Design your own template

A template is a whole website design: the pages, the sections on each page, and the style (colours, fonts, corners, buttons). You can design your own. Only people in your company can see it. This page is for website editors (admins with Website editor switched on).

Make a new template

Open Website and choose the Theme tab.
In Your own templates, press Design your own template. (Or open All my templates and press New template.)
Type a Template name (up to 60 characters).
Under How to start, choose one:
- Copy a template: its pages, sections, style and sample pictures, to change as you like. Choose which one under Template to copy.
- Start blank: a header, a footer and an empty home page, with one text section on every other page.
Press Create template. The designer opens.

Or let AI make the first draft. See Let AI design a starting template below.

You can also copy a platform template: on the Theme tab, find the card marked Designed by the platform (it sits with the themes) and press Copy to my templates.

Let AI design a starting template

Under Let AI make a first draft, the AI can design a starting template for you. Then you refine it in the designer. Only the operator’s website editors can use it.

Type a Template name.
Press one of the three buttons: From a picture or sketch, From a website link or Describe it. One form opens. Fill in any of these:
- Pictures (up to 4): JPEG, PNG or WebP, 10 MB or smaller each.
- Website link: a public page.
- Describe it: 10 to 1,000 characters.
Press Design my template. A tracker shows the steps. You can leave the page. The template appears in My templates when it is done. If you stay, the designer opens.

What each input is good for

A screenshot of a site you like: the AI copies the feel. It picks the colours, the light or dark look and the kind of layout.
A hand sketch of a page, top to bottom: the AI puts the sections in the same order. For example a big photo, three boxes, prices, then a form. Take the photo straight on, in good light.
A brochure or flyer: good for colours and the mood.
A website link: the AI reads the page’s colours and headings. Use a public page.
A description: for example “clean and corporate, navy and white, big photo at the top, prices up front”.

You can mix them. More to go on gives a closer match.

What the AI picks, and what it doesn’t

It picks a base to start from, the colours, fonts, corners, buttons, spacing, light or dark, and which sections go on the home page and in what order.
It always makes the colours readable. If a colour would make text hard to read, it fixes it.
The words stay sample words with placeholders, such as [company name]. Write your own in the designer.
It does not use your pictures. Pictures you upload are only read, then thrown away. They are not saved or shown on the template.

Refine it

Open the template in the designer and change anything: sections, words, colours, fonts. Then press Use on my site as with any template. See Use a template on your site.

Limits

10 AI templates a day.
An AI template counts toward your 20 templates.
One AI job at a time on your site. It also waits for Ask AI and Let AI write your first draft.

If the AI can’t do it

What you see	Why	What to do
“Add a picture, a link or a description.”	The form is empty.	Fill in at least one.
“Describe it in at least 10 characters.”	The description is too short.	Write a few more words.
“Keep the description to 1,000 characters or fewer.”	The description is too long.	Shorten it.
“Pictures must be JPEG, PNG or WebP”	A file is another kind of picture.	Use a JPEG, PNG or WebP.
“We couldn’t open that link. Check it, or leave it empty.”	The link is wrong, private or blocked.	Check it, or leave it out.
“The AI is already working on your site.”	Another AI job is running.	Wait for it to finish.
“You’ve used today’s 10 AI templates. Try again tomorrow.”	You made 10 today.	Try tomorrow, or make one by hand.
“You can have up to 20 templates.”	You have 20 templates.	Delete one you don’t use.
“The AI couldn’t design a template from that. Try a clearer picture or a few more words.”	The AI had too little to go on.	Add a clearer picture or more words.
“The AI didn’t answer.” or “The AI stopped. Try again.”	The AI was too slow.	Try again.

The designer

The designer saves by itself while you work. The top shows the save status. Press Save now to save at once.

Change the Template name at the top at any time.
Choose a page: Home, Rates, Why us, Contact, Guides list, Thank you, Privacy policy, Page not found, or Blog post. On a phone, swipe the row sideways.
Under Sections, set the Page title, then arrange the page’s sections: choose one to edit it, move it up or down, Hide or Show it, Duplicate it, or Delete it. Press Add section to add more (up to 40 on a page).
A Layout list on a row changes how that kind of section looks. It changes every section of that kind in the template.
Pictures in a section come from the template’s own pictures. You can upload more from the picture field.
Use the preview to see the page as a phone or as a Computer. The preview shows sample words and pictures.

A Blog post has nothing to arrange. It uses your style with the standard post layout, and the preview shows a sample guide.

On a phone, the designer shows one part at a time. Switch between Sections, Edit and Preview with the buttons above the part.

To build a section from blocks, see Build your own sections.

Set the style

Choose the Style tab.
Pick a colour set, or change each colour. A list tells you if some text would be hard to read, with a button to fix it.
Under Fonts, choose Heading and text fonts.
Under Shape and spacing, choose Corners (Square, Soft, Round), Buttons (Square, Soft, Pill, Outline pill), Spacing (Compact, Normal, Airy) and Light or dark.
The preview updates as you go.

Keep, copy and delete templates

On Website → Theme → All my templates (My templates) each template has Use on my site, Edit and Delete.

You can have up to 20 templates.
Delete asks you to confirm. Sites that already use the template keep their look, and its pictures stay in Pictures.
To use a template on your site, see Use a template on your site.
A picture one of your templates or My sections uses can’t be deleted from Pictures: it says “This picture is used on:” and where. Take it out there first.

If you close the designer with changes that couldn’t be saved, it offers to bring them back next time you open it.

If something goes wrong

What you see	Why	What to do
“You can have up to 20 templates. Delete one you no longer use to make another.”	You already have 20 templates.	Delete one you don’t use, then make a new one.
“Choose how to start the template”	No way to start was chosen.	Choose Copy a template or Start blank.
“Choose a template to copy.”	Nothing is chosen under Template to copy.	Pick one in the list.
“Some fields need fixing”	A field in the template is not valid. The marked fields say why.	Fix the marked fields. The designer saves again by itself.
“Couldn’t load this template’s pictures …”	The pictures didn’t load.	Reload the page.
“This template already has 300 pictures. Delete some you no longer use, then try again.”	The template’s pictures are full.	Delete pictures you don’t use.
“… changed this template at … Your version replaced theirs.”	Someone else saved the template while you had it open.	Check your template. Your version was kept.
Some templates to copy are missing	Built-in themes are still Draft.	Ask the platform admin to make them available.