Templates? - I'm confused...

A common area of confusion when reading the Author-it documentation is the term Templates. It is important to realize that there are several different types of templates...

Word Publishing Templates

You are probably already familiar with this type of template. A Microsoft Word document has a .doc file extension, a Microsoft Word template has a .dot file extension. Author-it uses Word Publishing templates to predefine the styles, headers and footers (by way of autotext entries), and possibly macros that you want in your published Word document. All Book objects in Author-it need a corresponding Word Publishing template (.dot file) if they are to be published to Word. The default Microsoft Word template that is provided with Author-it is the AuthorIT.dot file, and you can either customize this file or create your own template(s) to match your requirements.

Author-it Object Templates

All objects within Author-it can be based on object templates. The object template must be of the same object type. For example, a Book object must be based on a Book template, a Topic object based on a Topic template, and so on. Object templates have some very big advantages:

1. They preset many of the properties of an object saving you valuable time
2. When the object template is modified, the changes cascade to the objects based on that object template.
3. Object properties that are inherited from a template cannot be changed directly (they must be changed in the object template or the object must be based on a template where the property is not inherited). This forces consistency between objects based on the same object templates.

   Note: When a property is inherited, it is shown in blue.

Lets look at an example which commonly causes confusion. A Book object is created, based on the Book Normal Template. The new Book object is pointing to the AuthorIT.dot Microsoft Word template. If you want to change some properties of the Word template the recommended procedure would be:

1. In Windows Explorer, create a copy of the AuthorIT.dot Microsoft Word Template (perhaps NewAuthorIT.dot) and make your changes to this Word template.
2. Within Author-it, create a copy of the Book object Normal Template (perhaps New Normal Template). Ensure the Make this Object an Object Template setting is checked.
3. Within the Book New Normal Template, set the Word Template on the Document tab to point to the Microsoft Word template NewAuthorIT.dot
4. Base your new Book object on the Book template New Normal Template. The Book will now inherit the Word Document setting and point to your new Word template.

Library Templates

On installation, two standard Author-it Library templates are installed. The Default (A4).adl and Default (Letter).adl files. These are no different to any other Author-it library and are unique only that they are in the Data\Templates\Libraries folder. When creating a library for the first time base it on one of these Library templates. This creates a Library pre-populated with our default objects. Normally this need only happen once.

Note: The only difference between the Default (A4).adl and Default (Letter).adl is the size of paper.

Style Objects

Style objects aren't a type of template, though they are sometimes confused with them. However, like any other object they can be based on an object template.

For example, in the standard Author-it Library there are three Style templates (Body Template, List Template and Heading Template). Most Style objects are based on these Style object templates for good reason. Imagine you wanted to change the base font of all your HTML headings. There are several styles that would need to be changed, Heading 1, Heading 2 etc. By changing the Style Heading template, all the styles based on this template are updated automatically.