Creating a New Template from Scratch

Ever notice that most references (read: books) start out with a basic template already set, but almost none tell you how to get to that initial point? Hopefully this tutorial will help you understand the first part of using templates... Creating a new template from scratch.

A good place to start this tutorial is with a clear statement of the value, the purpose, and the operation of templates:

• The value of templates is that they allow you to control most (all?) of the pages in your small to medium site (~50 pages) by only manipulating several (one?) file(s).
• The purpose of templates is to provide a simple way to make sure that a) all dependent pages (child pages) have the same look and navigation, and b) to facilitate the maintenance of those pages.
• The operation of templates is to propagate all changes made to non-editable regions in the template file into all associated child pages. Thus, a single change in a template will appear in multiple pages automatically, while still allowing those child pages to contain unique (page-specific) content.

Posted in: Templates