Applying a custom template to your site

Applying a custom template to your site - XSitePro Website Design

Home Previous Next

Brought to you by XSitePro Website Design Software
professional website design made easy

The process of applying a custom template requires a few steps to be carried out before you run through the standard 'Change Template' procedure as outlined in the section before this one.

To get your custom template ready for use you need to first follow the steps below, to add your custom template to the 'User Created Templates Category'.

Once added to this category, you will be able to browse that category and select your template as you would do normally when changing a template.

You need to effectively do two things:

1. Import the site (if the site is an XSE)

2. Save the site as a new template.

Importing the site:

1.	From the Project Management screen, select the project into which you want to import the custom .XSE file by clicking on the project name once with your mouse.

piece_importing_sites

2.	Click on the Import button.

3.	The 'Import From' window will appear. Browse to the folder where the .XSE file is stored and select it by clicking on it once with your mouse.

4.	Click the 'Open' button to start the import process, and then, from the confirmation screen that appears, click the 'Import' button.

5.	When the import process has been completed a message will be displayed on your screen.

Once you have imported an .XSE file into XSitePro a new Web site will automatically be created with the Web site title stored in the .XSE file and you can edit it in the usual way.

Now you need to use this site to create a template file.

Creating your custom template:

1. In the Web sites list, in the Project management screen, right-click on the new Web site (which you created in the steps above) and from the menu that appears, select 'Save As Template'

menu_save_as_template

2. When you click the menu option, the following screen appears:

window_save_as_template

The screen above contains a small selection of settings that you may enter in the course of creating your site template.

Template Name – This is the name of your site template as will appear in the list of Site Templates from which you can choose at a future point (if creating a Web site from a template). Simply type a suitable name into the box provided.

Category – From the drop-down list provided, you will now select the category into which this template will be added.

Click the button and then, in the list that appears, select the category named 'user created'.

Description – This descriptive text will appear within the template selection process, to assist with identifying (and selecting) your template from a list of available templates. Use a description that clearly identifies this site template’s characteristics. For example, if you are including pages/publishing details with the template (see settings below) then make a note of this fact in the template description.

Template Options:

Include Publishing Details – Leave this check-box blank for the purposes of applying a new template design to an existing site.

Include Web pages – Leave this check-box blank for the purposes of applying a new template design to an existing site.

Screenshot – A screen-shot of the home page for the site, that you are creating a template from, will be automatically presented on the right hand side of your window. This screen-shot will be attached to the template listing, again to make it easier to identify your template at a later point.

When you have entered the necessary information as described above you can click the button. You will then see a confirmation message informing you that your new template has been added to the category you specified, and is now available for selection when creating a new Web site from a template.

Your custom template is now ready for selection, within the 'User Created' category, when changing your site template as described in the 'Change Template' section of this manual.