By default, we can put the static pages in protected/views/site/pages.
For example, I put the static "about.php" in protected/views/site/pages.
The way of Yii to get the current name when to use in menu.
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if(
!empty(Yii::app()->controller->action->requestedView)
&& "howtowork" == strtolower(Yii::app()->controller->action->requestedView))
echo 'class="active"';