Creating page templates

To simplify the creation of pages, define pre-configured pages that can be used as templates when creating new pages.

You can configure a template page like any portal page and add pre-configured portlets. Whenever a new page is created from the template, the page layout, portlets, and portlet configuration from the template are copied to the new page. You can also associate a page template with a community in IBM Connections or with a site area in IBM® Web Content Manager. When such a mapping is present, pages created from the template can automatically create the associated community or site area.

Important: When a new page is created from a template, no reference to the template page used to create the page is maintained. This means that all changes that you apply to a template page after pages have been created from this template are not propagated to any of the pages that already exist.
  1. Click Administration > Manage Pages.
  2. Click Content Root > Hidden Pages > Page Templates.
    Note: Virtual portals do not include the Page Templates label by default. However you can add the label manually. When doing so, ensure that you give the label the unique name of wps.content.template.root.
  3. Create the page to be used as a template by clicking New Page or New Page from.
    • New Page creates a standard portal page. Specify a title for the page and any other page characteristics, as you would for a standard portal page.
    • New Page from creates the page from an existing template. Specify a title for the page and any other page characteristics. If you intend to add a content mapping to the template, ensure that you specify a friendly URL for the page. Select the page template to use as the basis for the new template.
  4. Save the new template.
  5. Make any further updates to the template that you require. This might include changes like adding portlets, adjusting the layout, setting page parameters, adding wires, or adding mappings to a Web Content Manager site area or IBM Connections community.

After saving your changes, the new template page is available in the list of templates when creating pages with the Manage Pages portlet or the site toolbar.

When you create a page from a template, the following elements are copied to the new page:
  • Portlet entities, including portlet preferences
  • Page layout and style
  • Theme and skin settings
  • Portlet wires for communication with other portlets
  • Page parameters
  • Page description (all languages)
Page titles in any language are not copied.
Web content mappings: If the page template contains a content mapping to a site area in a web content library, the following changes take place automatically when a page is created from the template:
  • A new site area is created, with the name of the site area being derived from the friendly URL of the new page.
  • The site area is created as a child of the site area that is associated with the parent page of the new page. Note that this support requires that the parent page have a content mapping defined.
  • All site area properties and all content items are copied over to the new site area. The copied content also includes any nested content.
  • The default content mapping on the new page is modified to reference the newly created site area.
Community mappings: If the page template contains a mapping to a community in IBM Connections, the following changes take place automatically when a page is created from the template:
  • A new community is created in IBM Connections, with the name of the community being derived from the title of the new page.
  • The community mapping on the new page is modified to reference the newly created community.
Parent topic: Managing page properties