Server Administration > Presentation Templates > Best Practices for Working With Template Designer
 
Best Practices for Working With Template Designer
Consider the following best practices when using the presentation template designer to create and edit templates:
To have a standard corporate presentation for your items, you can create a generic presentation template and use that template as the basis for all other templates. You can then copy the generic template and make modifications that are specific to an individual item type saving each modified template and applying it to the appropriate type.
You can select any naming convention for saving your templates, but associating the template name with the item type can simplify the task of assigning templates.
You can create and set individual templates for viewing, submitting/editing, and printing items.
While designing your template you can save your work without closing the template designer. The template designer does not include an undo function. Once you are satisfied with your work, you can save it to avoid losing your design.
If you have made changes and cannot correct them, immediately close the template designer without saving to discard those changes. You can then reopen the earlier version of the template with all your desired changes intact and continue editing.
Instead of modifying individual cell, text, and grid elements in the template, you can define and use styles through the Layout Properties dialog box. Styles allow you to make a change in one place that applies to every instance where the style is applied in the template.
When formatting a mandatory field, choose a unique font color so users can quickly identify mandatory fields when editing items. The color is also used as an indicator for the tab name of a tab that contains the mandatory field.
When choosing background color, remember the color of an individual cell overrides the color of the grid, and the color of the grid overrides the background color of the template.
You can preview all your changes before saving them by clicking on the toolbar. Once you are satisfied with the changes you have made, click Save to retain those changes.
You can only preview the template for the type of item you are working on. For example, if you are working from the Edit Type window on the Feature Request type, you cannot preview the template for the Bug type.
When previewing a template, you must also enter an item ID number for an item that is of the same type as the template you are working on. For example, if you are working on the Feature Request type and want to preview the template, you must enter an item number for an item that is also a Feature Request. If you enter a number for an item that is of the wrong type or does not exist, an error message displays.
When working in the template designer, you can preview the template only in the GUI. When working from the Edit Type window, you can preview the template in either the GUI or Web interface.