# Build your slide template

> **Key Architectural Takeaway:** Building a slide template starts with three foundational choices — colours, fonts and layouts.

**Published:** 2026-10-14T14:20:00+00:00 
**Source:** Martin Fowler (Software Architecture) 
**Category:** software-engineering 
**Canonical URL:** https://fosswire.org/news/build-your-slide-template.html 

## Executive Summary
Building a slide template starts with three foundational choices — colours, fonts and layouts. Sumeet Gayathri Moghe covers the basics of color theory and how to build a reusable palette, the essentials of typography, including serif, sans-serif, handwritten and monospace fonts, plus the finer points of kerning and leading, and why a near-blank layout might serve you better than the prescribed layouts that ship with your slideware.

## Architectural & Systems Analysis
From a software architecture and open governance standpoint:

- **Standardized Protocols:** Adopting open interfaces eliminates walled-garden lock-in and fosters interoperability.
- **Zero-Trust Auditability:** Independent peer inspection replaces commercial blind trust.
- **Sustainable Maintenance:** Reduces maintenance friction through transparent issue triaging and automated continuous verification.

## Impact on the Open Ecosystem
Reinforces the principle that foundational software utilities belong to the public engineering commons.