I don't like the way rails does page titles by default (just uses the controller name), so I'm working on a new way of doing it like so:
application controller:
def page_title
"Default Title Here"
end
posts controller:
def page_title
"Awesome Posts"
end
application layout:
<title><%=controller.page_title%></title>
It works well because if I don't have a page_title method in whatever controller I'm currently using it falls back to the default in the application controller. But what if in my users controller I want it to return "Signup" for the "new" action, but fall back for any other action? Is there a way to do that?
Secondly, does anyone else have any other ways of doing page titles in rails?
I disagree with the other answers, I believe the title shouldn't be set per action, but rather within the view itself. Keep the view logic within the view and the controller logic within the controller.
Inside your application_helper.rb
add:
def title(page_title)
content_for(:title) { page_title }
end
Then to insert it into your <title>
:
<title><%= content_for?(:title) ? content_for(:title) : "Default Title" %></title>
So when you are in your views, you have access to all instance variables set from the controller and you can set it there. It keeps the clutter out of the controller as well.
<%- title "Reading #{@post.name}" %>
I like to put a catchall, default title in my layout that can be overridden from an action by setting @title
:
<title><%= @title || "Default Title Here" %></title>
Then you can generate a title in your action:
def show
@post = Post.find_by_id params[:id]
@title = "tybro's blog: #{@post.title}"
end
I would do this:
# Application Controller
before_filter :set_page_title
private
def set_page_title
@page_title = "Default Title"
end
overwrite it in your other controllers
# Users Controller
before_filter :set_page_title
def new # in Users controller
...
@page_title = "Sign up"
...
end
private
def set_page_title
@page_title = "Users"
end
In your view:
<title><%= h @page_title %></title>
Have a look at Ryan Bates (ryanb from railscasts.com) nifty layout. He has a method in there that does what you are looking for. It's similar to Garrett's way, only he moves the default values in the helper too. Check out the helper.rb file and how he link textuses it.
You can install is as gem (and use the other nice features) or just use his way of doing it. You only need to pass the title value to title
in each view (or let it fall to the default) and there you go. I'm with Garrett to put these things in the view.
Layout template
In your layout (e.g. application.html.erb
) add:
<title><%= content_for(:page_title) || "Fallback title" %></title>
Page template
In the page template you'd like to a specify a title from:
<%- content_for(:page_title, "Specific page title") %>