Make key views overridden by default and have less unnecessary partials
Application layout should look more like this and be in a new project so you can instantly see what is happening.
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<% site_bar = render('/refinery/site_bar', :head => true) -%>
<head>
<meta charset='<%= Rails.application.config.encoding %>'>
<title><%= browser_title(yield(:title)) %></title>
<%= raw %(<meta name="description" content="#{@meta.meta_description}" />) if @meta.meta_description.present? -%>
<%= raw %(<meta name="keywords" content="#{@meta.meta_keywords}">) if @meta.meta_keywords.present? -%>
<%= raw %(<link rel="canonical" content="#{@canonical}" />) if @canonical.present? -%>
<%= csrf_meta_tags if Refinery::Core.authenticity_token_on_frontend -%>
<%= yield :meta %>
<%= stylesheet_link_tag "application" %>
<%= yield :stylesheets %>
<%= render '/refinery/google_analytics' %>
</head>
<body>
<%= site_bar -%>
<div id="wrapper">
<div id="header">
<h1 id="logo"><%= link_to Refinery::Core.site_name, '/' %></h1>
</div>
<div id="aside">
<%= render(:partial => "/refinery/menu") %>
<%= render(:partial => "/refinery/search_form") %>
</div>
<div id="content">
<%= render(:partial => "/refinery/breadcrumbs") %>
<%= yield %>
</div>
<div id="footer">
<p>© <%= Time.now.year %> <%= Refinery::Core.site_name %></p>
</div>
</div>
<%= render '/refinery/javascripts' %>
</body>
</html>
Search and breadcrumbs should be default components that can be deleted from the template if not needed.
View Templates should be enabled by default as it's such a core part of skinning any site. home and show should be there but simplified to this, is _content_page really needed?
<h1><%= @page.title %></h1>
<%=raw @page.content_for(:body) %>