Creating a custom WebPart zone layout in SharePoint or changing the layout of current WebPart zones

Question

I created a custom page layout in SharePoint 2010 and now I need to be able to add WebParts to specifc areas on my page layout. How do I create a custom WebPart zone layout in SharePoint or change the current WebPart zone layout to be able to add WebParts to my new custom page layout?

Answer 1

What you may be able to do depends on what you did in your "custom" layout. SharePoint does not allow just anything to be done. What can be done with a standard web page and what SharePoint will tolerate are not the same. There are references and tags that SharePoint requires.

If you have created a layout that conforms to SharePoint requirements, the easiest way to add a zone is cut and paste. You can use the insert option in SPD, too.

Create a new, blank, simple page in SPD. Open it in Code view. Grab the code for the zone from the new page. Paste it into your page.

Make sure you grab the start and end tags for the zone.

Switch to split view to make sure you have the zone where you wanted it.