Dizkus

just starting with PostNuke.. from searching around, i have gleaned that adding new links to the top menu is a function of each individual theme, rather than a block. Best I can tell, you actually just have to edit files manually, rather than there being somewhere in the admin panel to change this?

I have it set with the default PostNukeSilver that came with it. So I tried to go into html/themes/PostNukeSilver/ and monkey with files in there. My best common sense/backwards-engineering ability made me think I should edit the following files:

templates/master.htm
modules/home.htm
lang/eng/global.php


I added the following to master.htm:




I added the following to home.htm:




I added the following to global.php:




..but still nothing changed.. Can anyone point me further in the right direction? Much appreciated!

Try admin panel->system->xanthia->configure xanthia->check boxes for "Check for updated version of templates" and "Force templates recompilation"

Clearing out your sites xanthia_compiled folder might work as well.



edited by: Thug21, Dec 02, 2006 - 10:54 PM

that worked! thanx!

do all themes use the Xanthia Engine? Or were there a standard format for themes native to Postfix?

anything out there to give you a nicer way to edit these?

Np.

I believe Xanthia is the native PostNuke type of theme. You can use other types of themes on PN such as "autothemes" but they need the AutoTheme module to be installed first.

At any rate, I tend to prefer Xanthia.


As far as edting goes, I just change the .htm files and everything works fine. I don't know of another way to do it.

P.S. When you are done making changes to your theme, you can untick those boxes (if you checked em)




edited by: Thug21, Dec 02, 2006 - 11:24 PM

Well, ExtraLite is a native non-engine PostNuke theme. In comparison, AutoTheme and XTE are so much easier to use.

--
David Pahl
Zikula Support Team

How do you clear your sites xanthia_compiled folder

Try this:


Admin => pnRender => Delete compiled templates


and


Admin => pnRender => Delete cached pages


HTH

Peter

--
Peace
______________________________________
The commonest cause of problems is solutions.

Thanks for the response. I must be doing something wrong. I'll explain how I'm doing this:

1. I try to edit my xanthia theme in the theme configuration screen for the master.htm and home.htm files.
2. When I make my changes, and then reload these two templates, nothing is changed.

This is still occurring even after I did what you suggested and I checked the Xanthia configuration screen to ensure that "Check for updated version of templates" is checked as well as the "Force templates recompilation"; they are both checked. Also, I ensured that "Store templates in database" is not checked.

Could it be that I'm not supposed to try and edit these files through the theme configuration screen?

I do one of two things to edit themes. (First, I ALWAYS make a back-up copy of the theme before I tinker, so I can recover from my dumb errors.)

Easy method for small changes:

• Use an ftp program that allows live editing (I'm a MacMan so I use Yummy which works great with BBedit)
  
• ftp to the site
  
• navigate to the file (e.g., master.hm in /yoursite/themes/yourtheme/
  
• use the text editor facility built into the ftp program and make the change you want (a snap with Yummy and BBedit)
  
• save the changed version
  
• point your browser and reload
  
• repeat as needed until it is right
  

For bigger changes (and a safer method):

• download the master.htm and home.htm files from the theme/yourtheme/ directory
  
• make a copy in case of problems
  
• edit the htm files to your heart's content in a text editor
  
• upload the edited htm files, replacing the previous ones (of course you have a saved copy in case...)
  
• point your browser and reoload
  
• repeat as needed until it is right
  

Peter

--
Peace
______________________________________
The commonest cause of problems is solutions.

OK, so what you are saying is don't edit these files from within the theme configuration screen. I will try this and let you know what happens.

Can I ask you one more question? To make changes to things like BOTLINKNAME, TOPLINKNAME, and site font size which are hard coded parameters - is this done by editing the globals.php file?

I'm using PN.764 which I believe is a current stable version and therefore should allow this from the globals.php file only, making it unnecessary to edit master.htm and home.htm.

Things like _SOMECAPITALIZEDWORDS are changed in global.php. If you have poked around you know that there are global.php files all over the place. Start local in your search. (Using a browser and viewing as source can help. And FireFox has lots of extensions that can make it easier to find what you are looking for. It gets easier.)

Font size is likely to be in the theme's style.css - be careful about changes here. Lots of different blocks and modules will use the same CSS and you may make more changes than you intended.

The only problems with 'Can I ask you one more question?' is that this question and its answer are then less easy to find. In general, folks here prefer follow-up questions in the same thread but a new thread for a new question.

Peter

--
Peace
______________________________________
The commonest cause of problems is solutions.