The correct approach balances author experience, maintainability, and adherence to modern AEM practices. A single, well-structured component with a clear dialog and a Sling Model to handle business logic in the HTL script is the standard, maintainable pattern. It keeps the component self-contained, easy for authors to use, and separates concerns effectively. While Core Components are excellent, creating a new, specific component from scratch is justified here and offers more control. Splitting into container/item components adds unnecessary complexity for this use case.

For a page to be recognized and displayed properly in the AEM Sites console, its `jcr:content` node must have the `cq:template` property. This property stores the path to the template that was used to create the page, establishing the essential link between the page instance and its template definition. Without it, AEM cannot properly categorize or list the page in the admin interface, even though the page content exists and can be rendered. `sling:resourceType` is for rendering, `jcr:title` is for the display name, and replication properties are unrelated to console visibility.

Multi-Site Manager (MSM) is the core AEM feature designed specifically for managing multiple, related websites in different languages or regions. It allows you to create a “Blueprint” (master source) for your primary language (English US) and then automatically generate and manage “Live Copies” (French CA, Spanish MX). MSM enables efficient rollout of updates from the blueprint while allowing for local overrides where necessary, making it the standard and most powerful tool for true multilingual, multi-region site architectures. Language Copies is a simpler, older method. Live Copies are a part of the MSM system. Content Fragments are for headless content reuse, not full page/site management.

While path comparison can work in simple scenarios, it is fragile and doesn’t properly represent the hierarchical page relationship. The robust, API-driven approach is to use the methods provided by the AEM `Page` interface, such as checking if the current page is a descendant of the navigation item’s page (`navItemPage.isDescendant(currentPage)`) or if the navigation item’s page is an ancestor of the current page. This method is semantically correct, handles edge cases better, and is the recommended practice within Sling Models or logic for navigation highlighting.

A dialog node (`cq:dialog`) must have its `sling:resourceType` property set to a valid Granite UI component path, typically `granite/ui/components/coral/foundation/container` or a similar container. If this property is missing, incorrect, or points to a non-existent resource, the dialog framework cannot render the dialog’s interface. This is a very common implementation error. While the other options are potential issues, an incorrect `sling:resourceType` on the dialog node itself is a frequent and specific cause for a dialog failing to appear.

Content Fragments are the primary AEM construct for creating pure, structured content that is independent of its presentation layer. They are designed specifically for headless content delivery. An article with defined fields like headline, byline, body, and image is a perfect use case for a Content Fragment Model and corresponding fragments. This allows the same article content to be channeled to the web (via HTL components), a mobile app (via Content Services), and a kiosk. Experience Fragments include layout information, making them less pure for headless reuse. Standard pages are presentation-coupled.

A common pitfall in Sling Models is assuming the default injection strategy works for all contexts. When injecting a property from a resource’s value map via `@Inject` and `@Via(“resource”)`, you often need to explicitly specify the injection strategy as `@Inject @Via(“resource”) @Strategy(DefaultInjectionStrategy.OPTIONAL)` or ensure your model’s default strategy is set appropriately in the `@Model` annotation. If the strategy is not configured to handle the potential absence of a property in the `@Via` chain, it can fail silently and return `null`. The other options are more fundamental errors that would likely prevent the model from instantiating at all.

AEM provides built-in scheduling functionality called “On Time” and “Off Time” (also known as Launch and Off-Time). This can be set directly on a page’s properties (or on specific content via the `cq:OnTime` and `cq:OffTime` mixins). The AEM replication system includes a dedicated scheduler that periodically checks for content with these properties set and automatically triggers activation or deactivation at the specified times. This is the standard, out-of-the-box method for time-based content publishing and requires no custom code.

The standard, straightforward, and secure practice for a POST-Redirect-GET (PRG) pattern in a custom AEM/Sling servlet is to call `HttpServletResponse.sendRedirect(String location)` after successfully processing the POST data and before committing any other response. This prevents duplicate form submissions if the user refreshes the page, separates the processing endpoint from the display endpoint, and is a core web development best practice. The other options are either not standard Sling servlet patterns (`sling:redirect`), are the lower-level mechanism that `sendRedirect()` uses (302 status), or are for different extension points (PostProcessor).

The correct approach balances author experience, maintainability, and adherence to modern AEM practices. A single, well-structured component with a clear dialog and a Sling Model to handle business logic in the HTL script is the standard, maintainable pattern. It keeps the component self-contained, easy for authors to use, and separates concerns effectively. While Core Components are excellent, creating a new, specific component from scratch is justified here and offers more control. Splitting into container/item components adds unnecessary complexity for this use case.0