Page Layouts

A page layout is used for page specifications (e.g., size, margins) and to apply certain content (e.g., headers, footers, page numbers) to many (or all) topics in print-based output. It allows for easy configuration through the use of content frames, bleeds, crop marks, registration marks, margins, padding, alignment features, and more. You might create multiple page layouts for different purposes (e.g., title page, TOC, chapters, appendix). Page layouts are similar to template pages, but are more flexible and easier to use. The general rule is that page layouts are recommended for print-based output, and template pages continue to be the best method for automatically adding headers, footers, breadcrumbs, and more in multiple topics for online output. Another difference between page layouts and template pages is that page layouts can be used for Adobe PDF, Microsoft Word or Microsoft PowerPoint, whereas template pages can be used only for Microsoft Word when creating print-based output.

	HTML5	PDF	Word	Clean XHTML	Eclipse Help	EPUB	HTML Help	PPTX
Page Layouts Supported
Template Pages Supported

Like all other files in Flare, a page layout is an XML file. It has an .flpgl extension. The traditional location to store a page layout in the Content Explorer is in the Resources > PageLayouts folder. However, you can store it anywhere in the Content Explorer that you like.

Example — Frontmatter/Chapters/Index

You are creating a manual that consists of front matter (e.g., title page, copyright page, and table of contents), 10 chapters, and an index. Perhaps you want all of the pages in the manual to measure 8 inches in height and 6 inches in width. Furthermore, you might want some pages (e.g., title and copyright pages) to contain no headers or footers, while you want the other parts of the manual to contain header text and page numbers at the bottom.

In a situation such as this, you might create one page layout for your title and copyright pages, a second page layout for your TOC, a third page layout to be used by all of the chapters, and a fourth page layout to be used by the index. Each page layout might contain the same page size settings, but different page headers and footers.

Note There is an order of precedence with the three levels where you can specify a page layout. Specific entries in an outline TOC have the highest precedence, followed by page layouts at the target level, followed by page layouts at the project level. If you have a page layout set at the project or target level and it does not seem to be working the way you think it should, you might check to see if you have any page layouts set on specific TOC entries that are overriding the target- or project-level setting.

Note In order to apply styles to content that you add in a page layout, you need to apply a primary stylesheet at either the target or project level. Stylesheets cannot be applied to individual page layouts (as they can with topics). See Associating Primary Stylesheets With All Files.

Note You might have used template pages in earlier versions of Flare when creating Word output, but then decide to use the newer page layouts instead. You can manually remove all links to template pages in your target and table of contents. However, another alternative is to automatically disable the use of template pages in your project. By using this feature, Flare will ignore all links to template pages when you generate the Word target. It will instead use links that you provide to any page layouts. See Disabling the Use of Template Pages.