[support] themes problem

Thu Aug 24 04:36:56 UTC 2006

Actually that's already possible.

First of all, what you're suggesting is essentially just CSS changes.  Those 
don't require major changes.  Turning on or off borders on something should 
be done via CSS.  That does not even scratch the surface of what Drupal 
themes are capable of doing.  Have a look at

http://www.drupalsites.com/

It's a gallery of sites built with Drupal.  Notice how many of those sitse 
look nothing like a "normal" Drupal site?  That wouldn't be possible without 
the flexibility in Drupal's theming system.  That flexibility, however, comes 
at the cost of complexity.  The more things you can tweak, the more 
combinations there are to deal with.

However, if all you want to do is vary the style of a theme a bit, you can 
already do that with "subthemes" now.  Have a look at the stock chameleon and 
marvin themes.  One is a "subtheme" of the other, and inherits it's 
templates.  It then just overrides the CSS.

Is that more along the lines of what you're looking for?

Themes are not something that's configured via an admin tool, by nature.  
They're simply too complex for that.  But at the CSS/HTML template level, you 
really can do nearly anything if you're willing to sit down and do so.

On Friday 25 August 2006 18:09, Mr Gibson... (Earnest Hern) wrote:
> I have an idea but I dont think it will be considered. Drupal can be
> thought of as an cms construction set. However, the themes are lacking that
> ability. My idea, is one theme, with options.
> At the theme options menu are login border on/off, forum no border, login
> border size, background theme color, header selector ect. However, drupal
> in my believe is moving in a wrong direction, or a direction of a more
> harder learning system. As the result, in incompatibility issues between
> drupal versions.  the blocks, modules, nodes are all like a building blocks
> for drupal. The theme should be treated the same. The options are the
> building blocks for the theme. In other words, there does not need to be
> many themes. One theme with many option instead.  Then the save options can
> be a version of a theme.
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Larry Garfield <larry at garfieldtech.com>
> To: <support at drupal.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, August 23, 2006 8:11 PM
> Subject: Re: [support] themes problem
>
> > Well, I don't know what Drupal itself can do to address the "problem".
>
> The
>
> > issue is that theming is hard, and theming a plethora of different
>
> possible
>
> > combinations of functionality is exponentially harder.  That's more
> > innate
>
> in
>
> > web design than in Drupal itself.
> >
> > While steps have been taken in each new version to make theming easier
> > (in
>
> the
>
> > next version, for instance, the core CSS file has been broken up by
> > module
>
> to
>
> > make it easier to override), I don't think easy, universal themes are an
> > achieveable goal.
> >
> > If you find problems with themes on drupal.org, please file bug reports
> > against them (assuming they haven't already been filed).  That's the only
>
> way
>
> > authors know what's broken so they know how to fix them.
> >
> > On Friday 25 August 2006 17:02, Mr Gibson... (Earnest Hern) wrote:
> > > I have tested many themes within just the core and within the core with
> > > added mods. I tested about 25 themes and only one was ok. The others
>
> seem
>
> > > to have some kind of problem.
> > >
> > > I then read a message at drupal.org that the big problem was because of
>
> the
>
> > > themes themself. That there should be one theme with different style
>
> sheets
>
> > > instead.
> > >
> > > >From what you have said and the other messages that I have read, I
> > > > have
> > >
> > > determined that I will not install any third party themes, but instead
> > > I will wait until drupal addresses this theme problem.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: Larry Garfield <larry at garfieldtech.com>
> > > To: <support at drupal.org>
> > > Sent: Wednesday, August 23, 2006 7:10 PM
> > > Subject: Re: [support] themes problem
> > >
> > > > On Thursday 24 August 2006 19:26, Mr Gibson... (Earnest Hern) wrote:
