What is the difference between Template and Layout?

Question

I would like to know the difference semantic, visual and web development front-end and back-end.

@Edit

Related:

• Is there any kind of dependency? To have the layout you need to have the template?

Answer 1

The concepts for Template and Layout apply beyond the web, and are used by N areas. Focusing on web development as your question:

Template

It is a set of files and instructions, containing only the visual part of the presentation of the content. It is a model of documents that will shape the final concept.

Layout

It is the way the content is formatted and presented, the structure and diagramming.

Making a cheap analogy: Imagine that we will build a kite (I hope you have already done this), the basic structure of a kite is the same:

In this case, it is the template.

But the color of the silk, the size of the tail, or its designs can be changed without influencing its main structure and are only for embellishment. Here we have the layout.

@Edit

Is there some kind of dependency? To have the layout you need to have the template?

A template will have a layout, the way the data is organized for display - but a layout does not need to be in a template, you can create a unique document and do not need a template ( a standard template below ).

Sources:

Layouts

• Definition: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/pt/dicionario/ingles/layout
• Layout of a slide - https://support.office.com/pt-br/article/O-que-%C3%A9-um- layout-de-slide-3a67bbc6-f433-4890-8549-398c3b0bf934
• Study of the layout - http://www.producao.ufrgs.br/arquivos/disciplinas/393_seq_3_tipos_layout.pdf Over layout - http://www.uff.br/sta/textos/ar022.pdf
• Layout of companies and their benefits - http://www.abepro.org.br/biblioteca/enegep2013_TN_STO_177_010_23292.pdf

Templates

• Definition: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/pt/dicionario/ingles/template
• Model documents - http://www.governoeletronico.gov.br/sisp-conteudo/nucleo-de-contratacoes-de-ti/modelo-de-contratacoes-normativos-e-documentos-de-referencia/templates-modelos-de-documentos
• Template in C++ - http://www.dei.isep.ipp.pt/~hleitao/EI/Templates.pdf

Answer 2

Layout is the form in which a content is presented, formatted and diagrammed. It is most closely linked to its structure of presentation. (What?) It’s usually not the final archive of your idea, but it may be an integral part of it.

Template is the set of archives and guidelines for the disposition of the contents and the visual presentation. (How? ) This set of files gives shape to the concept or the theme project, idea, website/app.

There is a dependency between them, as a template was once a layout. You can have a template with a specific layout, and on top of the same template if you change the layout. You can also have a unique template that has multiple layouts.

When I think about this subject, Powerpoint. You open the program, and it gives you some slide options (white slide, title, subtitle, image, content, column). It’s a simple template, and you use what makes sense to your presentation. You can use this idea and you can change. (layout)

Or you can take a ready-made model, which already comes with applied animations, with differentiated drawings, text boxes located in certain and even differentiated locations, all with the aim of forming a visual concept. To get to this closed file, someone took a layout and modified it until it was coherent with the theme that is intended.(template)

Or a example even simpler. Draw a person. A stick figure is a layout. He has head, torso and limbs, in the required order, in the right places, and in sufficient quantity to identify him. Now if you will make your drawing with ink, with pencil, with a certain stroke thickness, realistic, coloring, with certain style, etc; this would be the template.