I would suggest you spend some time reading the help files. You'll probably learn a lot about LayOut that way.

In a nutshell, though, you can scale your SU views in LO in the SketchUp Model inspector if the camera is set to Parallel Projection for that scene.

Yes, you can create your own templates. Make the needed set ups in a LO file and, as in SketchUp, go to File>Save as Template.

The yellow exclamation mark indicates the sketchUp view needs to be rendered. Right click and choose Render or hit the Render button in the SketchUp Model inspector.