Stencils are a new feature of the Design-a-Course Author content development tool. Now it will be even easier to add your information to a Design-a-Course learning module.

A stencil is a complete page that you add and then customize with your specific content. If you are using a course theme that contains stencil pages, you will have the option of choosing from the stencil pages contained within that theme each time you add a new page to your course. The stencil page will be a fully formatted, Design-a-Course page with stock text and images. You will choose the stencil that has the appearance you want for the current page. Once added to the course, you will be able to change the text and images on the new page, but will not be required to define the formatting of the page. We do the graphic design work, and you add the information.

For customers already familiar with our course theme and page template features, stencils are an extension of the page template idea. With a page template, you get a "starting point" for the page and then use the features of Author to add, delete, rearrange, and otherwise edit the new page. With a stencil page, your start out with a completed page. The stencil will define certain areas of the page, text blocks, pictures, etc,. that can be edited. You select and change the content of these areas to add your content to the new page.

A new version of Design-a-Course Author that includes this Stencil Page feature will be released in the near future.