Hierarchical page templates for content presentation in a digital magazine

A method for generating a digital magazine, the method comprising:

• storing a plurality of sub-templates, each sub-template including one or more regions specifying a layout of content items to be placed in the one or more regions;
• storing a plurality of page templates, each page template including one or more regions specifying a layout of content items to be placed in the more regions, at least one page template including a region that includes a sub-template;
• selecting a page template from the one or more candidate page templates based at least in part on a portion of the display area of the client device and one or more characteristics of the content items from the one or more sources, the page template including the region that includes the sub-template;
• generating scores for one or more sub-templates for the region, a score for a sub-template based on the display area of the client device, characteristics of one or more content items for presentation in the display area, and an amount of time between a current time and a time when the sub-template was previously used to present content;
• selecting a display sub-template of the one or more sub-templates based on the scores for the one or more sub-templates;
• and
• generating a section of the digital magazine for presentation via the client device, the section including one or more content regions including content items in the region placed in positions specified by the display sub-template.