---
layout: step
title: Layouts
position: 4
---
Websites typically have more than one page and this website is no different.
Jekyll supports [Markdown](https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/syntax)
as well as HTML for pages. Markdown is a great choice for pages with a simple
content structure (just paragraphs, headings and images), as it's less verbose
than raw HTML. Let's try it out on the next page.
Create `about.md` in the root.
For the structure you could copy `index.html` and modify it for the about page.
The problem with doing this is duplicate code. Let's say you wanted to add a
stylesheet to your site, you would have to go to each page and add it to the
``. It might not sound so bad for a two page site, imagine doing it
for 100 pages. Even simple changes will take a long time to make.
## Creating a layout
Using a layout is a much better choice. Layouts are templates that wrap around
your content. They live in a directory called `_layouts`.
Create your first layout at `_layouts/default.html` with the following content:
{% raw %}
```liquid
{{ page.title }}
{{ content }}
```
{% endraw %}
You'll notice this is almost identical to `index.html` except there's
no front matter and the content of the page is replaced with a `content`
variable. `content` is a special variable which has the value of the rendered
content of the page it's called on.
To have `index.html` use this layout, you can set a `layout` variable in front
matter. The layout wraps around the content of the page so all you need in
`index.html` is:
{% raw %}
```liquid
---
layout: default
title: Home
---
{{ "Hello World!" | downcase }}
```
{% endraw %}
After doing this, the output will be exactly the same as before. Note that you
can access the `page` front matter from the layout. In this case `title` is
set in the index page's front matter but is output in the layout.
## About page
Back to the about page, instead of copying from `index.html`, you can use the
layout.
Add the following to `about.md`:
```markdown
---
layout: default
title: About
---
# About page
This page tells you a little bit about me.
```
Open http://localhost:4000/about.html
in your browser and view your new page.
Congratulations, you now have a two page website! But how do you
navigate from one page to another? Keep reading to find out.