For example the module position "Left" could be used in the left side of the template to display a site navigation menu. So if a module is assigned the "Left" position, it will be displayed wherever the designer puts that "Left" module position - not necessarily the left side of the page.

templateDetails.xml

The templateDetails.xml file contains all the installation and core information for a template, including the module positions it utilizes and displays. Here is a brief list of the commonly used names for the various module positions.

<positions>
	<position>top</position>
	<position>left</position>
	<position>right</position>
	<position>bottom</position>
	<position>banner</position>
	<position>syndicate</position>
	<position>footer</position>
	<position>user1</position>
	<position>user2</position>
	<position>user3</position>
	<position>user4</position>
</positions>

Although these are commonly used, it is up to the template developer to choose both a module position name and an accompanying display style. The addition of module positions, as displayed above, is implemented in between the <positions> and </positions> tags. In between those tags in the templateDetails.xml file, add the name of the module position in between a set of <position> and </position> tags.

Use and Implementation

A Joomla! template displays a set of modules added to a specific position using the <jdoc:include /> statement shown below (for further information about <jdoc:include /> see jdoc statements):

<jdoc:include type="modules" name="name of module position" style="xhtml" />