The best way to learn Drupal theming?

I would just copy something like Bluemarine (themes/bluemarine/) to sites/all/themes/mytesttheme/ and start playing with the code from there, using the theming docs on the Drupal site as reference.  Really though, aside from figuring out how to work with .info files, you may be able to figure out the majority of what you need to do just by looking at the code.  Learning with Bluemarine is nice and easy, because the most complicated PHP you need to use is <?php echo $title; ?>.  Other themes (like Garland) may be a bit more confusing.

From: themes-bounces@drupal.org [mailto:themes-bounces@drupal.org] On Behalf Of Jared Stoneberg
Sent: Tuesday, March 16, 2010 1:08 PM
To: A list for theme developers
Subject: Re: [themes] How much php knowledge required?

That php/mysql course is overkill.  IMO theming Drupal is 75% CSS/HTML 10% PHP and 15% Drupal Configuration.  If you only have a little CSS knowledge spend your time there.

-Jared

On Tue, Mar 16, 2010 at 9:52 AM, saksiri.kridakara@yahoo.com <saksiri.kridakara@yahoo.com> wrote:

Thank you everyone for these responses!

I have watched the lullabot and lynda.com videos and have a good
conceptual understanding at this point...along with a little css and
html experience.

I have not dug in and developed a theme yet, but getting prepared.
I guess what I'm trying to extract is how php is used in relation to
drupal themes.

With so much else to get my head around, I'm hoping I can somehow
learn just what's necessary for theme development so I don't have to
read a whole additional book.

For example there is a lynda.com php/mysql course but that might be overkill?

Saki

On Tue, Mar 16, 2010 at 8:43 AM, JasonN <imjasonn@gmail.com> wrote:
> What is your strength now? That's an important place to start.
>
> On Mon, Mar 15, 2010 at 22:55, saksiri.kridakara@yahoo.com
> <saksiri.kridakara@yahoo.com> wrote:
>>
>> How much php knowledge is required to develop / customize drupal
>> themes efficiently?
>>
>> Do I need to read a whole book or is there some basic documentation of
>> the essential php used for drupal theming?
>>
>> Any resources would be greatly appreciated!
>>
>> Saki
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>
>
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> Jason A. Nunnelley
> ----------------------------------------
> http://www.jasonn.com
> Systems Administrator
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>
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