I have been trying to create three footer columns. It asks me to look for page.tpl.php file. But I am not able to find the file even in bartik. I am currently using axioma. What is the easiest way to create three column footer.

 

Thanks and regards

Accepted answer

Another option for creating layouts in the footer is the Mini Layouts module. You can create a mini-layout  with three columns and put it in the footer as a block.

https://backdropcms.org/project/mini_layouts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8S7UtVJ1II

Comments

What type of content do you want to place in the three columns?

Will it be static content that doesn't change often?

You could use a <div> and CSS to style the content... 

Or you could use blocks and CSS to align them flexibly.

There are a lot of ways to accomplish this, but it depends on your requirements.

 

I want to add mainly menus and an About Us section in the footer area. For example blog categories will also be listed.  But, of course, I do not intend to change them that often.

 

Let me keep on trying.

Rather than overriding page.tpl.php (you can find the original file in folder core/modules/system/templates, which you could copy, modify and put in your theme's template folder), you should create a new custom flexible layout template that has columns in the footer region. Creating new layout templates is easy, and takes away the issue of modifying template files. Here's a tutorial about Layouts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZNYnZZdVFY

To create a custom layout template through the UI, go to admin/structure/layouts/settings.

Anyway, overriding  page.tpl.php will not help in your case - notice that the template names have changed in Backdrop compared to Drupal 7. This file deals with the rendering of the whole page, rather than the layouts themselves (page is at a higher level, equivalent to Drupal's html.tpl.php (see change record here).

If you want to do this in code, you'll need to override specifically the tpl.php file for the layout. For example, Basis defines its own layout for Boxton (front page) with file layout--boxton--front.tpl.php.

Thank you. I do not know much about either of two platforms. A lot of explanations are beyond my comprehension, at least for the time being, But I am determined to learn from experts like you and others. 

So far, chatbot has been my teacher. But, sometime, it also gets stuck too.

I created three footer blocks and tried to place them in the footer area. But, no luck so far. in the child theme, chatbot asked me to add code for footer column 1, 2, 3. But so far these columns do not show up in the blocks region.

Thank you anyways. let me keep on trying 

 

I highly recommend the youtube video I linked, as well as other videos in that same account. Those are great resources to understand Backdrop CMS. I wouldn't trust ChatGPT too much - unfortunately some of the answers may be incorrect as it often focuses on Drupal 7 or Drupal 11 instead of BAckdrop CMS.  

Thank you again for the quick reply. Do they have a detailed documentation on the website. I tried to find a solution to this problem. But, perhaps, not much explanation was there. Let me watch these video tutorials to understand issues at hand. 

Are there any hands-on tutorials available to handle various little issues in Backdrop. There seems to be a lot of theoretical discussions around various topics. However, I guess we do not find much help in  writing  for completing small tasks like adding footer columns etc. 

Regards

Thank you both for your exceptional support. Despite the Backdrop community being smaller, its members, including yourselves, consistently provide outstanding help. I deeply appreciate your dedication and contributions.

Best regards,

Egmund,

Thank you for sharing the information. I’ve installed the code, but I’m a bit confused about how to use it. I apologize for asking what might seem like a very simple question, but could you please provide some guidance?

After installing you choose 'structure' - 'layouts' from the admin menubar and select the new layout for f.x. 'default layout' by clicking on the template you want to change thereby getting to 'configure layout'. Here you choose the new layout and click 'save layout'.

After that you can 'configure blocks' to add your new footer blocks (custom blocks created beforehand).