Pour obtenir une apparence harmonieuse et cohérente, et faciliter la navigation, les sites Web on généralement des designs communs à toutes leurs pages. Dans StudioLine, les modèles de disposition et de mise en page définissent des éléments de conception communs à toutes vos pages tels que l'arrière-plan, les logos, les titres, les boutons de navigation, ainsi que des espaces réservés aux images. Ils contrôlent aussi un certain nombre de comportements automatiques par défaut tels que la création de vues d'images et les traitements d'images par défaut.

Le tableau suivant montre les différences entre les modèles de disposition et les layouts, en terme de portée, de leur utilisation et de la façon dont ils interagissent.

Si les éléments de conception communs ou les paramètres doivent être appliqués sur plusieurs pages, placez-les dans un modèle de disposition. Si les éléments de conception communs ou les paramètres doivent être appliqués sur une seule page avec des vues d'image créées automatiquement, placez-les dans la mise en page. Si les éléments de conception sont limités à une seule page, placez-les directement dans la Page.

When a page is created, the default Layout Template from the Site Settings is always used to initialize the new page. To apply a different Layout Template:

• open the page
• open the StudioLine Explorer
• choose Layout Templates
• locate a suitable template and drag it onto the workspace.

Note: Once a different template has been applied to a page, this step cannot be reversed with the Undo function. Prior customizations, defaults and image settings for this page and its image view pages could be lost permanently. To avoid problems, apply the correct template before working on the page itself.

The Layout and Layout Template modes are an extension of the page editor and offer largely identical functions. One can think of layouts as the control layer for a page, and layout templates as their blueprints. To view and customize the layout of a specific page:

• open the page in Page Editor mode
• switch to Layout mode

To view and customize a layout template:

• switch to Layout Template mode
• select a template

From a creative standpoint it is often easier to first design a boilerplate page without deciding immediately whether some objects belong on the layout. Once the creative process is complete:

• open the page in Page Editor mode
• from the Edit menu, choose Lock Layout Objects
• select any objects that should be located on the layout
• right click on the mouse to access the Context menu and choose Transfer to Layout

Note: This is not available for Layout Templates!

The “Image View” window allows you to create templates for image display that will appear on your website page. Using this tool, you can edit and create effects for all of the images on that particular website page.

The true powers of templates and layouts come to light when you define Image View pages. Layouts with Image Views will automatically generate interlinked sub-pages with common style elements, navigation buttons and automatic text generated from image and page descriptors.

Typically, the initial image defined with the Image Prototype for a particular webpage would be relatively small, like a thumbnail. Once multiple photos are imported from Image Archive onto the page, the resulting webpage would be composed of a gallery of thumbnails, or whichever size you chose using the Image Prototype. Then you could create additional Image Views for that webpage with increasingly larger sizes. The resulting sub-pages display only one picture each, at the size that you specify using the Image Prototype. A web visitor would simply click on a picture to see a larger version, or choose a navigation link to browse between Image View pages.

With the use of the Image Views window, you can create sub-pages for each main page, and assign individualized effects for the images displayed.

To create sub-pages or additional Image Views for your website page: Open the Layout or Layout template.

The Image Views window appears on which you can see a mini version of your website page, and a default sub-page, called Image View 1. If you would like more than one sub-page, press the “New Image View” button, and an additional page will be created called the Image View 2.

Whenever possible, use placeholders instead of static text. This way, text is automatically substituted through image, page and system descriptors.