my .02<div><br></div><div>Being a relative newcomer here I started off creating Zen sub themes for all the reasons previously stated here. I have since switched to the Basic starter theme. I just download, untar, rename, wireframe etc. For me this process is much more straightforward and pleasant. </div>
<div><br></div><div>When I deliver the theme to the client it is set in stone. If a new theme needs to be created then I typically download the latest and go from there unless there are significant similarities then I would consider customization of the existing.... hmmm </div>
<div><br></div><div>I may have just strengthened the case for sub-theming. O well :).</div><div> </div><div><br clear="all"><b><div><b><br></b></div>Ryan LeTulle</b><br><br><div>> <font color="#666666"><a href="http://twitter.com/bayousoft" target="_blank">bayousoft</a> -twitter</font></div>
<div><br></div><div><img src="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/12083215/m-gmail-icon.png"><br></div><div><div><br></div><br><br></div><br>
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Mar 14, 2011 at 6:39 AM, Fred Jones <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:fredthejonester@gmail.com">fredthejonester@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
<div class="im">> At the risk of sounding seditious, there's no reason you *have* to upgrade a<br>
> base theme after the site is built unless there's a security update. In my<br>
> experience security holes in the good/popular base themes are extremely rare,<br>
> so if you want to build your site on a given release of Zen and then a new Zen<br>
> release comes out you can most likely just ignore it.<br>
<br>
</div>That's what the point of making a subtheme? Why not just make a custom<br>
version of Zen or Blueprint and then avoid seeing that yellow warning<br>
every time you visit the Updates page?<br>
<br>
I don't make themes from scratch--what I usually do is take an<br>
existing them, and change the name to something else and then<br>
customize it.<br>
<div class="im"><br>
> The main reason I would subtheme is to allow easier updates to your framework/starter theme from d.o. If you have just hacked those themes downloaded from d.o, you have to merge your changes back in. Of course that can be done with git, but I still think sub-theming is better.<br>
<br>
</div>But then you run the risk of the upgrade breaking something, no?<br>
<div class="im"><br>
> If someone else looks at your site, it will be easier for them to see what is going on..<br>
<br>
</div>Don't see why it's easier to deal with a main theme and then a<br>
subtheme as opposed to just one custom theme. Could well be more<br>
complicated with a base and subtheme in fact.<br>
<div class="im"><br>
> Why am I so stupid? Everybody else can restore a whole site in 60 seconds . :(<br>
<br>
</div>Perhaps you misunderstood what I meant--I didn't say debug and fix, I<br>
said "restore" which means to put back the old code which I had just<br>
moved to a different directory anyway and then import the previous<br>
version of the DB which I just saved. Actually I don't see those two<br>
operations either via ssh or a good Control Panel should take more<br>
than a minute. After that, of course one probably needs to make a dev<br>
copy of the site and run the upgrade and then examine what the issue<br>
is etc. etc.<br>
<br>
I'm not trying to be unpleasant, just trying to understand here--but I<br>
still haven't heard a compelling reason for a simple one-theme site to<br>
use a subtheme. Maybe there isn't one...<br>
<br>
Thanks,<br>
<font color="#888888">Fred<br>
</font><div><div></div><div class="h5">--<br>
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</div></div></blockquote></div><br></div>