I’ve spent a lot of time in Experience Editor over the years. It has always been functional, but sometimes also frustrating. It is incredibly powerful in the right hands, but it can feel cumbersome for authors who just want to make updates quickly, without breaking anything.
This is why I have been so interested in Sitecore Pages, and how it changes the author experience. After a month of heavily working with it, here are a few early observations, as I continue to learn how it impacts real teams.
Content-first thinking is finally at the center
Pages feels designed with marketers in mind. It shifts away from managing content inside technical structures and toward editing experiences directly. This is more intuitive for authors who think about messaging, placement, and narrative flow, not components and placeholders. I’ve found it faster, easier, and more intuitive than Experience Editor. Sure, I’ve become really good, and fast, at using Experience Editor over the last decade but I can already build a page faster in Pages, I don’t have to worry about remembering to save since it auto-saves, and I like not having to navigate page structure as much.
Governance depends on disciplined setup
With increased freedom comes increased responsibility. Pages gives authors easier control, which is great, but it also means governance and content design need to be established early. Layout rules, styling consistency, and approval workflows matter more than ever. I’ve spent a lot of time at Velir thinking about the author experience in Experience Editor, and how governance and good system rules play a huge factor in that. I love the freedom in Pages, but I see the need for increased governance over what comes out of the box with SXA.
Channel flexibility introduces new opportunities
The headless foundation behind XM Cloud means content is not trapped on a single website. Pages appears to be evolving into a tool that supports multichannel experiences, even if that potential is not fully realized yet. I am curious to see how teams adopt that as they grow.
This is a tool that will get better with use
What I appreciate most is that Pages is not trying to force authors through a technical interface. It feels more like the kind of tool authors have wanted for a long time; more visual and less tedious. If Sitecore continues to invest in usability, collaboration features, and governance controls, there is a lot of upside ahead.
Author experience impacts everything, from content velocity to quality, to team morale, to the maintenance of optimized user experience, to the time between redesigns. Pages is not perfect yet, but it is a promising shift toward a more human approach to content creation. I am looking forward to watching how it evolves.