Upon re-reading my question and thinking about it, the "no way to revert back" issue does make some sense in light of the fact that the original area content is automatically converted to a layout when the first layout is added. However, I can see that it might be a tad confusing for a user who added one or more layouts to an area and then wants to revert back to the way it was - i.e. it being just a "plain" area containing no layouts.

Since the original area content is automatically converted to a layout, perhaps the proper way to handle layout deletion when there are only 2 layouts remaining is to automatically delete the last remaining layout and move its content to the area. Again, this would be done automatically "behind the scenes" when the 2nd-to-last layout is deleted.

Just a thought...

-Steve

"What's the right way to think about layouts - as a single C5 area containing multiple grids or as a C5 area that's been subdivided into multiple C5 areas?"

An area can have multiple layout sections (grids/segments). Each layout section has multiple sub areas (one for each column).


"Also, there seems to be no way to "revert back" to having no layouts in an area. Is this correct, or am I overlooking something?"

At this point, you're right. You'd have to copy each block to the bottom area, then delete each layout section. We've talked about having a prompt when you go to delete a layout, that asks "what do you want to do with this layout's blocks", to which you can answer "move to parent area" or "delete them". This would let you just got through and delete each layout section, automatically returning all blocks to the primary area. This will probably be coming in a later release of concrete.

Thanks, Tony. Your plans for "prompt on delete" sound like a good way to go.

-Steve

Expanding on your "What's the right way to think about layouts"...

Layout or Page Type?
Should layouts only be used for single pages / one-off pages as layouts can't be added to the default page template? Or, should we design a new page-type with multiple areas hard coded into the html of that particular page type?

well, if you're going to have a the same layout consistently across a bunch of different pages, then you may just want to make a new page type with that layout hardcoded. or you could just save the layout as a preset and reuse that preset on multiple pages. i kinda think that, at least for right now, layouts are better suited for one-off custom spreads. it might get easier to use them more as template creators in later versions of concrete too though. being able to add them to page type defaults would be a step in that direction. i wonder if we could do something like global areas, where adding/editing layouts or blocks onto an area that was switched to "global" would apply to all of that page type's areas (by pointing to the page type default's cID instead of the current page's cID).

One other question I have regarding the Layouts feature. I have a 3 column layout and want to divide my main area into two columns under the main text of the page. However, when I create a layout, it clears to the bottom of the left column, leaving a big gap in the center of my page. Is there some way we can edit how that block is placed? Am I missing something?

i'm not sure i get what you mean. can you post a screenshot or something?

Here is a screen grab of what's happening.

it looks like there may be a problem with your theme's css. The layout system uses a {clear:both;} style rule after each layout section in order to make sure the next layouts starts below all of the previous one's floated cells (which a pretty standard practice in CSS). you might want to change the way that three column page is setup so that it allows for the clear tags

I kinda thought that's what was happening. I have a clear:both just before my footer in my css. It's just tough to wrap my brain around what the Layout feature does. I think I'll just use the Area Splitter feature instead.

How to put background in avery single cell in the layout thank you.