Static View Guide

A static view is a page rendered directly from public/public_views without a controller preparing data first. It is useful for home pages, about pages, contact pages, legal pages, and simple content pages.

Create The View

Generate the view with the CLI:

php coriander make:view about

This creates:

public/
  public_views/
    about/
      index.php
      metadata.php

For a normal static page, /about maps to public/public_views/about/index.php.

Request Flow

Write The Template

Edit public/public_views/about/index.php:

<main class="mx-auto max-w-3xl px-4 py-10">
    <h1>About our app</h1>

    <p>
        We build small tools for local communities.
    </p>

    <a href="/contact">Contact us</a>
</main>

This file should contain presentation markup only. A static view is a good place for text, links, images, and sections that do not require PHP data.

Configure Metadata

Edit public/public_views/about/metadata.php:

<?php
$metadata = '
    <title>About - My App</title>
    <meta name="description" content="Learn more about My App." />
';

$addViewInSitemap = true;
$sitemapPriority = 0.7;

Use metadata.php for page metadata and sitemap settings. Do not load database data from this file.

Add Static Assets

Store public assets under public/assets, then reference them with absolute public paths:

<img src="/public/assets/img/team.jpg" alt="The team">

If your app may run with a different PUBLIC_URL_PREFIX, use Assets And Images so the framework can resolve the public asset URL for you.

When Static Is Enough

Keep the page static when:

• the content is mostly fixed
• the page does not need route parameters
• the page does not submit a form
• the page does not need user-specific permissions
• the page does not read database rows

Move to a dynamic view when the page needs prepared data from a controller.