What is the Template Designer?
Qompose's powerful in-platform Template Designer lets users create custom content directly in the user interface. It allows you to combine multiple content types into a single canvas that can be delivered directly to your media players.
What content do Templates support?
Summing together multiple content types is one of the most powerful ways to use the Template Editor. Below is a list of all of the supported content types that can be added to your Template:
Text boxes
Geometric shapes (rectangles and ellipses)
Current Date
Current Time
Data Feeds (configured via the Data Feed Manager)
Datagrids (collections of Data Feeds)
Images and videos
Playlist zones
Other created Templates
Custom backgrounds (solid colours or images)
Top layer (image layers that sit atop your entire Template)
You can add any number of the above-listed content to your Templates.
How to create a new Template
From the Media Library panel, click the +Import button
Select Template from the drop-down menu
The Template Designer will open immediately. We recommend naming your Template in the Name field located in the top-right of the side panel and then pressing Save Settings to save your new Template.
You'll then see your Template in your Media Library, and can right-click on it and press Edit when you are ready to begin designing.
Saving your Template
Click Save settings once you're happy with your Template
Click Cancel to discard your changes and return to the asset library
Exploring the Template Designer interface
The canvas toolbar — Your design tools: shapes, text, date/time, and data grid tools, alongside Snap to grid, Undo/Redo, Zoom, and Preview.
Properties panel — Configure your Template's Name, Width and Height, Duration (Manual or Automatic), Auto save (Enable toggle and Interval), and Background (Color or Image). For full details on each of these settings, please see our article on Configuring your Template's Properties.
Layers panel — Lists every zone and element on your canvas, shown against a timeline reflecting your Template's total duration. For more on using this panel to control timing, please see our article on Building a Timeline in your Template.
Left-hand navigation — Switch between Content, Playlists, Top layer, and Datafeed to bring in the media, Playlists, images, or data your Template needs.
Canvas — Your working area, matching your Player's screen resolution by default. Drag content from the Content or Playlists panel here to create a zone, as covered below
The left-hand navigation
Running down the left-hand side, you'll find four tabs:
Content — browse your Content Library and drag media directly onto the Template Canvas
Playlists — drag a Playlist onto your canvas to create a Playlist zone
Top Layer — upload images to sit above all other content on your Template
Datafeed — bind data fields or data grids to your Template via the Data Feed Manager.
Please Note
Top Layer images are uploaded independently of your Content Library. They're stored directly in the Template Designer and aren't available as separate pieces of content elsewhere in your Media Library. See our Top Layers and Template Backgrounds article for more information.
The canvas toolbar
Running along the top of the Template Designer, you'll find your design tools, including shape and text tools, date/time tools, a data grid tool, a selection tool, Snap to grid, Undo/Redo, a Zoom control, a Settings icon, and Preview.
Clicking the Settings icon will open the asset properties for your template.
The canvas
This is your working area, matching your Player's screen resolution by default. If your selected Group contains Players with different resolutions, the highest resolution will be used. If the display orientation is portrait, your Template will appear in portrait mode when published to your media player.
New Feature (coming soon)
New and exclusive to Qompose, when you nest a Template inside another Template, you'll now see a live preview of that nested Template rather than a static thumbnail placeholder.
For more on building zones on your canvas, please see our article on Managing Zones in your Template.
The Properties panel
The right-hand Properties panel shows different settings depending on what's selected — your overall Template settings when nothing is selected, or an individual element's settings once you click on it.
Side panel with no elements selected | Side panel with a media zone selected |
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For more on the settings available here, please see our article on Configuring your Template's Properties.
The Layers panel
Along the bottom of the Template Designer, the Layers panel lists every zone and element on your canvas, each shown against a timeline reflecting your Template's total duration alongside the duration of each individual element.
New Feature
In the Qompose Template Designer, if you add multiple media types to a media zone, the first item is displayed in full size, whilst additional items in that zone are listed beneath it as a horizontal filmstrip.
For more on using this panel to control timing, please see our article on Building a Timeline in your Template.
Managing your Templates
For details on right-click zone actions (bring to front/back, lock, copy/paste, remove) and duplicating Templates within your Library, please see our article on Managing Zones in your Template.
Summary
The Template Designer gives you a flexible canvas for combining static design with dynamic, data-driven content, all in one place. Use the links below to go deeper on any specific part of the Designer.