LATEST NEWS BLOCK BY DRUPAL VIEWS, CCK AND QUICK TABS

Hi Anonymous Friend,

I hope you are asking for blocks with different colors or styles, am I right?

If so it's easy... mmmmm if you have basic drupal, HTML and CSS knowledge.

[1] Let's start it by creating a new block in Admin>Sitebuilding>block

[2] After creating the block drag and drop it in any region you want the block to appear.

NOTE: I recommend yo to create a custom region to create custom blocks styles, so that the styles you apply affect only the blocks in that region.

[3] Let's imagine that you have created a block in a region already exist, such as Right Side Bar, if so follow the steps below.

       [1] Go to drupal site directory sites>all>themes

       [2] Check whether any file named block.tpl.php and any other with similar names, such as block-navigation.tpl.php. (NOTE: it varies depends on themes.)

       [3] Open your theme's .info file and check the names of regions available, and here in this exmple we need region Right Sidebar, so see this code regions[right] = Right sidebar. The region name in the bracket I have colored it in orange is the one we need.

      [4] Copy the file block.tpl.php and rename it to your region name, here in this example right-block.tpl.php and open this file and edit it as you wish you can use html div tags and CSS classes for styling.

      [5] Save the file and go to your site, then go to Admin>Site configuration>performance and clear the cache.

Now you can see the blocks in the region right is with your new style. You can create each and every block like this by creating individual tpl.php files. You can even create views template files same way.

Again I think it's a good idea to create a custom region always. I know what you gonna ask now

Well how to create a custom regions?

It's simple (may be)

[1] Open your page.tpl.php file and serch for the area you want to add a new region.

TIP: If you use firebug or web developer toolbar on firefox you can see examin the code and region names and CSS class names. So that it would be easy for you to find the region where you want to create new one. (You can use coda, dreamweaver, or free text editor COMODO EDIT).

[2] After deciding the area you want to write the code just write one like this, it's a simple one.

<div id="featured">
<?php if ($featured) echo $featured; ?>
</div>

[3] Now open your theme's .info file and add your new region like this;

regions[featured] = Featured slider

That's it. (and of course you can write more complicated PHP for region such as if there is nothing in the region it won't display anything.) Ah don't forget to clear the cache from admin panel.

This example is to show you an anther one, this time is for search box at the top just like on my site.

<?php if ($search_box){ ?>


<div class="search_right">
       

<?php  print $search_box; ?>
</div>


<?php } ?>
it will show only if there is a content in the region or else nothin will display.

I know it's bit hard to understand, may be I have to write an another tutorial about this.

Hope you gor the idea.

I am glad to hear that I could help you to understand the use of views atleast a bit. Once you got the idea of views you will find it so easy to create lot's of advanced features for your projects. it is an awesome module with rich functionalities.

Best wishes for your Drupal development.