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In Dreamweaver, you can set up a "template" which is a predefined HTML page. The only things you can modify within the template are within the editable zones.
This is to permit you to create an entire website with the same look and feel. Anybody can create a new HTML page and edit it without changing the general look and feel of the site.
Good luck!
The idea is that template can carry across many pages, and you would use library items to insert (possibly on theme linking basis) and also add text particular to that page.
The word OPTIONAL, im not sure what is meant by that as your decision to have an editable template is obviously an optional consideration, if you are to use templates to generate pages > more like a necessity, unless you just want duplicant pages.