How To Customize Your Site
 


Editing this basic template to meet your needs

As well as creating a great-looking overall design (page layout) for your site, these templates give you a head-start with a basic preset site structure. The pages contained within these templates are really just to give you a starting point, and also some copy that you can begin to work with - right off the bat. All you need to do is to is edit the pages, add some more content of your own, set appropriate keywords and publish. A super way to get your site live in double-quick time.

ABOUT THIS TEMPLATE:

This particular template is a 'medium difficulty' design, and has been designed so that the text elements of the design will be very easy to edit (just by accessing the designer for the relevant panel).

The graphical elements within this design can be edited if required but are a little more difficult to access than some of the other templates (some images are table backgrounds, for example). These should only be changed if you are familiar with editing pages in this way.

Here are a few pointers to help you with
any customization you might want to do

To make changes to the general style of the pages for your site - the Page Layout - you edit the settings in the configuration boxes on the left-hand side of the Page Layout tab. In this version of XSitePro there are nine sections of a typical web page that can be customized using the Page Layout controls.

Here's a brief description of each one:

Header - This is located at the very top of the page. Often it will include a logo or header graphic that includes the web site's name.

Info-Bar - This is a horizontal section of the page in which you can insert navigation, banner graphics, Adsense or other elements. It sits directly below the Header Panel and so commands a very important piece of your page's real-estate.

Left Panel - Under the Header Panel, and to the left of the Main Panel where the main body copy of the web page appears. Here you will often find links to all of the important pages on a web site, as well as other 'persistent' elements: mailing-list sign-up forms, advertisements, etc.

Main Panel Header - Immediately above the Main Panel is the Main Panel Header. This header only stretches the width of the main panel itself (unlike the Header Panel, which streches across the whole page, not just the Main Panel). Suitable uses for the Main Panel Header might include navigational elements, graphics, advertising or textual elements - all of which will appear at the head of every page, above the Main Panel content.

Main Panel - This is where the body copy for your web site will appear. This is of course the most important element of your pages - the informational element - and not something that can be pre-written for you. You need to spend time on your main panel content, creating genuine, quality content (or sourcing ready-written content of comparable quality). The 'pages' you create within your site are what populate the Main Panel.

Main Panel Footer - At the bottom of the Main Panel is the Main Panel Footer. With XSitePro you have a choice of whether you have a footer that stretches the full width of the page or whether the footer excludes the left and right column and appears immediately under the main body of text. You can also have both at the same time if you wish. For example, you may want to have various links to pages appear under the main body copy and a copyright message on the page footer.

Right Panel - This is the space between the Main Panel and the right page margin. People often include testimonials or banner advertisements in this section.

Page Footer - This is the section that appears immediately below the left and right columns and the main body of the page. Often it will include a copyright message and may include a reminder of the web page URL. You may also wish to use the footer for links to those pages which (while important to some sites) you don't wish to clutter the main navigational menu(s) with. Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions pages are good examples of such pages.

Margins - These appear on both the left and right side of the web page although with XSitePro you can, if you wish, choose to have the page left justified and only have a margin on the right hand side of the page. You can also specify how much of the background you can see, if any, above and/or below the page.

More information on how to use the Page Layout tab can be found in the XSitePro manual or in the context sensitive help system.