Getting started with Mosaic

This tutorial will guide you through the first steps of using Plone Mosaic to create a custom page layout.

Prerequisites

Before starting, ensure that Mosaic is installed and activated in your Plone site. See the Installation guide for details.

Step 1: Enable Mosaic layout

1. Create a new Document in your Plone site.

2. Save the document.

3. In the toolbar, click on the Display menu and select Mosaic layout.

Selecting “Mosaic layout” from the Display menu.

Your document is now using the Mosaic composition engine. By default, it will show the title and description.

Step 2: Open the Mosaic editor

1. Click the Edit tab in the Plone toolbar.

Opening the Mosaic editor.

2. If this is the first time you’ve edited this page, you will be prompted to select an initial layout. Select the Basic layout.

Selecting an initial layout.

Step 3: Customize the layout

The Mosaic toolbar appears at the top of the content area.

1. Click the Layout menu and select Customize. This enables the Insert and Format menus.

The toolbar after clicking “Customize”.

2. Click the Insert menu. You will see categories of tiles like Structure, Media, and Fields.

Available tiles in the Insert menu.

3. Select a Text tile from the Structure category. It will appear as a draggable box.

4. Drag the tile to a new position on the page. Notice how potential drop zones highlight as you move.

5. Click to drop the tile.

Step 4: Save your changes

1. Click the Save button in the Mosaic toolbar (not the Plone toolbar).

Congratulations! You have created your first custom page layout with Plone Mosaic.

Next steps

• Learn how to reuse this design by reading How to save a custom layout.

• Explore more advanced tasks in the How-to guides.