TIP 138: Using Sample Templates

You might have noticed in the New dialog that there are dozens of page templates to give you a jumpstart on your Web projects. Let's take a look at what's there and how you can make use of them.

Playing Favorites

If you find a page sample that you like a lot and plan to use frequently, you can save it as a favorite for easy access. Select the page sample in the New dialog and choose Add to Favorites from the flyout menu in the top right corner of the dialog. Now that page sample is listed in the Favorites category so it's easy to find in the future.

First choose File > New and select Web on the left side and then one of the Page Samples categories in the middle. Select any of the templates to see a preview thumbnail of the page on the right (Figure 138). When you find a template page you want to work with, click OK and then save it into the Templates folder for your site (see Tip 133). You can now create new pages from the template, as explained earlier in this chapter, or modify the template to better suit your needs. Notice that the sample templates already have editable regions defined, so you're ready to add your content right away.

Figure 138. Dozens of page templates are available in the New dialog.

You may need to unlock the page to make modifications, but you can lock it again when you are done. To unlock the page, choose Special > Template > Unlock Page. Replace the image placeholders with images of your own, substitute the placeholder text with your own text, and resave the template. You can now use it as you would any other template in your site.

The fun part comes when you combine the page templates with one of the included CSS samples. You can change the entire look of a page (or site) by attaching an external style sheet to a template (see Tip 126).