By John Rivera on
Hello.
I recently installed Drupal on my new website after one system administrator I know did recomend to use it. So far I am happy with it and most likely will take full benefit from Drupal since I am starting to like more and more about "open source" materials.
I got some basic things changed around but now I am looking forward to make my site to look entirely like I want, which means modifying various aspects of site and layout. However I do not have good idea where to look help for this so I decided to ask in forums.
One thing I am also interested to know is that is there already or will there be a "webmail" module for drupal in any point, or is it something self made ?
Comments
Some info
The sample chapter of the Pro Drupal Development book is on theming:
http://www.apress.com/book/downloadfile/3489
The theme chapter can stand alone, but I'd recommend buying the book (it is really good) anyway to support the authors :)
Basically the best way to create your own theme is to start off by copying a very simple clean theme (don't start with a complex fully styled one like garland) and modifying it from there. I'd recommend using a PHPTemplate theme as a base - the other theme engines don't have nearly the same amount of users or documentation available.
While the theme developers handbook on drupal.org might seem scary at first, it is full of very useful info - especially when you come back later for another reading. Don't give up :)
The main skill needed to create a theme is CSS - the majority of the hard work in a good looking theme is in the CSS. You can get a long way without needing to actually code real PHP.
Here are some groups you might find useful:
http://groups.drupal.org/theme-development
http://groups.drupal.org/drupal-dojo
--
Anton
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....
u may also refer to this .... its a good one to get the basics well ....
http://drupaldojo.com/files/misc/lesson28-slides.pdf
-- Sree --
IRC Nick: sreeveturi
subscribing
this is great stuff.
video is a good thing
sometimes watching someone do something can be very helpful. we don't always have experts around though, so keep an eye out for video how-to resources.
drupal school by elliott rothman is a particularly good podcast, with several videos available.
see
http://www.theartlab.net/drupal-school-themeing-zen
and
http://www.theartlab.net/drupal-school-zengaged-themeing
for info about themeing drupal, and starting off with a pretty good theme called zen. caveat: if you follow his instructions, you will rename the theme- make sure you don't use hyphens in your theme name.
otherwise a great simple simple simple theme to start with is foundation.
test
test
Figured theme thing.
I just figured that I can use some ready made theme like chameleon.
Anyhow. Learning Drupal ideology haven't been that easy since I am fairly new to CMS engines, but possibilities opened by Drupal are very impressive.
Chameleon
From memory, Chameleon isn't a good starting theme. It is a pure PHP theme (like Marvin also) which means that there aren't any easily editable templates (the HTML is only customised by coding PHP). Also, 90% of the theming docs won't apply to it and there are less people familiar with it who could help you out.
I'd recommend using a PHPTemplate theme instead - most themes are based on the PHPTemplate engine though.
--
Anton
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