By Taekyon on

I am starting a new site and would like to customize the zen theme (minor changes).
However, I see that the theme contains several css stylesheets, including an empty style.css and a zen.css
Question: my customization would have to be added to the style.css?
Or would I have to edit the zen.css and/or the others? I did try changing things in zen.css but it doesn't seem to do anything.
Where should I document myself on zen theme?

⋅ Categories: Drupal 5.x

Comments

simul’s picture

simul commented

I would strongly recommend to use firebug firefox extension (http://www.getfirebug.com/) and everything will start making sense to you.
-simul

garfy - blocked for being foulmouthed and rude to others’s picture

garfy - blocked for being foulmouthed and rude to others commented

thank you for firebug

i was using webdeveloper but after seeing firebug ............... wow
is there a button in firefox to open it up when you need it?

redonwhite’s picture

redonwhite commented

Just press F12 on your keyboard.

Taekyon’s picture

Taekyon commented

Thanks to the use of firebug I've discovered that drupal doesn't actually use any of the css files in the themes sudirectory: what it does is create a series of (temporary ?) css files in the files/css folder : any change in the theme css files must be followed by deleting these last before its effect can be seen ...

eaton’s picture

eaton commented

It's a performance tweak that helps a lot on production sites, but is a pain WHILE you're developing your theme. Go to admin/settings/performance and turn it off. :-)

--
Lullabot! | Eaton's blog | VotingAPI discussion

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Eaton — Partner at Autogram

general need’s picture

general need commented

>Go to admin/settings/performance and turn it off. :-)

What app would that be in?

Also, I have tried using Style Master to explore and edit the CSS files: obviously I barked up the wrong tree.

Besides Firebug, can anyone suggest an easy way to perform the same edits?

michelle’s picture

michelle
she/her
Primary language English
Location Wisconsin, USA
commented

"What app would that be in?" <-- Drupal.

Michelle

--------------------------------------
My site: http://shellmultimedia.com

Cronjobs’s picture

Cronjobs commented

>Also, I have tried using Style Master to explore and edit the CSS files: obviously I barked up the wrong tree.
I use CSS Edit extension in FireFox. It is very interactive and good way to learn CSS quickly.

mollyclare’s picture

mollyclare commented

I don't know if this is helpful to anybody, but I just spent half an hour diagramming the source code of my Zen home page. It's always helpful for me to see things laid out. So if you're new to this and just want a quick visual, it might be helpful. [link to .pdf file]
Cheers
Molly

simul’s picture

simul commented

great work, thanks

michelle’s picture

michelle
she/her
Primary language English
Location Wisconsin, USA
commented

Thanks for doing this,

Michelle

--------------------------------------
My site: http://shellmultimedia.com

yoroy’s picture

yoroy commented

very helpfull, thank you.

doudou’s picture

doudou commented

Awesome! Thanks!

dialectric’s picture

dialectric commented

It seems the PDF is no longer downloadable from the posted location; could someone provide a new link, or upload a jpg screenshot?

thanks,
dialectric

mollyclare’s picture

mollyclare commented

I was rearranging things and accidentally moved it. It's back up now. :-) Glad this is proving useful!!

nonprofit’s picture

nonprofit commented

Thanks Molly, this will help me! -NP

sopia’s picture

sopia commented

Try http://pauldelsignore.com/create/images/drupal_zen.pdf

hbar’s picture

hbar commented

That is useful. Thanks, mollyclaire! :-)

CraigBertrand’s picture

CraigBertrand commented

hey should include this in the theme itself since it is a "use this to customize your own site theme thingy"

craigntammy.com

----------------------------------------------------
CraigBertrand.com

stacyh’s picture

stacyh commented

I'm really impressed by the Drupal Community, always willing to lend a hand. I look forward to helping others in the future as you have just helped us!

Thanks again!
Stacy

sk_mamp_nb’s picture

sk_mamp_nb commented

please fix the link to the pdf file.

vivienmarc’s picture

vivienmarc commented

can u please add the link again. the current link is broken and can't be access. thanks.

qbnflaco’s picture

qbnflaco commented

because of other software on this provider, you can't use the folder name zen. It caused me a full day to figure it out.