The content model
You describe what you have. The layout figures itself out.
A skilled editor looks at a manuscript and knows immediately whether a section calls for a full-width spread, a sidebar, or a tight three-column breakdown. They don't deliberate. The shape of the content tells them.
Enine Sites applies the same logic systematically. Every section you write has a shape: what the lead item carries, how many supporting items follow, and what those items carry. The engine reads that shape and selects the appropriate layout. You make editorial decisions. The engine handles presentation.
How the engine reads a section
Three questions. One layout. You never choose the template.
Every section resolves through three questions. What does the lead item carry: a photograph, an icon, or text alone? How many supporting items follow? And what do those items carry?
The combination of those three answers points to exactly one layout. The engine applies it. You never open a template picker, never adjust a grid, never wonder whether two columns or three looks better.
What the lead item carries
A photograph, an icon, or text. This determines how the section opens: as a visual statement, a symbolic marker, or a headline. The lead item sets the register for everything that follows.
How many items follow
One, two, three, or several. This determines the grid. A single supporting item gets featured treatment. Three get a row. Several collapse into a structured list. The count is the layout instruction.
What the supporting items carry
Photographs, icons, or text, evaluated across the group. If any item in the group carries a photograph, the group is treated as visual. The most expressive element in the set determines how all of them render.
The hierarchy of visual weight
When in doubt, the richer visual always wins the slot.
Photograph outranks icon. Icon outranks text. This hierarchy is applied consistently across every section, every theme, every layout. When a group contains mixed content, the highest-weight element sets the treatment for the rest. The rule is simple. Its effect on layout coherence is significant.
The engine resolving a real section
Watch the engine pick a layout for a real content block.
A features section. The lead item has no photograph. Four supporting items: three carry icons, one carries a photograph.
The engine reads: lead is text, group carries a photograph, count is four. It selects a layout with a full-width visual card at the top and a three-column icon row below. No template was chosen. No grid was configured. The content described itself, and the engine responded.