Doing The Funky Chameleon - PHP

While the default administration interface does allow access to most of the things an administrator would need, it's not the only option available. The variables you set through the various control panels correspond to the variables in the "config.php" configuration file, and to the records in PHP-Nuke's extensive database. If you're a power user, you should spend some time studying the configuration file and the database schema to understand how the various tables are linked together; the information's bound to come in handy if things go wrong.

It's also sure to come in handy when you decide that the default PHP-Nuke configuration no longer works for you. As I've already stated, there are a large number of PHP-Nuke themse available for download - like WinAmp skins, these themes allow administrators (and registered users) to personalize the PHP-Nuke system extensively, even to the extent of completely altering colours, page layout and displayed articles. While the default themes which ship with PHP-Nuke are fine to start out with, you're going to have to learn to make your own - especially if you plan to deploy this system on a commercial basis.

PHP-Nuke themes are relatively easy to build, once you have a sound understanding of the architecture. Every theme consists of three main files - "header.php", "theme.php" and "footer.php" - together with required images.

Each of these files has a specific function in the PHP-Nuke system. "header.php" sets up the header which appears at the top of every page, together with the blocks on the left side; "theme.php" sets up the UI for the articles and news items; and "footer.php" sets up the blocks on the right side, and a page footer. The order in which the various pre-defined and custom blocks appear can be controlled as well - each of the blocks is represented by a function call, as the following snippet from "header.php" demonstrates:

mainblock();
adminblock();
leftblocks();
ephemblock();
headlines();
online();

As you might imagine, if you know HTML, slapping together your own theme is not very hard at all. However, rather than starting from scratch, I'd recommend that you take an existing theme file and modify it to reflect your requirements (at least the first couple of times that you attempt this exercise). This will help you get to grips with the function of each file, and also provide some understanding of which parts of the system can be customized easily, and which ones require more work.

If you'd like to learn more about building your own themes, I'd recommend that you also take a look at the excellent tutorial at http://www.dinerminor.com/ for a detailed, step-by-step description of the process.

This article copyright Melonfire 2001. All rights reserved.

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