AEM Sites Developer Expert study guide
AEM Sites Developer Expert · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The Adobe Certified Expert - Adobe Experience Manager Sites Developer credential is a professional certification for developers who build and maintain sites on AEM Sites. It suits backend Java developers working with Sling and OSGi, frontend developers writing HTL and client libraries, and full-stack practitioners who configure templates, dialogs, and authoring experiences. The AEM Sites Developer Expert study guide has 8 sections and about 1,968 words.
01AEM Sites Architecture and Component Development
Understand the request pipeline first: a request reaches the Dispatcher, then the AEM instance, where the Sling engine resolves the resource, selects a script/component, and renders. Key building blocks are the JCR content repository, Sling resource resolution, OSGi bundles and services, and the /apps vs /content vs /libs separation.
245 words, about 1 min02Templates, Policies, and Editable Templates
Editable templates separate structure from content. A template (under /conf/<site /settings/wcm/templates ) is composed of a structure, initial content, and policies.
263 words, about 1 min03Sling Models, HTL, and Client-Side Libraries
Sling Models adapt resources to Java objects. Know @Model with adaptables (Resource, SlingHttpServletRequest), resourceType , and injection annotations ( @ValueMapValue , @ChildResource , @OSGiService , @Self , @RequestAttribute ).
236 words, about 1 min04Content Authoring, Dialogs, and Component Configuration
Dialogs define the authoring UI. Understand the difference between the edit dialog (component configuration, stored as cq:dialog ) and the design dialog ( cq:design dialog , policy-backed in editable templates).
240 words, about 1 min05Workflows, Replication, and Content Activation
Replication moves content from author to publish. Understand the replication agents (default, dispatcher flush), the replication queue, and how activation is triggered (page activation, tree activation, and ReplicationOptions ).
239 words, about 1 min06Dispatcher, Caching, and Performance
The Dispatcher is a caching/reverse-proxy layer in front of publish. Understand the cache model: content is cached on disk keyed by URL, with rules in dispatcher.any controlling caching ( /rules ), filters ( /filter ), and invalidations ( /invalidate ).
242 words, about 1 min07Multi-Site Management, Localization, and Translation
MSM (Multi-Site Manager) manages live copies of a blueprint. Understand blueprints, live copies, rollouts, and inheritance.
253 words, about 1 min08Security, Permissions, and User/Group Management
AEM security builds on Jackrabbit Oak and the JCR access control model. Understand users, groups, and the principals they represent; permissions are granted via ACLs ( rep:policy ) on nodes, with privileges like jcr:read , jcr:write , jcr:all .
250 words, about 1 min