2. Patterns, Principles and Conventions

Helix describes the overall architecture of your Sitecore solution and thus communicates some guidelines and conventions which should be durable and flexible enough to be applied to any Sitecore project or business. The architecture pattern described by Helix is often referred to as Component-based Architecture or Modular Architecture.

Modular architecture provides you with a framework to optimize and increase productivity by describing how to isolate domain logic to make the whole solution or implementation more manageable. Modular architecture is therefore in its foundation a way of making sure that the resulting solution is flexible enough for whatever change might be coming. There are many great benefits to modular architecture such as reusability and rapid development, but the core motivators behind the conventions are simplicity, flexibility and extensibility in the implementation.

Keep in mind though, that the principles behind modular architecture will not ensure you remain within the conventions or confines of said principles. This is defined by the methodology on which you apply the architecture and even the specific tools you use to build the final solution.

Habitat Example

The Habitat example implementation is not meant to dictate the specific methods or tools to use in your Sitecore project but should rather be an example of how the architectural design pattern, namely modular architecture, can be implemented including a methodology and a set of tools to support it.

You should always consciously select the tools and methods which fit the scenario, your development team and your business.