<p>Skin Elements</p>

February 22, 2010

Skin Elements:

Between the <title> tags:

<?php echo $page_title ?>

Above the </head> tag:

<?php
Template::Show('core_htmlhead.tpl');
?>

Below the <body> tag:

<?php
Template::Show('core_htmlreq.tpl');
?>

In the navigation:

<?php 
Template::Show('core_navigation.tpl');
?>

Layouts

As of 2.1 there is the layout.tpl format. This is the recommended format.

layout.tpl Format

The other alternative is in your skin's folder, creating a file called "layout.tpl", which would contain:

<html>
<head>
<title><?php echo $page_title ?></title>
<?php echo $page_htmlhead; ?>
</head>
<body>
<?php $page_htmlreq; ?>
<div id="container">
<div id="content">
<?php echo $page_content; ?>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>

As you can see, this is the entire HTML page, with several important variables being output:

<?php echo $page_title ?> - This goes between the title tags
<?php echo $page_htmlhead;?> - This goes right above the </head> tag
<?php echo $page_htmlreq; ?> - This goes immediately following the <body> tag
<?php echo $page_content;?> - This goes where the body of the page (the content) is supposed to show

You can use the Template::Show() calls instead of the above ones, it's the same thing. For an example, view the crystal (the default skin) layout.tpl file. If there is a layout.tpl file, then the header.tpl and footer.tpl files will get ignored.

header.tpl/footer.tpl Format

This is the old, pre2.0 format, which uses two files: header.tpl and footer.tpl - This is when you have something like this:

<html>
<head>
<title>My Page</title>
</head>
<body>
<div id="container">
<div id="content">
	<p>Some content goes here</p>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>

That will get split into a header and footer file. To find the split - see where content is placed. Anything above where content will be placed, goes into your header.tpl file, and below that into the footer.tpl, like:

header.tpl:

<html>
<head>
<title><?php echo $page_title ?></title>
<?php
Template::Show('core_htmlhead.tpl');
?>
</head>
<body>
<?php
Template::Show('core_htmlreq.tpl');
?>
<div id="container">
<div id="content">

footer.tpl: