Joomla! Documentation™

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The standard output from the Joomla! core can be overridden by adding code to the html directory in a template. Basic overrides include: your_template/html/modules.php (overriding module output) and your_template/html/pagination.php (overriding pagination output); however, it is possible to override the output of any module or component.

Getting A Head-Start with Overrides

Joomla! comes pre-packaged with a frontend template called Beez. Beez utilizes template overrides to produce a table-less layout for faster, smoother, and semantically correct markup. To add the table-less layout to your template, locate your Joomla! installation's template directory, and you'll notice the Beez template. Inside the Beez template directory, copy the folder titled html (the entire directory structure is as follows: your_joomla/templates/Beez/html/) and paste the html folder into your template's main directory. After copying Beez's html folder to your template, you must add the following code to your template's templatedetails.xml file (in between the <files> and </files> tags):

<filename>html/com_contact/category/default.php</filename>
<filename>html/com_contact/category/default_items.php</filename>
<filename>html/com_contact/category/index.html</filename>
<filename>html/com_contact/contact/default.php</filename>
<filename>html/com_contact/contact/default_address.php</filename>
<filename>html/com_contact/contact/default_form.php</filename>
<filename>html/com_contact/contact/index.html</filename>
<filename>html/com_contact/index.html</filename>
<filename>html/com_content/article/default.php</filename>
<filename>html/com_content/article/index.html</filename>
<filename>html/com_content/article/form.php</filename>
<filename>html/com_content/category/blog.php</filename>
<filename>html/com_content/category/blog_item.php</filename>
<filename>html/com_content/category/blog_links.php</filename>
<filename>html/com_content/category/index.html</filename>
<filename>html/com_content/category/default_items.php</filename>
<filename>html/com_content/category/default.php</filename>
<filename>html/com_content/frontpage/default.php</filename>
<filename>html/com_content/frontpage/default_item.php</filename>
<filename>html/com_content/frontpage/default_links.php</filename>
<filename>html/com_content/frontpage/index.html</filename>
<filename>html/com_content/section/blog.php</filename>
<filename>html/com_content/section/blog_item.php</filename>
<filename>html/com_content/section/blog_links.php</filename>
<filename>html/com_content/section/default.php</filename>
<filename>html/com_content/section/index.html</filename>
<filename>html/com_content/index.html</filename>
<filename>html/index.html</filename>
<filename>html/com_search/search/default.php</filename>
<filename>html/com_search/search/default_error.php</filename>
<filename>html/com_search/search/default_form.php</filename>
<filename>html/com_search/search/default_results.php</filename>
<filename>html/com_search/search/index.html</filename>
<filename>html/com_search/index.html</filename>
<filename>html/editor_content.css</filename>
<filename>html/mod_latestnews/default.php</filename>
<filename>html/mod_latestnews/index.html</filename>
<filename>html/mod_login/default.php</filename>
<filename>html/mod_login/index.html</filename>
<filename>html/mod_newsflash/_item.php</filename>
<filename>html/mod_newsflash/default.php</filename>
<filename>html/mod_newsflash/horiz.php</filename>
<filename>html/mod_newsflash/vert.php</filename>
<filename>html/mod_newsflash/index.html</filename>
<filename>html/mod_poll/default.php</filename>
<filename>html/mod_poll/index.html</filename>
<filename>html/mod_search/default.php</filename>
<filename>html/mod_search/index.html</filename>
<filename>html/modules.php</filename>
<filename>html/pagination.php</filename>
<filename>html/com_poll/poll/default.php</filename>
<filename>html/com_poll/poll/default_graph.php</filename>
<filename>html/com_poll/poll/index.html</filename>
<filename>html/com_poll/index.html</filename>
<filename>html/com_newsfeeds/categories/default.php</filename>
<filename>html/com_newsfeeds/categories/index.html</filename>
<filename>html/com_newsfeeds/category/default.php</filename>
<filename>html/com_newsfeeds/category/default_items.php</filename>
<filename>html/com_newsfeeds/category/index.html</filename>
<filename>html/com_newsfeeds/newsfeed/default.php</filename>
<filename>html/com_newsfeeds/newsfeed/index.html</filename>
<filename>html/com_newsfeeds/index.html</filename>
<filename>html/com_weblinks/categories/default.php</filename>
<filename>html/com_weblinks/categories/index.html</filename>
<filename>html/com_weblinks/category/default.php</filename>
<filename>html/com_weblinks/category/default_items.php</filename>
<filename>html/com_weblinks/category/index.html</filename>
<filename>html/com_weblinks/weblinks/form.php</filename>
<filename>html/com_weblinks/weblinks/index.html</filename>
<filename>html/com_weblinks/index.html</filename>
<filename>html/com_user/user/index.html</filename>
<filename>html/com_user/user/default.php</filename>
<filename>html/com_user/user/form.php</filename>
<filename>html/com_user/login/index.html</filename>
<filename>html/com_user/login/default_login.php</filename>
<filename>html/com_user/login/default.php</filename>
<filename>html/com_user/login/default_logout.php</filename>
<filename>html/com_user/register/default.php</filename>
<filename>html/com_user/register/index.html</filename>
<filename>html/com_user/register/default_message.php</filename>
<filename>html/com_user/index.html</filename>
<filename>html/com_user/remind/index.html</filename>
<filename>html/com_user/remind/default.php</filename>
<filename>html/com_user/remind/default_message.php</filename>
<filename>html/com_user/reset/index.html</filename>
<filename>html/com_user/reset/default.php</filename>
<filename>html/com_user/reset/confirm.php</filename>
<filename>html/com_user/reset/complete.php</filename>

The above code in essence lets the Joomla! package installer know that there are files to extract, and that they are part of the template as a whole.

Complex Overrides

Template overrides are almost limitless. They allow you to add, edit, and remove the components of the Joomla! core output.

• Note: For the FireFox web browser, an extension is available called Firebug, which is useful for browsing a page's HTML source and matching it up with the PHP code used in template overrides.

Which File To Edit

Here is a list of very important and commonly used files for editing purposes:

• html/com_content/frontpage/default.php

Detail to follow