> > > > > I am using the latest snapshot drupal-cvs-4-7.tar.gz.
> > > > >
> > > > > I have noticed that drupal has a very bad selection of themes. Each
>
> one
>
> > > > > seems to have some display problem. Most of the themes found at the
> > >
> > > drupal
> > >
> > > > > theme link do not fully work in the laster browsers. The forum
> > > > > table
>
> is
>
> > > not
> > >
> > > > > sized correctly or the hover colours are not correct or the input
>
> boxed
>
> > > are
> > >
> > > > > out of alignment. The only themes to work 100% are the ones packed
>
> with
>
> > > > > drupal. The themes I am installing are for 4.7.0. not the cvs
>
> version.
>
> > > > > Where can I get a good selection of fully workable themes. Drupal
>
> may
>
> > > have
> > >
> > > > > lots of options but if i cant get some good themes, it will be hard
>
> to
>
> > > keep
> > >
> > > > > members. I have tryed the theme garden but at that place is the
> > > > > same
> > >
> > > themes
> > >
> > > > > as the drupal site.
> > > >
> > > > Two things:
> > > >
> > > > 1) The themes projects are just as "unfiltered" as module projects.
>
> Some
>
> > > are
> > >
> > > > great, some are good, some are broken steaming piles that haven't
> > > > been updated in 2 years.  There's no built-in policing method for
> > > > that
> > >
> > > currently.
> > >
> > > > So they're all "caveat downloador".
> > > >
> > > > 2) Are you using any contributed modules?  There are so many possible
> > > > ways
> > >
> > > to
> > >
> > > > mix and match Drupal functionality that it's difficult if not
>
> impossible
>
> > > to
> > >
> > > > make a theme that will cover all of them.  Even core itself can be
> > >
> > > configured
> > >
> > > > in dozens of ways.  Not all themes support all features, and when you
>
> add
>
> > > in
> > >
> > > > browser stupidity (IE breaks in a thousand ways, Safari breaks in a
> > >
> > > different
> > >
> > > > 200 ways, Firefox breaks in its own 3-4 ways), generic theming is
> > > > down
> > >
> > > right
> > >
> > > > impossible. :-)
> > > >
> > > > I agree that the after-market themes available for Drupal right now
>
> are
>
> > > not
> > >
> > > > that impressive, but hopefully you can see why.  In practice, I think
> > > > it's
> > >
> > > a
> > >
> > > > good plan to build your own theme for your site, pulling in ideas and
> > > > code from existing themes where possible.  (Eg, I tend to use the
> > > > bluemarine
> > >
> > > forum
> > >
> > > > code as a starting point.)  Beware bugs in browsers.
> > > >
> > > > I'm not sure if that's much help, but hopefully it's worth something.
> :
> :-)
> :
> > > > --
> > > > Larry Garfield AIM: LOLG42
> > > > larry at garfieldtech.com ICQ: 6817012
> > > >
> > > > "If nature has made any one thing less susceptible than all others of
> > > > exclusive property, it is the action of the thinking power called an
> > > > idea, which an individual may exclusively possess as long as he keeps
>
> it
>
> > > > to himself; but the moment it is divulged, it forces itself into the
> > >
> > > possession
> > >
> > > > of every one, and the receiver cannot dispossess himself of it."  --
> > >
> > > Thomas
> > >
> > > > Jefferson
> > > > --
> > > > [ Drupal support list | http://lists.drupal.org/ ]
> >
> > --
> > Larry Garfield AIM: LOLG42
> > larry at garfieldtech.com ICQ: 6817012
> >
> > "If nature has made any one thing less susceptible than all others of
> > exclusive property, it is the action of the thinking power called an
> > idea, which an individual may exclusively possess as long as he keeps it
> > to himself; but the moment it is divulged, it forces itself into the
>
> possession
>
> > of every one, and the receiver cannot dispossess himself of it."  --
>
> Thomas
>
> > Jefferson
> > --
> > [ Drupal support list | http://lists.drupal.org/ ]

-- 
Larry Garfield			AIM: LOLG42
larry at garfieldtech.com		ICQ: 6817012

"If nature has made any one thing less susceptible than all others of 
exclusive property, it is the action of the thinking power called an idea, 
which an individual may exclusively possess as long as he keeps it to 
himself; but the moment it is divulged, it forces itself into the possession 
of every one, and the receiver cannot dispossess himself of it."  -- Thomas 
Jefferson