Custom page layout not working

Question

Im going crazy here. Can't get this to work. I'd like to make a custom page layout like the 1column, 2columns-left etc. I've searched and read multiple tutorials all doing the same. Nothing works though. I've got the below code. Am I overlooking something maybe?

Many thanks if you guys could help me with this.

---

Vendor: Experius

Theme: aras

---

* Step 1: Define custom page layout:*

app/design/frontend/Experius/aras/Magento_Theme/layouts.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!--
/**
 * Copyright © 2016 Magento. All rights reserved.
 * See COPYING.txt for license details.
 */
-->
<page_layouts xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="urn:magento:framework:View/PageLayout/etc/layouts.xsd">
    <layout id="splash-page">
        <label translate="true">Splash page</label>
    </layout>
</page_layouts>

---

Step 2: Define page layout of custom page layout

app/design/frontend/Experius/aras/Magento_Theme/page_layout/splash-page.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!--
/**
 * Copyright © 2016 Magento. All rights reserved.
 * See COPYING.txt for license details.
 */
-->
<layout xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="urn:magento:framework:View/Layout/etc/page_layout.xsd">
    <update handle="empty"/>
</layout>

---

Step 3: Add new block to custom page layout page wrapper container

app/design/frontend/Experius/aras/Magento_Theme/layout/default.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<page layout="splash-page" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="urn:magento:framework:View/Layout/etc/page_configuration.xsd">
    <referenceContainer name="page.wrapper">
        <block class="Magento\Framework\View\Element\Template" before="-" name="splash.backgroundimage.container" template="Experius_ContentPage::html/backgroundimage-container.phtml" />
    </referenceContainer>
</page>

Answer 1

You probably have to add your code in the splash-page.xml file

app/design/frontend/Experius/aras/Magento_Theme/page_layout/splash-page.xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!--
/**
 * Copyright © 2016 Magento. All rights reserved.
 * See COPYING.txt for license details.
 */
-->
<layout xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="urn:magento:framework:View/Layout/etc/page_layout.xsd">
    <update handle="empty"/>

    <referenceContainer name="page.wrapper">
        <block class="Magento\Framework\View\Element\Template" before="-" name="splash.backgroundimage.container" template="Experius_ContentPage::html/backgroundimage-container.phtml" />
    </referenceContainer>
</layout>

Answer 2

I was having the same issue as you exactly. I'd spent several hours searching for the answer then found this page. I followed your steps above had the same blank page result unless I relocated splash-page.xml.

I went back to basics and realised I could fix it by installing Magento a different way. Although therer probably is a better fix while keeping the same installation, the best fix for me was to change how Magento was installed.

Re this guide:http://inchoo.net/magento-2/how-to-install-magento-2/.

There are 3 ways to install: 1. Download zip, 2. Composer, 3. GitHub.

I had used the GitHub method, but i hadn't realised at the time this means you'll be running a Beta version of Magento and it holds the core Magento theme files in a different location.

So if you have this problem, I would recommend going back to basics and installing by composer. I checked again using your files exactly as detailed above and it works perfectly.