Glossary A–ZLetter C
Content template with placeholders
A content template with placeholders is a fully designed screen page in which certain fields such as price, product name, image or date are left empty and filled in later, either by hand or from data.
Design and content are thus kept separate.
A typical case is the division of labour between head office and branch: head office sets the fonts, colours, grid and logo and locks these parts. The branch then only enters the weekly offer and the price. Placeholders can also be filled automatically, for example from a price list, a calendar or a database; a single template then produces a whole series of pages.
Operators should set limits for each placeholder: maximum text length, permitted image formats and mandatory fields. Without these limits, a long product name breaks the layout or an empty field leaves a gap. It is also important to decide what appears when a data source supplies no value. Anyone distributing templates needs permissions that allow filling them in but not changing the design.