Authoring and Content Management
Authoring in AEM happens in the Touch UI. A business practitioner must be fluent in the page editor (component insertion via the Layout/Components rail, the edit dialog, the in-place editor, and the Assets browser), the Sites console (create, copy, move, publish, and manage pages), and the Assets console for media. Know the difference between Edit mode (modify content), Layout mode (resize columns in a responsive grid), Preview, and Live Copy/Blueprint views.
Understand the page properties tabs - Basic (title, tags, vanity URL), Advanced (template, aliases), Images, and permissions - because questions often ask where a setting lives. Know how versions and launches differ: versions are snapshots of a page for rollback; launches are parallel editing environments for future content, later promoted. Also know timewarp (viewing a page as of a past version) and annotations for review.
The biggest trap is confusing Save with Publish. Authoring changes are drafts until replicated. Another trap: assuming deleting a page on author removes it from publish - it does not automatically; you must deactivate or delete on publish. A third: mistaking workflow participation (an inbox task) for direct editing rights.
Worked example: a marketer wants to stage a holiday homepage without affecting the live site. The correct approach is a launch created from the page, edited in parallel, then promoted to replace the live content at go-live. Using versions here would be wrong - versions snapshot, they do not stage parallel edits.