I have a situation where I'd like to set the hierarchy up like this:

Root <-- has a very basic layout (header/footer)
Home <-- Inherits from "Root" and has its own template/layout
Page 1
Page 4
Page 2
Page 3

I want Page 1, 2, 3 to share some layout, but something more defined that "Root" -- which makes me start to think I need to structure my layout like this:

Root <-- has a very basic layout (header/footer)
Home <-- Inherits from "Root" and has its own template/layout
Pages <-- a Page or a Folder that inherits from "Root"
Page 1
Page 4
Page 2
Page 3

So now Page 1, 2 and 3 can inherit from "Pages" and "Root" and use a template/layout that is contained within placeholder from "Pages," which is contain in "Root."

Then Page 4 is its own type of page and doesn't need the layout from "Pages" so it would inherit from *just* the "Root" and be able to define a full layout without the layout imposed by "Pages."

This works great!

But the problem is with the URLs. If the URL path for Pages is "/Pages," then all the pages under it get a URL (by default) of "/Pages/Page1" or "/Pages/Page2"

Really I want to never have any page use "/Pages" in the URL.

The workaround, of course, is to explicitly define the URL path for each of the child pages/documents. It works, but it is cumbersome. I wouldn't get our users to remember to manually touch-up the URL path every time they add a press release, for example.

Is there any other way to accomplish what I want so that creating new documents within that nested hierarchy automatically uses my preferred URL path instead of having to define it manually each time?

I feel like there should be a setting on "Pages" that says "don't use the URL path in child documents" or something?

I believe this limitation stems from the strict inheritance rule that only inherits "up" the content tree. If I could tell a page to inherit from arbitrary documents stored elsewhere (e.g. a set of templates in a separate folder), then I could keep the hierarchy "correct" without the extra "Pages" document and inherit from "Pages" stored elsewhere in the hierarchy (i.e. not above the current page).

We have been having great success with the system and have launched 7 sites since February on it and are finding it remarkable!

In fact, as we work more deeply with it, I am seeing this is one of the few limitations that we can't adjust ourselves. That is, how the fundamental visual inheritance works when attempting to do more complex document hierarchies and layouts. Unless I'm missing something?

Any thoughts anyone has would be greatly appreciated.