I have been using drupal in various ways since 4.0. Most of the sites I have created have been relatively small projects. I never really had the time to devote to learning the theme api and ended up with mostly hacks of current themes. Now, I am beginning a much bigger project, which needs more than just a hack. And now, I actually have the time to devote to creating a unique customized site. I actually have some people to work with who are really knowledgeable and capable web developers, but who don't have much experience with drupal as well.
I am really excited about the proposed theme structure for 4.5. We definitely need to do more to be designer friendly. Even though I am a bit of a developer, I am also a designer. I really want to find a (relatively) fast easy way to create a unique appearance for the site. But, I can't wait till 4.5 comes out. I need a solution now. The designer side of me wants to find a template approach, but as it has been noted xtemplate has serious drawbacks. I did some research into phptal, but I couldn't find a way to use those templates with drupal. Besides having a designer-friendly solution, I'd like to have something that will work for 4.5 and beyond as well. I don't want to spend days learning the current theme api and developing my own theme only to have that api abandoned.
I am continuing to do my own research, but I would greatly app
I'm very impressed with Drupal so far but I'm unsure wether the following is possible or how to approach it.
I want navigation tabs for my site sections (showing currently active section), then in the sidebar the multi-level sub-menu for that section (again showing the currently active page). Obviously all linked to Drupal's taxonomies. I know the XHTML + CSS to do this but what mods need to be made to Drupal or its templates to allow this?
Just wondering if there's a quick way to preview the look of the various themes. I see the contributed themes section, but beyond downloading, installing and trying them, there are no screen shots for a quick preview to see which ones I might like.
If anyone knows a place to choose among all the current themes, please let me know.
