Though there are different approaches that can be taken to serve content in multiple formats, the best solution will be specific to your circumstances and implementation.

Almost any approach you take will have maintenance overhead. You'll have multiple places to update when things change. As copies of your template files proliferate, a simple text change can become a large task.

Some of the cases we'll look at don't require much consideration. Serving a printable version of a page, for example, is straightforward and easily accomplished. Putting a pumpkin in your site header at Halloween or using a heart background around Valentine's Day can make your site seem timely and relevant, especially if you are in a seasonal business.

Other techniques, such as serving different templates to different browsers, devices, or user-agents might create serious debate among content authors. Since serving content to mobile devices is becoming a new standard of doing business...