A full-site template is a complete site design you can reuse. ContentForge templates come with ContentForge. Your agency's own templates are sites you've saved as templates. Use one when you want a finished layout and only need to swap in the client's words and photos.
How to create a site from a template
- Go to Websites and click New site, then From template.
- In New site from a template, click the client. Or click New client, type the business name and click Create client. Fill in the rest of their details later on the client's page.
- On Choose a template, pick a template (the cards are explained below). Click the eye icon to preview one in a new tab first.
- Click Use template. The button shows Creating…, then the new site opens in Mount Olympus.
If there are no templates at all, picking the client creates a blank site instead.
You can also start from Custom Assets → Templates: hover over a template, click Start building and pick the client. The site is made from that template straight away. See Use the Templates library.
The Choose a template screen
- Category chips (when templates have categories): All, then one chip per category. Click one to show only those templates.
- Blank site: Start blank makes an empty site instead. See How to create a blank site.
- Create with Zeus: Describe the site opens Create with Zeus for this client. See Create with Zeus.
- Template cards show the homepage screenshot, the name, the page count, and a ContentForge or Your agency badge. Your favorites come first, marked with a heart.
- Fill with Zeus chip: Fill with Zeus: ready means the template has the collections Zeus needs to make one page per service and area. Fill with Zeus: no service / area pages means Zeus can still rewrite all the text, but won't add those pages. Point at the chip to see what's missing.
- Back to clients at the bottom goes back to pick another client.
Buttons on a template card
- Use template: makes the site from this template.
- Fill with Zeus: opens Fill a template with Zeus with this client and template chosen. Zeus rewrites all the text in the client's voice and swaps in their photos. The design stays the same. This costs credits; plain Use template doesn't.
- Preview (eye): opens the template site in a new tab.
- Edit template (pencil): opens the template in the editor. Only on your agency's templates, for owners and admins.
- Delete template (bin): asks "Delete this template? Sites already made from it aren't affected." Click Delete to confirm. Owners and admins, your agency's templates only.
What happens to the copy
- Copied: every page and section, popups, the header, footer and mobile menu, theme and fonts, site code, blog layouts and settings, and collections with their items.
- Not copied: blog posts, form responses, domains, stats, backups and redirects.
- Filled in from the client: Business Info, plus the client's name, phone, email and street wherever the template uses its placeholders.
- Colors: the new site looks exactly like the template. It keeps the template's theme, and the client's brand colors are not put in. The template's own theme colors on widgets are linked to the theme, so if you later change Primary or Secondary in the theme, those places change with it. Other colors stay as designed. To build with the client's colors, use Fill a template with Zeus instead.
- The favicon becomes the client's logo, when they have one.
- Languages come along. A template with other languages (Settings → Languages) gives the new site the same languages and translations, with the client's details swapped in. Text that becomes the client's own, like Business Info, shows as still to translate.
- Connections are kept. Business Text blocks, collections and every widget connected to data stay connected. Widgets that show Business Info now show this client's details.
The new site is always a draft, named after the client's business.
Examples
- A roofing agency's house style: save your best roofer site as a template once. For each new roofer, Use template, then change the photos and a few lines.
- Quick look before you choose: click the eye on three templates, compare them in tabs, then come back and click Use template on the winner.
- Hand the writing to Zeus: a template shows Fill with Zeus: ready. Click Fill with Zeus and Zeus writes every page for the client, including one per service and area.
Limits and what it can't do
- A change to the template later doesn't update sites already made from it. Each site is its own copy.
- Only ContentForge templates and your own agency's templates are listed. You can't use another agency's.
- Blog posts and redirects never come from a template. Add them after.
- Only owners and admins can edit or delete templates, and only your agency's own.
Credits
Use template is free, and there's no cap on draft sites. Fill with Zeus costs credits (see its article). A site is billed as a hosted site once it's published. See Plans and hosted sites.
Who can use it
- Anyone in your agency with the Mount Olympus tool can create a site from a template.
- A team member limited to some clients can pick only those clients.
- Edit template and Delete template are for owners and admins.
Troubleshooting
- "Failed to load clients": the client list didn't load. Close the window and open it again.
- "This template has no pages yet": the template is empty. Pick another, or edit it and add pages.
- "Template not found": it was deleted, or it isn't available to your agency. Reopen the window to refresh the list.
- "Couldn't read this template" or "Couldn't create the site — nothing was created. Try again.": nothing was made. Try again in a moment.
- "Couldn't delete the template": the delete didn't go through. Try again.
- The client's colors didn't show up: a site made from a template keeps the template's colors. Change Primary and Secondary in Theme → Colors, or use Fill a template with Zeus, which puts the client's brand colors in and checks everything still reads.
- No template step appeared: there are no templates yet, so a blank site was made.