The basic layout of a website is normally determined by using design templates. As in other content management systems, placeholders are used in TYPO3. Markers or sub-parts can be inserted into the design template, which in turn are later replaced automatically by the appropriate content.
There is often confusion about the two terms templates and design templates: Either the term design template is not found at all or it is treated as an equivalent to template. Both of these uses are wrong. A design template is actually a normal HTML file. Its only special feature is that it has placeholders in the pattern of ###CONTENT###
or ###CONTENT### This is the content ###CONTENT###
. It doesn't matter what the ultimate configuration of the HTML page is—you can base it on table layouts or modern CSS design.
Templates are completely different because they deal with dynamic page definitions. The next chapter will look at templates in more detail...