Header section
The Section
The xTemplate Header section starts and ends with these tags
<!-- BEGIN: header -->
<!-- END: header -->
Don't confuse the Header section with the XHTML/HTML <head> element. Although the <head> element is included in the Header section, it also holds the top part of the Web page - the area designers usualy refer to as the "Header", which usually consists of a horizontal bar with the site's logo and some navigation links.
Prolog
The WC3 recommends that all XHTML documents should start with an XML prolog specifying the encoding of the document, for instance:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
Unfortunately there are many browsers that handle the XML prolog badly, and either crash, fail to display the page, or display it incorrectly. It is therefore recommended to leave out the XML prolog, and specify encoding in a Content-Type element in the <head> of your template (which Drupal does automatically).
DOCTYPE
The DOCTYPE element tells a browser two things, which XML language the document is using, and where the DTD (Document Type Declaration) of that language is located.
This is an example of a DOCTYPE element:
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">There should be absolutely nothing in your document before the DOCTYPE or XML prolog. The xTemplate tag <!-- BEGIN: header --> is OK, as it will be removed by Drupal before sending the page to the browser, but make sure to remove spaces or line breaks between this and the DOCTYPE or XML prolog elements, or you may get unexpected results in some browsers.
To learn more about the DOCTYPE element, and which version would suit your needs best, read:
Fix Your Site With the Right DOCTYPE!
by Jeffrey Zeldman
{head_title}
Content of the <title> element. Used as the window title by browsers, and as the page title in search engine listings.
{head}
Filled in with the following:
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
<base href="http://example.com/" />
<style type="text/css" media="all">
@import url(misc/drupal.css);
</style>{styles}
Declarations for the current style:
<style type="text/css" media="all">@import "themes/bluemarine/style.css";</style>
Add this tag to allow your template to take advantage of the Drupal theme system's style-switching ability. Note that, if you have a default stylesheet, it should be named style.css and be located in the same directory as your xtemplate.xtmpl file.
{onload_attributes}
The page attributes for the <body> tag.
{logo}
The logo section begins and ends with these tags:
<!-- BEGIN: logo -->
<!-- END: logo -->
The filename for the site logo, configurable by the Administrator in the text box in the Drupal theme administration section. (Display of this item is optional.)
{site_name}
The site name section begins and ends with these tags:
<!-- BEGIN: site_name -->
<!-- END: site_name -->
The current site name, configured by the Administrator in the text box "Name" on Drupal page:
administer->settings
(Display of this item is optional.)
{site_slogan}
The site slogan section begins and ends with these tags:
<!-- BEGIN: site_slogan -->
<!-- END: site_slogan -->
The current site slogan, configured by the Administrator in the text box "Slogan" on Drupal page:
administer->settings
(Display of this item is optional.)
{secondary_links} {primary_links}
These tags hold whatever the Administrator inputs into the text boxes "Secondary links:" and "Primary links" in the Drupal theme administration section. If the Administrator does not specify any "Primary links", Drupal will automatically generate a set of links based on the currently-enabled modules.
The Administrator could use these tags to input links to the main sections of the site, the title of the site, a site message, an image or anything else they require.
Search Box
The Search Box section begins and ends with these tags:
<!-- BEGIN: search_box -->
<!-- END: search_box -->
{search_url}
The form action: "search"
{search_description}
The alt text description of the search text box: "Enter the terms you wish to search for."
{search_button_text}
The value of the search submit button: "Search"
Mission
The Mission section begins and ends with these tags:
<!-- BEGIN: mission -->
<!-- END: mission -->
{mission}
The text of the site mission statement, appears only on the Home Page, and is configured by the Administrator in the text box "Mission" on Drupal page:
administer->settings
Title
The Title section begins and ends with these tags:
<!-- BEGIN: title -->
<!-- END: title -->
{title}
The title of the node
Tabs
The Tabs section begins and ends with these tags:
<!-- BEGIN: tabs -->
<!-- END: tabs -->
{tabs}
Draws the Drupal "local tasks" for the current page.
{breadcrumb}
The breadcrumb trail of the page, the path from Home Page to the current page.
Help
The Help section begins and ends with these tags:
<!-- BEGIN: help -->
<!-- END: help -->
{help}
Contains any help information which exists for a particular page.
Message
The Message section begins and ends with these tags:
<!-- BEGIN: message -->
<!-- END: message -->
Message appears when Drupal confirms the results of an action by the user, for instance after updating or deleting a page.
{message}
The text of the message.