of translating and adapting content for these markets is called localization, while specific global regions are known as locales.

Media

Media is a type of content with its own tab in the Contentful web app. It includes videos, images, PDFs and similar files. See also "Asset".

Organization

Organizations are the top-level entity in the Contentful structural hierarchy. They consist of spaces, users, and a subscription plan. Organizations simplify the management of spaces and teams that belong to a common group and enables managing multiple projects with different subscription plans.

Reference

References are relationships between one entry and other entries (that belong to the same space). References let you reuse existing content instead of duplicating it. For example, a reference can represent the relation between a book and its author or several authors.

Saved view

A saved view is a search you set up using filters and search terms. Saved views can be private to only you or to a specific team you set with roles and permissions.

Slug

A slug is the part of your URL that links directly to your entry.

Space 

Short for workspace, a space is where all the content is created within an organization. Think of it as a place to keep all the content related to one project. Each space has its own content model, several content types, entries, and assets.

Space home

Your space home is a landing page with helpful information about how content is structured in Contentful.

Team

A team is a group of users working in the same organization. Each member of a team can be assigned different roles that affect what spaces they can see and access, as well as what they can create within those space. See also "User".

User

A user is anyone who creates and maintains content in Contentful. Users can be given different roles that affect what they can access and what they can create.

Validations

Validations check if data entered in a field meets certain criteria. Depending on the field type, there are different validations you can set, such as specifying a required number of characters or setting predefined values. (For example, you can prevent editors from adding paragraphs to a field that's mean for email addresses.) Space administrators can find validation controls in the settings for each field in the web app.

Versions

A version is a snapshot of an entry at a specific time. They're meant to be used to roll back an entry to an earlier version for time-sensitive content.

Web app, the

If you're a content author or editor, the web app is how you'll work with Contentful. After logging in, you can add, edit, manage, and publish content in the form of entries and assets.