Confusing header.php

DaveGears86

Member
I hope somebody can help, I'm confused!

Long story short - I've been asked to look at a clients website (I have access to the server etc.), when I get in there I discover that the website is a template attached to CMS.

Anyway, I wanted to edit the websites navigation menu (simple, or so I thought), I find that there is a "header.php" link at the top of each page for the website, which I understand is holding the menu inside, so I open up header.php which looks like this:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
<title>{content_meta_title}</title>
<meta NAME="Description" CONTENT="{content_meta_description}">
<meta NAME="Keywords" CONTENT="{content_meta_keywords}">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, maximum-scale=1.0, user-scalable=no">
<meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-capable" content="yes">
<link href="<? print TEMPLATE_URL ?>css/bootstrap.css" rel="stylesheet">
<link href="<? print TEMPLATE_URL ?>css/bootstrap-responsive.css" rel="stylesheet">
<link href="http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Open+Sans:400italic,600italic,400,600" rel="stylesheet">
<link href="<? print TEMPLATE_URL ?>css/font-awesome.css" rel="stylesheet">
<link href="<? print TEMPLATE_URL ?>css/reboot-landing.css" rel="stylesheet">
<link href="<? print TEMPLATE_URL ?>css/reboot-landing-responsive.css" rel="stylesheet">
<link href="<? print TEMPLATE_URL ?>css/themes/green/theme.css" rel="stylesheet">
<link href="<? print TEMPLATE_URL ?>css/pages/homepage.css" rel="stylesheet">
<link href="<? print TEMPLATE_URL ?>css/plans.css" rel="stylesheet">

<link href="<? print TEMPLATE_URL ?>js/lightbox/themes/default/jquery.lightbox.css" rel="stylesheet">

<!-- Le HTML5 shim, for IE6-8 support of HTML5 elements -->
<!--[if lt IE 9]>
<script src="http://html5shim.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/html5.js"></script>
<![endif]-->

<script type="text/javascript" src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.7.2/jquery.min.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="<? print site_url('api/js'); ?>"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
function send_mail(){



contact = $("#the_contact_form").serialize();
$.post("<? print TEMPLATE_URL ?>mailsender.php", contact, function(){
$("#the_contact_form").html("<br><br><h2>Your request has been sent</h2><br><br><br>");
});






}


function sub_mail(){



contact = $("#the_sub_form").serialize();
$.post("<? print TEMPLATE_URL ?>mailsender.php", contact, function(){
$("#the_sub_form").html("<br><br><h2>Your request has been sent</h2><br><br><br>");
});






}


</script>
</head>
<body>
<div class="navbar navbar-fixed-top">
<div class="navbar-inner">
<div class="container"> <a class="btn btn-navbar" data-toggle="collapse" data-target=".nav-collapse"> <span class="icon-bar"></span> <span class="icon-bar"></span> <span class="icon-bar"></span> </a> <a class="brand1" href="<? print site_url(); ?>">Eleven plus exam</a>
<div class="nav-collapse">
<div class="pull-right">
<microweber module="content/menu" name="main_menu" ul_class="nav pull-right" />
</div>
</div>
<!--/.nav-collapse -->

</div>
<!-- /container -->

</div>
<!-- /navbar-inner -->

</div>
<!-- /navbar -->

I understand that the menu is "<microweber module="content/menu" name="main_menu" ul_class="nav pull-right" />"
But my question is - Does this mean that the menu is only editable in the CMS control panel?
(I'm waiting for a reply from the site owner for some insight on how to use his CMS as it is very messy but I wanted to be sure that the menu is indeed hidden away in the CMS)

Thanks,
p.s. - I hate template/CMS clients, for some reason it always makes me feel like my freedom to edit the website is harnessed, I want to code like a real man!
 
p.s. - I hate template/CMS clients, for some reason it always makes me feel like my freedom to edit the website is harnessed, I want to code like a real man!

That is why, hands down, ModX is the best CMS available to web designers right now... In my opinion :icon_wink:

No idea about your template issue, sorry. Sounds like a mess!
 
If you want to edit the template for the menu then download the site by ftp and do search for navbar. It should then be obvious which file is generating the menu.

Coding a site from scratch makes no sense to me when there are dozens of very good CMS's out there which have done 75% of the work for you already. The CMS's I don't like are the cock-a-maimy bespoke ones developed by some clever dick developer who thinks he can reinvent the wheel better than anyone to date.
 
That is why, hands down, ModX is the best CMS available to web designers right now... In my opinion :icon_wink:
post hijack warning - What attracted you to ModX as opposed to CMS's like Wordpress, Drupal and Umbraco? Can you raise this as a topic?
 
post hijack warning - What attracted you to ModX as opposed to CMS's like Wordpress, Drupal and Umbraco? Can you raise this as a topic?

The short answer is that it suits my approach to web design. Everything (templates, menus, search facility and so on) is handled in the manager area. No FTP and 'hacking' templates/files. Once ModX is installed, everything can be done through the manager. This is far more intuitive for me. I have done Wordpress sites but it was a couple of years ago, so my coding was not at the level it is now and the thought of going into a file called 'header.php' and changing that to alter a menu would have seemed too daunting.

I'd probably get on far better with Wordpress now but I see no reason to when ModX does what I need.

Wordpress is ideal for people who want a site, find a template they like, stick a logo on it and publish and ModX would be too much for someone who can't code HTML/CSS because there is no source of templates for it. But, if you can code layouts, then give it a try, it can be very liberating.

The other CMS I have experience with is Drupal. Incredibly powerful and very well extended by highly skilled developers but way too much to hand over to a client at the level we build for. I'd spend a week just training it out whereas both WP and ModX are a lot more 'technophobe' friendly and can be trained out in a couple of hours.
 
What would be your recommended way to learn ModX, Corrosive?

I'd like to think I have a good knowledge of HTML and CSS, so it's going beyond that with PHP and so on where I am currently restricted. I would love to be able to get to grips with something like ModX though, so would it just be a case of trying to learn PHP first or how would you suggest I go about it?

Cheers.
 
What would be your recommended way to learn ModX, Corrosive?

I'd like to think I have a good knowledge of HTML and CSS, so it's going beyond that with PHP and so on where I am currently restricted. I would love to be able to get to grips with something like ModX though, so would it just be a case of trying to learn PHP first or how would you suggest I go about it?

Cheers.

Nope, you don't need any PHP knowledge at all with ModX, unless you want to extend it with your own functionality (which I do from time to time but only basic 'snippets'). I started with this set of tutorials; Beginner Tutorials | The Coding Pad just make sure you use the ModX Revolution and not Evolution ones! Usual rule applies, get yourself a local test environment (WAMP, MAMP) and run it on there so you can screw up whatever you want to get to grips with it.

After that, the forum (MODX :: MODX Community Forums) is excellent and the rtfm (Home - MODx Revolution 2.x - MODx Documentation) sources are good but they 'assume' that you are familiar with some ModX terminology so it can be a bit like treacle sometimes. As ever, here to help, so shout if you hit a sticky patch (so to speak) and I'll see what I can do.

Stick with it as it may seem daunting to start with but offering this level of flexibility to clients whilst delivering pixel-perfect layouts has got to be worth it.
 
Thanks, I'll take a good look. Got some time available coming up so will be worth having a good look into it I feel!

And yeah, sorry Dave!
 
lmao

no worries, the thread may as well become useful for something as I'm still waiting on answers from the guy (pretty certain he has a hidden CMS panel he hasn't told me about which is where the nav is)
 
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