# How To Edit Homepage Features
**URL:** https://discuss.openedx.org/t/how-to-edit-homepage-features/6550
**Category:** Site Operators
**Created:** [February 2, 2022, 9:26am UTC](https://discuss.openedx.org/t/how-to-edit-homepage-features/6550 "2022-02-02T09:26:28Z")
**Posts on this page:** 17
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ChaucerUniversity](https://discuss.openedx.org/u/ChaucerUniversity)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2022, 9:26am UTC](https://discuss.openedx.org/t/how-to-edit-homepage-features/6550/1 "2022-02-02T09:26:28Z")
How are the Homepage About, Contact and other page contents edited? Text can be highlighted but not deleted. [user@example.com](mailto:user@example.com) login appears to only give student access, even though staff.
I am using the Bitnami cloud stack created server and not familiar with how to access files using the Bitnami Console.
---
### Author:  [@arbrandes](https://discuss.openedx.org/u/arbrandes)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2022, 1:45pm UTC](https://discuss.openedx.org/t/how-to-edit-homepage-features/6550/2 "2022-02-02T13:45:45Z")
Hi @ChaucerUniversity, welcome to the forum!
> [@ChaucerUniversity](#):
>
> How are the Homepage About, Contact and other page contents edited?
Probably the most common way to do this is via [“comprehensive theming”](https://edx.readthedocs.io/projects/edx-installing-configuring-and-running/en/latest/ecommerce/theming.html). In short, you can override any template by creating a new file with the same name in an external theme package, then rebuilding the instance. Many of these pages, such as About and Contact, are in the [edx-platform/lms/templates/static\_templates](https://github.com/openedx/edx-platform/tree/master/lms/templates/static_templates) folder.
Unfortunately, though, to do this you will indeed need direct access to the instance files and command line. I’m not familiar with Bitnami, so I can’t help you there. Maybe someone else here in the forum will be able to.
---
### Author:  [@ChaucerUniversity](https://discuss.openedx.org/u/ChaucerUniversity)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2022, 6:32pm UTC](https://discuss.openedx.org/t/how-to-edit-homepage-features/6550/3 "2022-02-04T18:32:44Z")
What is the full pathway address of the default About page which is linked from the Homepage, so that an edited or new customised version can be created to overwrite the default page?
---
### Author:  [@ChaucerUniversity](https://discuss.openedx.org/u/ChaucerUniversity)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2022, 1:42pm UTC](https://discuss.openedx.org/t/how-to-edit-homepage-features/6550/4 "2022-02-06T13:42:44Z")
I can access the instance and use the nano command line editor but not sure of the file pathway.
---
### Author:  [@arbrandes](https://discuss.openedx.org/u/arbrandes)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2022, 2:44pm UTC](https://discuss.openedx.org/t/how-to-edit-homepage-features/6550/5 "2022-02-07T14:44:38Z")
The about page path is likely specific to the Bitnami images (which I have no experience with). If you can find the “edx-platform” directory, it would be in the “static\_templates” folder inside it, as I mentioned earlier.
---
### Author:  [@ChaucerUniversity](https://discuss.openedx.org/u/ChaucerUniversity)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2022, 10:02am UTC](https://discuss.openedx.org/t/how-to-edit-homepage-features/6550/6 "2022-02-14T10:02:21Z")
Thank you for your replies. Pathways from the edx-platform should suffice. Bitnami include prefix folder names before the edx-platform folder, which I can add if needed.
What is the name and location of the homepage which shows when the Open edX instance starts?
What is the name of the default edx template, to copy and custonise?
---
### Author:  [@arbrandes](https://discuss.openedx.org/u/arbrandes)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2022, 1:43pm UTC](https://discuss.openedx.org/t/how-to-edit-homepage-features/6550/7 "2022-02-14T13:43:15Z")
> [@ChaucerUniversity](#):
>
> What is the name and location of the homepage which shows when the openedx instance starts?
That would be `lms/templates/index.html`.
> [@ChaucerUniversity](#):
>
> What is the name of the default edx template, to copy and custonise?
Do you mean the landing page and layout of [edx.org](http://edx.org)? To the best of my knowledge that was never released publicly.
But if you want something different and can afford to wait, I’d keep tabs on the work OpenCraft is doing with its [new Open edX theme](https://discuss.openedx.org/t/look-and-feel-of-opencrafts-new-open-edx-theme/6461), which unless I’m horribly mistaken, will likely be released publicly with an open source/creative commons license. Looks like that will be a nice change from the default!
---
### Author:  [@ChaucerUniversity](https://discuss.openedx.org/u/ChaucerUniversity)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2022, 7:16pm UTC](https://discuss.openedx.org/t/how-to-edit-homepage-features/6550/8 "2022-02-14T19:16:10Z")
Is the following pathway the one you meant, as there seem to be several similar folder names:
**./edx/app/edxapp/edx-platform/lms/templates/index.html**.
Are there any other files needed to enable the About, Blog, Contact and Donate button names and links in the footer of the Homepage to be edited and additional buttons and links added?
The Open edX default homepage looks best for my purposes,.compared to proposed themes from OpenCraft unless the Open edX default homepage is also included free and fully editable.
---
### Author:  [@arbrandes](https://discuss.openedx.org/u/arbrandes)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2022, 7:29pm UTC](https://discuss.openedx.org/t/how-to-edit-homepage-features/6550/9 "2022-02-14T19:29:35Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Is the following pathway the one you meant
Yup, that’s the one!
> [@](#):
>
> Are there any other files needed to enable […]
I’m not sure I understand your question. Are those links not there by default?
> [@](#):
>
> the openedx default homepage is also included free and fully editable.
Yes, you’re allowed to edit and use the Open edX default theme as you see fit.
---
### Author:  [@ChaucerUniversity](https://discuss.openedx.org/u/ChaucerUniversity)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2022, 7:38pm UTC](https://discuss.openedx.org/t/how-to-edit-homepage-features/6550/10 "2022-02-14T19:38:44Z")
I want to change the button name of some, for example Blog to Latest Articles; and add others.
Is the scripting language Python? Command line editing of Instance applications is new to me and there seems to be an absence of documentation for beginners who are not at intermediate level.
---
### Author:  [@arbrandes](https://discuss.openedx.org/u/arbrandes)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2022, 7:52pm UTC](https://discuss.openedx.org/t/how-to-edit-homepage-features/6550/11 "2022-02-14T19:52:43Z")
> [@ChaucerUniversity](#):
>
> there seems to be an absence of documentation for beginners
Most of the existing docs are targetted at using or, at most, installing Open edX. There is indeed precious little documentation on _modifying_ the codebase, as Open edX is a large, complex project that has even trained Python developers (yes, that’s the language of the backend) taking months to understand.
If you find the prospect daunting (as most of us do 🙂) allow me to suggest you contact one of the community’s many [customization providers](https://openedx.org/marketplace-category/open-edx-platform-customization/). I’m sure they’ll be able to help you better than I can.
---
### Author:  [@ChaucerUniversity](https://discuss.openedx.org/u/ChaucerUniversity)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2022, 1:17pm UTC](https://discuss.openedx.org/t/how-to-edit-homepage-features/6550/12 "2022-02-27T13:17:04Z")
What is the detailed file tree structure associated with the homepage? For example, footer.html has a class and container named “About” but there is nothing specifically named “Blog” etc . Button names and url details are held elsewhere but where?
---
### Author:  [@ChaucerUniversity](https://discuss.openedx.org/u/ChaucerUniversity)
#### Post date: [March 8, 2022, 7:01pm UTC](https://discuss.openedx.org/t/how-to-edit-homepage-features/6550/13 "2022-03-08T19:01:38Z")
Reply still awaited to my post nine days ago please.
---
### Author:  [@uetuluk](https://discuss.openedx.org/u/uetuluk)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2022, 7:52am UTC](https://discuss.openedx.org/t/how-to-edit-homepage-features/6550/14 "2022-03-10T07:52:35Z")
You can take a look at these four files for a starting point. These files will point you towards the context variables that are referenced in the template files.
- The main.html that renders the pages, includes header, footer etc.
[edx-platform/main.html at master · openedx/edx-platform · GitHub](https://github.com/openedx/edx-platform/blob/master/lms/templates/main.html)
- The index.html file you referenced. [edx-platform/index.html at master · openedx/edx-platform · GitHub](https://github.com/openedx/edx-platform/blob/master/lms/templates/index.html)
- The Python file that renders the index.html [edx-platform/management.py at master · openedx/edx-platform · GitHub](https://github.com/openedx/edx-platform/blob/master/common/djangoapps/student/views/management.py)
- The branding API that renders the footer links. [edx-platform/api.py at master · openedx/edx-platform · GitHub](https://github.com/openedx/edx-platform/blob/master/lms/djangoapps/branding/api.py)
Please take a look at how Django works to understand the file structure better. [Django at a glance | Django documentation | Django](https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/4.0/intro/overview/)
---
### Author:  [@ChaucerUniversity](https://discuss.openedx.org/u/ChaucerUniversity)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2022, 9:47am UTC](https://discuss.openedx.org/t/how-to-edit-homepage-features/6550/15 "2022-03-12T09:47:28Z")
Thank you for the reply. Unfortunately, the python or html page I am lookng for could not be found.
I am interested in contributing to improving the documentation in this largely uncovered area but first need to teach myself how to make the code changes I need to customise the default settings.
---
### Author:  [@MargoLoor](https://discuss.openedx.org/u/MargoLoor)
#### Post date: [January 25, 2023, 1:25pm UTC](https://discuss.openedx.org/t/how-to-edit-homepage-features/6550/16 "2023-01-25T13:25:24Z")
Hi Richard,
I’m facing the same issue. Did you ever figure out how to change those links? Thanks in advance!
---
### Author:  [@ChaucerUniversity](https://discuss.openedx.org/u/ChaucerUniversity)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2023, 7:19pm UTC](https://discuss.openedx.org/t/how-to-edit-homepage-features/6550/17 "2023-02-07T19:19:06Z")
Not yet. There is a known lack of documentation on how to configure the site email features.