create dynamic template for joomla 1.5

Question

there are tutorials on the web about gow to create index.html, css file and template.xml that contain placeholders. ok, i got it, it's simple. but i need a template that has some different views. for example: -all pages have a topmenu, header, left sidebar, mainarea and a footer but: -first page has no header .topmenu after which sidebar, mainarea and footer comes. -second page has sidebar moved from left to right -third page has four blocks (blocks for special offers) instead of mainarea.

as far as i can see, i need to create three standalone templates with unique set of placeholders for each template. because i can't see the way to change laarge mainarea placeholder with four placeholders for offers blocks on some pages. dynamically.

is there if-statements in joomla templates to simply determine a document id to view four placeholders instead of mainarea. or to not show header on the main page (f.e. doc. id="mainpage")

but i want it to be selectable like: -this page has first case of that template (index_1.php) -and that page has a second case of the same template (index_2.php) like a selectbox. is that possible?

Answer 1

I will make this an answer as opposed to a comment since I believe it will do what you are looking for.

Once your articles are setup and your links to them are established (the site has the info on it you're looking for), you can create the modules containing the data that you want shown from time to time.

Go to the module manager - on the right you should see 'module assignment' or something along the lines of 'display this module on the following pages'; you can then pick which pages you want the module to show on. You can specify all pages, none, specific pages, however you want.

This will enable you to show them only where needed however you like. You can ALSO do this programatically inside the module (if you do custom HTML and use an extension like Sourcerer to add PHP to the module) with PHP should you want a little more flexibility, but just choosing the pages to show on should work for what you're doing.