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Layouts and Templates

Layouts and Templates are the structural building blocks of SkyCMS. They control the outer shell and the inner content structure of every page on your site. Understanding how they work together is key to managing any SkyCMS site.

New to SkyCMS?

If you are unfamiliar with the underlying concepts, read the For Site Builders guide first, then return here for the admin how-to steps.

Layouts vs. Templates — What Each One Does

Layout Template
What it controls Outer page shell: header, footer, navigation, global CSS/JS Inner content region: page structure, widget zones
Applies to All pages that use this layout All articles using this template
Who typically edits it Site builder or administrator Site builder or content manager
Edited with Page Builder or Code Editor Page Builder or Code Editor

A layout wraps a template. A template wraps an article. When a visitor views a page, SkyCMS renders: layout shell → template structure → article content.

For the full conceptual explanation, see Layouts, Templates & Articles.

Managing Layouts

View all layouts

Go to Editor → Layouts (top navigation or sidebar). The list shows all layouts defined for this tenant with their names and last-updated dates.

Create a layout

  1. Click New Layout.
  2. Enter a name for the layout.
  3. Click Create.
  4. The layout opens in the Code Editor (empty). Build the outer shell HTML there, or switch to Page Builder for visual editing.

Edit a layout

  • Click Page Builder to edit the layout visually with drag-and-drop components.
  • Click Code Editor to edit raw HTML, CSS, and template tokens directly.
  • Click Community Layouts to browse and import pre-built layout starter templates.

Delete a layout

  1. Find the layout in the list.
  2. Open the More menu → Delete.
  3. Confirm deletion.

Warning

Deleting a layout affects every page that uses it. Confirm the layout is not in use, or reassign pages first.

Managing Templates

View all templates

Go to Editor → Templates (top navigation or sidebar). The list shows all templates, their assigned layout, and last-updated dates.

Create a template

  1. Click New Template.
  2. Enter a name and choose the layout it will use.
  3. Click Create.
  4. Edit the template structure in Page Builder or Code Editor.

Edit a template

  • Click Page Builder to edit the template visually.
  • Click Code Editor to edit the raw template markup.
  • Click Pages to see which articles currently use this template.
  • Click Preview Impact to check how changes will affect those pages before saving.

Publish a template

After editing, click Publish on the template to push changes live. All articles using this template will reflect the new structure on their next publish.

Delete a template

  1. Check the Pages list to see which articles use this template.
  2. Reassign articles to another template, or confirm they can be retired.
  3. Delete the template from the More menu.

Common Tasks

Change which layout a template uses

  1. Open the template.
  2. Select Edit to open template settings.
  3. Choose a different layout from the layout dropdown.
  4. Save.

See all pages using a template

  1. Open the template.
  2. Click Pages.
  3. The list shows every article currently assigned to this template.

Preview what a template change will look like

  1. Open the template.
  2. Click Preview Impact before saving.
  3. Review the simulated output.
  4. Proceed with saving if the result is correct.