Template Inheritance
Template inheritance is a design pattern in web development and software engineering that allows developers to create a base template with common structure and elements, which child templates can extend and override. It promotes code reusability, consistency, and maintainability by separating layout from content. This pattern is commonly implemented in templating engines for frameworks like Django, Jinja2, and Twig.
Developers should use template inheritance when building web applications with repetitive layouts, such as headers, footers, and navigation bars, to avoid duplicating HTML code across multiple pages. It is essential for maintaining a consistent user interface and streamlining updates, as changes to the base template automatically propagate to all child templates. This is particularly useful in content-heavy sites, blogs, and enterprise applications where modular design is critical.