Bending Zen IntroUsing Zen Theme’s functionality, but bending

it into your own theme.

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Needed for Theming

•Text Editor (Coda, Dreamweaver, ect.)

•Knowledge of CSS, HTML, and a tiny bit of PHP

•FIREBUG, BABY!

•A creative mind

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Before Getting Started

•Consider the most Efficient Layout

•Regions

•Div tags

•Custom Blocks/Views/Fields

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•Don’t make more regions than necessary

•Use existing regions as much as possible

•Regions are listed in the .info file

Regions

the PHP call is defined inside the

[ ]

this side sets the region name in the

block admin

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Regions

Flexible by default in

Zen

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The possibility of shuffling the regions makes it even more

flexible

These regions make it possible for content to

be editable.

Theming Tip #1

•If at all possible, try to avoid hard-coding into the page.tpl.php file.

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This doesn’t mean you’re never going to hack the page.tpl.php file, but consider your options

before you do! And try to keep it minimal.

<div> Tags•Only code ID and Class attributes

into the page.tpl.php file

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Good

Bad

Keeps code clean and changes more flexible

Code gets cluttered, you will likely have to apply the style multiple

times, and future changes will take more work

Custom Blocks/Views/Fields•Not all blocks,

views, and fields need the same style.

•I put custom theme styles at the bottom of the CSS

•Comment your code!

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Best Practices

•Try to follow best practices as much as possible - they make life easier for you as well as anyone else that may be using your code later.

•http://drupal.org/node/341707

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