PHPNuke Theme Tutorial


How to make a phpnuke theme?

The following basic PHP-Nuke theme tutorial is written for newly phpNuke theme designer. In this tutorial you will learn how to create images for php nuke template and how to code them properly inside phpnuke theme.php file.

As a php-nuke theme designer you have to know basic HTML and image editing. Having simple php knowledge is bonus. You can use any tools to write codes and edit your images but Adobe Dreamweaver(for coding) and Adobe Photoshop (for image editing) are recommended.

PHP-Nuke theme has 6 major sections:

1. Header layout: Header contains simply the banner/logo of the website. Sometime you can add a search box, advertisement, local time (java script) and so on.
2. Content/table layout: The main content block is consists of simple HTML table. But you can also use image(s) inside this table if you want. For simplicity of this tutorial we will create tables without any image.
3. News block layout: News block is normally the home page (you can change it) of a php-nuke website (by default). The design of News block can be similar to side block but coding is different.
4. Side block layout: PHP-Nuke side block is very simple to design and code. These are the widget/box you see on the sides of a typical phpNuke website.
5. Footer layout: Footer is the bottom part of the php nuke website. Normally copyright notice, advertisement, site loading time goes here.
6. Forum layout (optional): phpNuke forum (phpBB) layout is option for a typical phpNuke theme. We will briefly discuss how to integrate a phpBB forum template/create a phpNuke forum theme in this tutorial.

<b><u>A basic phpnuke theme structure:</u></b><br>

A simple phpnuke theme comes with the following files. But this might vary depending on the designing and coding of the template.
<br><br>
1) theme.php: controls the main functions of the variables for the background colors.<br>
2) tables.php: controls the functions opentable() and closetable().<br>
3) header.html: controls the header for your site.<br>
4) footer.html: controls the footer for your site.<br>
5) blocks.html: controls the blocks.<br>
6) center_right.html: controls the layout of the page.<br>
7) center_left.html: controls the layout of the page.<br>
8) story_home.html: controls the layout of the page.<br>
9) story_page.html: controls the layout of the page.<br>

A basic phpnuke theme structure:

A simple phpnuke theme comes with the following files. But this might vary depending on the designing and coding of the template.

  • 1) theme.php: controls the main functions of the variables for the background colors.
  • 2) tables.php: controls the functions opentable() and closetable().
  • 3) header.html: controls the header for your site.
  • 4) footer.html: controls the footer for your site.
  • 5) blocks.html: controls the blocks.
  • 6) center_right.html: controls the layout of the page.
  • 7) center_left.html: controls the layout of the page.
  • 8) story_home.html: controls the layout of the page.
  • 9) story_page.html: controls the layout of the page.

…to be continued