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creating a node.tpl.php file

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node.tpl.php in box_grey

We looked at page.tpl.php in box_grey which is a great, simple theme. It does have some limitations though:

  • Tables are still used for visual Layout
  • Structural tags are used strictly for clearing: <br class="clear" />
  • Some static title and alt values are explicitly set

The default node.tpl.php mark-up on the other hand is quite usable. It's not nearly as complex as far as structure goes because it does not require any mark-up for layout. It is just the content after all:

node.tpl.php default code

<div class="node<?php print ($sticky) ? " sticky" : ""; ?>">
<?php if ($page == 0): ?>
<h2><a href="/<?php print $node_url ?>" title="<?php print $title ?>"><?php print $title ?></a></h2>
<?php endif; ?>
<?php print $picture ?>

<div class="info"><?php print $submitted ?><span class="terms"><?php print $terms ?></span></div>
<div class="content">
<?php print $content ?>
</div>
<?php if ($links): ?>

<?php if ($picture): ?>
<br class='clear' />
<?php endif; ?>
<div class="links"><?php print $links ?></div>
<?php endif; ?>
</div>

There is still one small issue with the code above:

  • Structural tags are used strictly for clearing: <br class="clear" /> - it would be best to remove this tag

node.tpl.php modified code

<div class="node<?php print ($sticky) ? " sticky" : ""; ?>">
<?php if ($page == 0): ?>
<h2><a href="/<?php print $node_url ?>" title="<?php print $title ?>"><?php print $title ?></a></h2>
<?php endif; ?>
<?php print $picture ?>

<div class="info"><?php print $submitted ?><span class="terms"><?php print $terms ?></span></div>
<div class="content">
<?php print $content ?>
</div>
<?php if ($links): ?>

<?php if ($picture): ?>
<?php endif; ?>
<div class="links"><?php print $links ?></div>
<?php endif; ?>
</div>

The <br /> tag has been removed from the above code.

Creating a node.tpl.php document

  1. Create a new plain text document in the theme folder you created. Name this file node.tpl.php
drupal/themes/my_theme/node.tpl.php
  1. Copy the "node.tpl.php modified code" above and paste it into your node.tpl.php and save your document
  2. Examine the available variables for node.tpl.php
  3. Use the appropriate syntax to apply any additional node.tpl.php variables
‹ node.tpl.php Overviewupnode.tpl.php Variables ›
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