In uCoz system a site is based on dynamic pages. Dynamic page is a page, which doesn't exist on the server as an integral whole, but is constructed in a browser "on fly" of separate blocks according to a certain script. In general it consists of three components:
1. Content, i.e. text, images and hyperlinks; it is located in a special database as a rule.
2. Description of content design, i.e. how the content is placed and formatted on a page.
3. Program-script, which extracts separate blocks from the database and constructs a page.
The first item is entirely yours, i.e. information with which you are going to fill your site. The second and the third are granted by the system, but though the second may be changed for almost 100%, the third you can only complement with client scripts.
The program-script, written by high-class professional programmers, is presented to you in the form of modules - Forum, Guestbook, Catalogs etc., described on the main page of our site. By means of Control Panel, you can adjust these modules to your site. uCoz Control Panel is made as convenient as possible, it has user-friendly interface, and is supplied with various hints and mini-instructions.
Page appearance is based on templates and a style sheet in a separate file. Each module has several templates, allowing to customize separately appearance of each module and appearance of pages inside a module.
Page code includes both common HTML-tags and special uCoz codes. uCoz codes are special variables, which accept the following values when output on a page:
1.Constants
2.Variables
3.Parts of HTML codes
For example, $SITE_MENU$ code outputs contents of the main site menu, which has a separate template. As a result, your make changes in one place, and then they become active on all site pages automatically. In general uCoz codes represent on a site contents of the fields, which you fill in module settings or in some templates.
Each template has also Visual Editor, but it is intended for the "face-lift" of your template. Here you can format text, insert a link or an image, but we do not advise you to make serious changes in Visual Editor. Even such professional editors as FrontPage or DreamweaverMX do not guarantee pure code.
Template Builder, Global Blocks and Quick Replacement of HTML-code parts make work with the design much easier. Template builder is intended for quick and convenient replacement of the whole site design. You need not update each template separately, all you need is to create one common skeleton and all active templates will be updated. This utility is intended for "rude" customization of site appearance, all tiny details you should change manually; still it will save you much time. Global blocks are blocks, available in all other templates of your project. With the help of global blocks you can optimize the design of your project, having divided it into common parts, e.g.:
HEADER - common upper part,
FOOTER - common lower part etc. By means of global blocks, you can make changes of the whole project by editing one block template only. You can create 10 global blocks. Quick replacement – this feature is intended for quick replacement of one part of HTML code by the other. E.g. you need to replace "SITE LOGO" by "Interesting site", so you insert "SITE LOGO" in the first field, and "Interesting site" - in the second. As a result "SITE LOGO" will be replaced by "Interesting site" in all templates where it is found. You can do this action with any HTML code, e.g. replace images (logo), template variables ($codes$) etc. However, be attentive when making a replacement for it can occur even in those places where you didn’t expect. E.g., if you want to replace "a" by "b", the system will replace "a" by "b" everywhere it will find "a". Remember, if something goes wrong, you can always restore templates by means of the corresponding feature or with the help of "Update design for all active modules" option in "Common settings" section. That is what you must know if you want to change the design of your site.
