This documents manually copying the default starterkit subtheme in Omega 4.4. The instructions are similar for both "dusty" and "default" starter kits. Note that the "default" theme has libsass, and has less files then "dusty."

  • Dusty: the original omega front-end set up, which is becoming increasingly outdated.
  • Default: a more contemporary subtheme, front-end development wise. This is the better option.

Note: since I use a simple, one-word theme name in this example I can replace THEME-placeholders with one value. If you wish to have a more complex subtheme name, consider this array from the drush omega subtheme function:

'/{{ THEME }}/' => $machine_name,
'/{{ THEME NAME }}/' => $name,
'/{{ THEME SANITIZED }}/' => str_replace('_', '-', $machine_name),
'/{{ THEME CAMELCASE }}/' => $camel,
'/{{ THEME CAMELCASE LOWER }}/' => lcfirst($camel),

Prerequisite: Your theme's name. I'm using "mytheme" Substitute mytheme with your theme name.

  1. Copy themes/omega/omega/starterkits/default (or dusty) to themes/mytheme
  2. Copy starterkits/<default|dusty>/default.starterkit.inc to mytheme/mytheme.info
  3. Changes to mytheme.info
    • Change the name value to 'mytheme'
    • Insert base theme = omega to line 3
    • Change the theme file names from {{ THEME SANITIZED }} to mytheme For example - from:
      stylesheets[all][] = css/{{ THEME SANITIZED }}.reset.css To:
      stylesheets[all][] = css/mytheme.reset.css
    • Change the scripts name to css/mytheme.behaviors.js
    • Add regions info:
      ; ========================================
; Regions
; ========================================
regions[branding] = Branding
regions[header] = Header
regions[navigation] = Navigation
regions[highlighted] = Highlighted
regions[help] = Help
regions[content] = Content
regions[sidebar_first] = First Sidebar
regions[sidebar_second] = Second Sidebar
regions[footer] = Footer
  4. Update theme name in files:
    • package.json: {{ THEME }} to mytheme
    • template.php: {{ theme name }} to mytheme
    • theme-settings.php: {{ THEME }} and {{ theme name }} to mytheme
    • preprocess/page.preprocess.inc: {{ THEME }} to mytheme
    • process/page.process.inc: {{ THEME }} to mytheme
    • sass/README.md {{ THEME SANITIZED }} to mytheme
    • The following renames are in dusty only:
      • .ruby-gemset
      • bower.json
      • libraries.make
  5. Rename files as necessary:
    • Rename css files to css/mytheme.reset.css (default subtheme only) and css/mytheme.styles.css
    • Rename scss files to sass/mytheme.reset.scss (default subtheme only) and sass/mytheme.styles.scss
    • The following file-renames are in dusty only:
      • Rename css files to css/mytheme.hacks.css, css/mytheme.no-query.css and css/mytheme.normalize.css
      • Rename scss files to sass/mytheme.hacks.css, sass/mytheme.no-query.scss and sass/mytheme.normalize.scss

I've created a github of that shows the comparitive starterkit to wizard-created subthemes. Using this link, you can see all the necessary modifications you'll need to make, for dusty here or for default, here

I've updated this document out of pure curiosity. If I were in your situation, however, I would simply run the omega-wizard on my local dev environment, and push the theme to my server.