By markconroy on

I am kind of new to drupal, certainly not very experienced, but I'd like to give creating or modifying a theme a go. I know no php.

My idea was to get the free theme (ad series which has so many editable blocks pre-configured) and use the page.tpl.php of that in the free theme ifeeldirty (which has very little pre-configured blocks).

Would this work? Or would I also need to copy the css or something (I like the layout of the ad themes and the look of the ifeeldirty theme).

Any help, much appreciated,
Mark Conroy.

⋅ Categories: Drupal 6.x

Comments

marcvangend’s picture

marcvangend
he/him
Primary language Dutch
Location Amsterdam
commented

You can merge the code of two themes, but I'm not sure if it will save you a lot of time. I advice you to invest some time in understanding Drupal theming. If you know how a theme works, and know how to do things 'the right way', your theme will end up cleaner, more flexible and more future-proof. A simple php tutorial will certainly help, for instance: http://www.tizag.com/phpT/.

A theme is a combination of php, html, css and images, so depending on what you want to merge, you will also have to copy certain CSS rules. Firebug is your best friend when it comes to css editing.

I don't understand what you mean by 'many editable blocks pre-configured'. Blocks are pieces of content, published by modules, that can be placed in regions. Themes never contain blocks. Themes do contain regions: the area's in which blocks can be placed.

markconroy’s picture

markconroy commented

Hi Marc,

Thanks for the reply. You are right. I meant regions not blocks. I'll have a look at that link and see what I come up with. I'm not too hopeful though.

Mark.

============

Drupal Core Maintainer for "Out of the Box" Initiative.

marcvangend’s picture

marcvangend
he/him
Primary language Dutch
Location Amsterdam
commented

Most themes have a default set of regions. If not, adding regions yourself is not difficult. Do not despair about php, the php you'll need for templating is very simple. You will be printing the contents of a variable:

<?php print $title; ?>

and sometimes you'll use a simple if-statement:

<?php
if ($sidebar_left) {
  print $sidebar_left;
}
?>

If this php code looks like something you might eventually understand, then you don't have to worry about the php.

markconroy’s picture

markconroy commented

I think I might look into creating regions so. Thanks.

Also, that php looks like I could get to grips with it (if the twins would calm down and go to bed, haha!).

Mark.

============

Drupal Core Maintainer for "Out of the Box" Initiative.