Xanthia
Xanthia is the theme engine supplied with the PostNuke .8 release, and also pre-
released with the 0.726 version of PostNuke. It enables you to use themes built to use
its advanced functions, and provides greater flexibility when designing and using
themes. This is a short tutorial to guide you through how to set up Xanthia and use
one of the Xanthia enabled themes supplied with .8 and in the .726 Xanthia
Templating Environment package.
Installation
To run Xanthia, you will need both the pnRender and Xanthia modules. If you do not
yet have pnRender, you will need to download it (it is a part of the .8 Core Package)
and then upload it to your site. You will also need to upload Xanthia, maintaining
directory structure, and make sure that the pnTemp directory, and all sub-directories
are writable by the web server. It is important to note that the pnTemp directory will
appear under the install directory of your PostNuke site. Do not delete this until the
Xanthia install procedure is complete!
Log into your website, and if installing the Xanthia theme pack (Xanthia versions of
all the core themes) ensure that you have set your default theme to a non-Xanthia
theme. This can be a third party, or the extra-lite core theme.
Navigate to Administration > Modules and regenerate the list. You should see two
new modules, pnRender and Xanthia. First initialise and activate the pnRender
module, then navigate back to the administration panel, and check that the pnRender
administration link has appeared.
If it has appeared, proceed back to the modules administration area, and initialise and
activate the Xanthia module. Check in the main administration panel that the Xanthia
link has appeared. Assuming it is there, delete the install directory from your
PostNuke webspace, and move to the next section to add a Xanthia theme.
Adding an Xanthia Theme
In the Xanthia administration area, you will see a screen with two options, ‘View
Themes’, and ‘Configure Xanthia’. Click ‘View Themes’, and a table with all the
Xanthia enabled themes listed will appear. Choose a theme, and click add theme in
the column on the right. The theme will now show as active in the table.
To begin using this theme, and begin making changes, you will need to change your
default theme to one of the themes you have added in administration > settings. If
you need help doing this, please refer to the chapter ‘Basic Configuration of a
PostNuke site’. Once the theme has been selected, navigate again to the Xanthia
administration area, click view themes, and then click the edit link in the right-most
column for the theme you installed.
Block Zones
The core themes supplied with PostNuke .8, and most themes that are Xanthia
enabled, will come with a number of block zones already included in the theme.
Block zones are the areas in a theme where you can place blocks, and it is in this area
