Static Webapp Resources Locations and Best Practices

Introduction

Goal

Learn about the different locations for static webapp resources and when to use which location.

Background

The delivery web application in a Hippo implementation project typically uses static resources. Examples of static webapp resources are:

• CSS stylesheets
• Javascript files
• Images
• Font files
• JSP templates
• Freemarker templates

Hippo's delivery tier can serve static resources from two different locations:

• In the site webapp in src/main/webapp.
• In the content repository as Web Files (bootstrapped from the repository-data-webfiles module).

Typically both locations are used in a single project. The nature of each static resource as well as specific project requirements determine where it is located. This page provides some guidelines for best practices.

Note that files stored as assets in the content repository are user-managed and therefore considered dynamic, rather than static, resources.

Characteristics and Suitable Uses

The table below provides an overview of the characteristics of the two different locations, some guidance for suitables uses, and typical examples.