- Using the Duplicate Page Command to Create Pseudo-Templates
- Purchasing Additional Ready-Made Themes
- Getting Ready to Create Your Own Themes
- Opening the iWeb Package and Locating the Templates Folder
- Adjusting the TemplatesInfo.plist File to Include Additional Templates
- Adding a New Category Entry
- Opening the Templates Files
- Creating Your Own Template Graphics
- Modifying Template Formatting
- Locating Items in the Index.xml File
- Creating Template Previews
- More Information
- Additional Resources
Opening the iWeb Package and Locating the Templates Folder
The next step of modifying the default set of iWeb’s themes/templates is to locate where the files that create them are stored. As Mac OS X software developers (and most power users) know, Mac OS X application files are actually packages that contain other files (similar to folders). Control-clicking (or right-clicking if you have a two-button mouse) an application and selecting Show Package Contents from the contextual menu that appears opens a finder window that displays the files that actually make up the application.
When you do this with iWeb, you’ll see a window that contains a folder named Contents. Inside this folder is a series of three folders and three files. The Resources folder is the one that contains, among other things, the template files. Inside the Resources folder are many files and folders, including several folders that contain elements for localized language versions of iWeb. Because the templates themselves are localized, you’ll need to locate the English.lproj folder (or the folder appropriate to your localized version of Mac OS X if you are using a non-English version). Inside this folder is also a folder named Templates, which contains the files that generate the iWeb templates.
After you get to the Templates folder, you’ll notice that it contains folders for each of the iWeb template types (Welcome, About Me, Blog, and so on), along with a single TemplatesInfo.plist file. Inside each of these folders is a template file for each of the iWeb themes. To create a new theme, you have to create a new template file in each of these folders (that is, a new template for each iWeb page type). You also need to alter the contents of the TemplatesInfo.plist file for iWeb to recognize the new theme that you are creating and to display it in the New Page dialog box.