Before jumping into the module, there are a few terms you need to be familiar with.

Themes are what control the design of the site. Layout pipes the content you enter into boxes (see below) that are placed into the theme. Therefore, you can alter the way your page looks without having to worry about the content of your site.

Boxes are what make up the themes. Each portion of content is seperated into these boxes, ordered, then placed on the theme.

Now that you know these terms, let get into the module itself. Layout is an administrative module, so click on the Administrative tab in your control panel. Click on Layout Admin to get into the module. You will be taken to a page with two sections: the panel and the settings.