Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Designer 2007 Bible

Chapter 13. Implementing Master Pages and Page Layouts

IN THIS CHAPTER

Working with dynamic Web templates

Implementing master pages

Managing page layouts

Designing Web sites entails that you consider a number of techniques to ensure uniformity and consistency in the formatting and branding of the Web pages. It's important to ascertain that users browsing through the Web pages of a Web site feel a sense of standardization while navigating between various Web pages. You might not want to have Web pages inside a Web site presenting content in a manner that's totally oblivious of the presentation style of the entire Web site. For example, you may want to always have the navigation links and bars at the same location on the Web pages of the Web site so that when the user navigates around pages, he or she doesn't feel confused.

While CSS is a key technology that helps you maintain a consistent look and feel for your Web site, it applies mostly to styling, fonts, and formatting. SharePoint Designer allows you to make use of a number of other technologies, such as dynamic Web templates (DWTs), master pages, and page layouts to help you maintain a standard branding and layout across all the Web pages.

Although the implementation of the aforementioned technologies might be different, the concept behind them is similar. You mostly follow these steps to create Web site content by using these technologies:

• You create a template Web page that suits the requirements of your Web site's design. ...