SMF displays raw HTML and PHP on browser

Question

I am new to SMF.

I just installed SMF on my website. I tried editing the index.template.php . After saving changes, it displays raw HTML and PHP on the browser. I tried fixing the prob by returning the the page back to the original state to no avail.

At the moment, everything is gibberish both frontend and backend.

Pls what do i do?

Answer 1

There should be at least an open tag at the top of the file (at the top of every .php file). Make sure you didn't remove this tag. Everything outside of a <?php is interpreted as normal text so if you have removed this it would explain your issue.

Answer 2

Also, being an ex-team member for SMF I can assure you its better to create a copy of the default theme, then make your edits to that theme. Then if you experience an error you can always pass a param in the url to reset to the default theme (in case you need to get into the admin area). To do so end the url with index.php?theme=1