Theme-Notes

Most pages are composed of common characteristics that we can code once and share using SiteMesh

Presentation - Composing Pages

How can we increase consistency and reduce markup?How can we offer alternate versions of a page?

SiteMesh is a frameworks in its own right, but most applications only need to use the essentials.

Story: MailReader must be maintained over time. A design based on page composition can be easier to update.

Utilize include tag to reuse a common element through application
Utilize a CSS reference to use a common theme throughout application
Utilize SiteMesh to accomplish the same effect, without requiring a change to the original pages

Copy the css/mailreader.css file from the CD
Add a style reference to every page
Add a standard footer page throughout the application that links back to the Welcome page, using the jsp:include tag
Implement the same changes using SiteMesh instead

<link href="<ww:url value="/css/mailreader.css"/>" rel="stylesheet"
          type="text/css"/>

<%@ taglib uri="/webwork" prefix="ww" %>
<hr/>
<p>
    <a href="<ww:url action="Welcome" />"><ww:text name="index.title"/></a>
</p>

Utilized include tag to reuse a common element through application
Utilized a CSS reference to use a common theme throughout application
Utilized SiteMesh to accomplish the same effect, without requiring a change to the original pages

Create a new theme and use SiteMesh to change over to it, without touching the pages again.