Zend_Layout is a very simple wrapper around Zend_View which provides you immediately with the benefits of a Two Step View, giving you the flexibility to create a site-wide design into which you may inject your application content.

If you're looking closely at the examples, however, you may come away with the idea that the functionality is relatively limited: how do you alter the page title, inject an optional script tag, or even create an optional sidebar? These questions are addressed with the concept of a "Composite View" -- and are the subject of the next chapter in the tutorial, which covers view "placeholders."