I have a next structure of my project:
/application
/modules
/default
/layouts
...
/news
...
/configs
/layouts
common.phtml
Header and footer on all pages are the same. I have a block with changing content for different modules. It is not work now. Can you help me. May be you did this things?
Look here. Everything you need to know to get you started withzend layout and modules.