One aspect of the present invention includes dynamically selecting templates through the use of an ontology. In one embodiment, an ontology is defined to structure information system content, and an ontology classification is then assigned when content is provided to the information system. Based on this classification, the most appropriate template classified in the ontology is applied to the content. If a template exists at the content item's ontology level, this template is applied to the content. If no template exists, then the ontology tree is navigated upward to locate a template at the nearest ancestor ontology level. If a template was found by navigating the ontology tree, then this template is applied to the content item.