I am very new to MVC.
I just finished reading a book and am trying to implement what I have learned, but I am stuck. In the book and some other explanations I have read online, it's always one controller for one view, like navigation view being controlled by its controller, login form controlled by its own controller.
But I have a header with couple of navigation links, and a search form. Do I separate navigation from searching or assume searching is part of navigation and just control them all in one controller?
First of all, you seem to have the impression that "template" and "view" is the same thing. It's wrong. A properly done view will juggle multiple templates and choose which combination to use based on the current state of the model layer.
As for your navigation & search thing ... well ... it's confusing. Each link in navigation would point to either a different controller entirely or a different methods of controller. And search query would definitely be submitted to a separate controller/view pair.
The navigation+search is just a template, that is used in multiple views as part of the complete response.