FIGURE A

Notice the hidden NotesPreview frame in the standard template frameset layout. Click picture for a larger image.

Preparing for the makeover
I recommend you copy one of these supplied template framesets (Discussion is a good choice) to a new R5 template and rename it for your own use--MasterFrameset will do nicely. Then tune up the frameset and its associated content pages. It will take longer than five minutes to get this done the first time around, but once you have your own version of these design elements, it's a breeze to copy them to each of your old databases.

You'll observe from comparing the various standard templates that the name of the page loaded into the NotesNavigator frame is different in every database. Freshening up lots of databases is easier if you adopt a standard name for this page; dspMasterOutline is fine.

The content pages
It's also worthwhile getting the content pages of the frames right at this stage, to simplify the update of each database. There are three pages in question.

DbaseTitleDisplay
The first is DbaseTitleDisplay. This is a black page with white, computed text using an @dbtitle formula to display the title of the database in which it's being shown. It's loaded into the Switcher frame. This is because in the Mail template the page contains little icons to switch between Mail, Calendar, and To Do. Unless you want to emulate that function style, there's no need to change this page. Dropping it into each new database is all that's required.

dspMainOutline
The second content page is dspMainOutline. This page contains the database menu using an embedded outline. If there's no outline defined, it will usually (but not reliably) display a default outline in its place. In your master copy of this page, generate a default outline (e.g., MasterOutline) and embed it here. There are many choices for customizing the look and feel of the outlines, but if nothing else, set the Outline Size width to "Fit to Window" and the height to "Fit to Content."

dspTemplateName
Finally, there's dspTemplateName. This displays the name of the template itself as simple text, white on a dark background. You should customize the text for every separate database. You should also consider the background color carefully, as it will set the tone for the entire database.

Creating the menu page outline
Now we're ready to create the outline needed for the menu page. All you have to do is follow these three easy steps:

1. From the outline design view, select New Outline;

2. When the blank outline appears, select Generate Default Outline;

3. Close the outline and name it as MainOutline.

That's all you need to do for a basic default menu. If you feel comfortable with this, go back into the outline and consider rearranging or removing certain entries--all you have to do is drag and drop. If you're confused by the lack of design options for outlines, it's because the outline itself is supposed to be plain content and "style-free." Decoration and sizing happens on the page in which this outline is embedded.