1. A networked computer system comprising: (A) a client computer system comprising: a first processor; a first memory coupled to the first processor; a plurality of content rules residing in the first memory, the plurality of content rules including at least one bursting rule, at least one linking rule, and at least one synchronization rule; a document with a plurality of elements residing in the first memory, the document identifying in the document a mapping between each element and any corresponding content rules, the mapping specifying for each of the plurality of elements whether no content rule applies, whether a single content rule applies, or whether multiple content rules apply, and when a single content rule applies, the mapping identifies the single content rule that applies, and when multiple content rules apply, the mapping identifies the multiple content rules that apply; an editor that determines which of the plurality of content rules apply to the plurality of elements in the document, and identifies in the document each element to which one of the plurality of content rules applies and each content rule that applies to the element by analyzing a schema for the document that includes an indication of which content rules, if any, apply to each element in the schema, the editor checking each element in the document against any corresponding content rules that apply according to the schema, and when the editor determines all elements in the document satisfy all corresponding content rules, the editor writes metadata to the document indicating the document has already been checked against the corresponding content rules; and (B) a server computer system coupled via network to the client computer system, the server computer system comprising: a second processor; a second memory coupled to the second processor; a repository of documents residing in the second memory; a content management system residing in the second memory and executed by the second processor, the content management system receiving the document from the client computer system to be checked into the repository, the content management system comprising a rule checking mechanism that determines from the metadata in the document whether content in the document needs to be checked against the plurality of content rules, and when the metadata in the document indicates the document has already been checked against the corresponding content rules, the content management system checks the document into the repository without checking the document against the corresponding content rules identified in the document.