Types of template regions

Dreamweaver automatically locks most regions of a document when you save the document as a template. As a template author you specify which regions of a template-based document will be editable by inserting editable regions or editable parameters in the template.

As you create the template, you can make changes to both editable and locked regions. In a document based on the template, however, a template user can make changes only in the editable regions; the locked regions can’t be modified.

There are four types of template regions:

An editable region is an unlocked region in a template-based document--a section a template user can edit. A template author can specify any area of a template as editable. For a template to be effective, it should contain at least one editable region; otherwise, pages based on the template can’t be edited. For information about inserting an editable region, see Inserting an editable region.

A repeating region is a section of the layout in a document that is set to repeat. For example, you can set a table row to repeat. Usually repeating sections are editable so that the template user can edit the content in the repeating element, while the design itself is under the control of the template author. The template user uses repeat region control options to add or delete copies of the repeated region in a document based on the template as necessary.

There are two types of repeating regions you can insert in a template: repeating region and repeating table. For information about inserting a repeating region in a template, see Creating a repeating region in a template. For information about creating a repeating table, see Inserting a repeating table. For information about working with a repeating region in a template-based page, see Adding, deleting, and changing the order of a repeating region entry.

An optional region is a section of a template that you specify as optional, to hold content such as optional text or an image that may or may not appear in a document based on the template. In the template-based page, the template user usually controls whether the content is displayed. For information about setting optional regions in a template, see Inserting an optional region. For information about editing optional regions in a template-based page, see Modifying template properties.

An editable tag attribute lets you unlock a tag attribute in a template, so the attribute can be edited in a template-based page. For example, you can "lock" which image appears in the document but let the template user set the alignment to left, right, or center. For information about setting editable tag attributes, see Specifying editable tag attributes in a template. For information about editing the tags in a template-based page, see Modifying template properties.

Related topics

• Creating editable regions
• Creating repeating regions
• Using optional regions
• Defining editable tag attributes