A template is the part of the web page that wraps around your tools (e.g. header and footer). By default, PoppyDog provides a simple template that allows you to specify a logo, title, simple description and some links at the top of all the tool web pages. Your tool web pages might look better if you provide your own template instead. Ideally you would provide a template that gets all the tool web pages to look like the rest of your website. The best template options to use are option II or III.

We will now describe the different template options available and how to use them. The template options are available on the 'Your Account' | 'Default Tool Template' page.

Template Option I : Using the PoppyDog template

Select this option if you wish to use the simple pre-built PoppyDog template. When you select this option you can provide a title or logo to appear at the top of each page, a short description and some menu links (see diagram below).

Template Option II : Getting all tools to be automatically embedded within your web page

Most of the PoppyDog tools now come with code that enables them to be embedded within a web page. An exception to this is the Registration System. If you use this template option, you can get all the tools to 'automatically' appear embedded within a web page on your website. Follow the instructions given on the customize template page.

Template Option III : I want to provide a header and footer.

Select this option if you wish to supply some html to insert above and below your web tools

More Advanced Template Option

Template Option IV : Using a frameset

View Example

If you are using framesets in your web site then this is the option you should select. By selecting this option, the template is blank i.e. nothing wraps around the tool web page. This is because anything which does wrap around the web page is provided by you in your other frames. Understanding framesets is beyond the scope of this tutorial, however if you are using frameset or are considering using a frameset the following is illustrates how a frameset might be used:

Template Option V : Providing your own web page that 'wraps' around the tools

View Example

Lets say that you have a home page that is structured like the one shown below

This means that for all the web pages used by the PoppyDog tools, you would want the web pages to have the same structure (see below)

Step by step guide to creating your own template

Step 1
Create a web page that has the required structure, and in the area on the web page where you want the tool content to go, you must insert the word $TOOL_CONTENT

IMPORTANT: All links and images in your template must use full urls. For example, consider a logo image:
instead of: /images/logo.gif
you need to use the full url: http://www.yourdomain.com/images/logo.gif

Step 2
Make sure that you've selected Template Option V (see images below)

Step 3
Either:

a) Upload the template web page to your web site and then provide the url of your template web page:

Or

b) Save the template web page on your computer and then upload the file:

Or

c) Paste the HTML code into the box provided:

Step 4
Click the 'Save' button at the bottom of the page

The End Result: Lets say that you have created some forum boards using ForumBoard Builder. When your forum boards are displayed you will see that the web page that surrounds the forum boards now has the same structure as the other web pages on your site e.g.:

Pages in this help section

Making the tool web pages match your web site
- Setting the color scheme for your tools
- Creating a web page template for your tools

Related Help Pages

Advanced: Providing a template which is different for each tool