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
As a front end developer who did not know *any* PHP but now works as a Drupal themer I recommend you make the effort to learn some PHP.
I recommend the Lullabot theming videos: http://store.lullabot.com/products/theming-basics-advanced-bundle well worth the time and money.
Good luck,
Jared
On Mon, Mar 15, 2010 at 8:55 PM, 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 _______________________________________________ themes mailing list themes@drupal.org http://lists.drupal.org/mailman/listinfo/themes
At least some php is required.
You will need to learn how to create a basic page.tpl.php file, and you may need to write a few functions in a file named template.php for anything you do that is non-standard.
Otherwise, Views [and possibly Panels] are your friend. Within views you may need to "theme" it, using yet more php files, so that you can eventually use CSS to style your website.
If you can modify a theme by just changing the related CSS, then this is the route to take if you want to avoid PHP. However, many themes are extremely painful to theme in this manner, and Zen is no exception [imho].
As illogical as it may seem, building a theme from scratch is, for me at least, the easiest and most logical and straight forward. And this is coming from someone who learned PHP by learning Drupal.
My suggestion would be to check out two things:
1. Check out how other themes are built, and look at the files in the theme folder... does any of it make sense? does it look complicated to you?
2. Look for a video tutorial on "how to make a theme". There are free ones out there, what got me to a strong start was this video:
http://mustardseedmedia.com/podcast/episode24
This video was unquestionably what launched me in full-force towards becoming a highly proficient drupal themer. So you can't go wrong starting with this video [and then afterwards, watch all the other videos they have to offer, lots of interesting stuff there - though I am sure some of it may be getting dated]
Good luck,
Jared Stoneberg wrote:
As a front end developer who did not know *any* PHP but now works as a Drupal themer I recommend you make the effort to learn some PHP.
I recommend the Lullabot theming videos: http://store.lullabot.com/products/theming-basics-advanced-bundle well worth the time and money.
Good luck,
Jared
On Mon, Mar 15, 2010 at 8:55 PM, saksiri.kridakara@yahoo.com mailto:saksiri.kridakara@yahoo.com <saksiri.kridakara@yahoo.com mailto: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 _______________________________________________ themes mailing list themes@drupal.org <mailto:themes@drupal.org> http://lists.drupal.org/mailman/listinfo/themes
themes mailing list themes@drupal.org http://lists.drupal.org/mailman/listinfo/themes
You can get the basics at: http://drupal.org/theme-guide, also search the web for Drupal Theming, you can find a lot of free blogs, posts, pod casts, screen casts, ect.
One really great site is: http://mustardseedmedia.com/podcast, I just found out that Bob is back, and it is better than ever.
On the pay for stuff, there are a bunch of books like: Front End Drupal: Designing, Theming, Scriptinghttp://www.amazon.com/Front-End-Drupal-Designing-Scripting/dp/0137136692/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268714232&sr=8-4 But my favorite is: www.lynda.com, they have 3 Drupal titles, the newest one being on Theming,
Hope that helps,
I can recommend a book;
http://www.packtpub.com/drupal-6-themes/book turns out a lot of it is not php (template files and such, but it's probably not like anything else you've used, so unless you've done themes before, you will have to learn about what is needed. Fwiw, it's not rocket science.
Warren Vail
-----Original Message----- From: saksiri.kridakara@yahoo.com [mailto:saksiri.kridakara@yahoo.com] Sent: Monday, March 15, 2010 8:55 PM To: themes@drupal.org Subject: [themes] How much php knowledge required?
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 _______________________________________________ themes mailing list themes@drupal.org http://lists.drupal.org/mailman/listinfo/themes
Hi This book is good, video tutorial try lynda.com drupal creating customs themes. Other videos are made by lullabot, but not so well organized. Video tutorial by lynda id for the beginners, well organized a very clear. U don't have to be PHP guru to create theme for customers requirements, like simple one, just understand basic is OK. U have to be familiar with PHP if comes to module development.Have a look at drupal files page.tpl.php, node.tpl.php, block.tpl.php there are variables with some short description to give U idea what going on. Check drupals tutorial on the web and good luck.
On Tue, Mar 16, 2010 at 4:45 AM, Warren Vail <warren@> wrote:
I can recommend a book;
http://www.packtpub.com/drupal-6-themes/book turns out a lot of it is not php (template files and such, but it's probably not like anything else you've used, so unless you've done themes before, you will have to learn about what is needed. Fwiw, it's not rocket science.
Warren Vail
-----Original Message----- From: saksiri.kridakara@yahoo.com [mailto:saksiri.kridakara@yahoo.com] Sent: Monday, March 15, 2010 8:55 PM To: themes@drupal.org Subject: [themes] How much php knowledge required?
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 _______________________________________________ themes mailing list themes@drupal.org http://lists.drupal.org/mailman/listinfo/themes
themes mailing list themes@drupal.org http://lists.drupal.org/mailman/listinfo/themes
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 _______________________________________________ themes mailing list themes@drupal.org http://lists.drupal.org/mailman/listinfo/themes
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 _______________________________________________ themes mailing list themes@drupal.org http://lists.drupal.org/mailman/listinfo/themes
-- Jason A. Nunnelley
http://www.jasonn.com Systems Administrator +1 256 297 1652
themes mailing list themes@drupal.org http://lists.drupal.org/mailman/listinfo/themes
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 _______________________________________________ themes mailing list themes@drupal.org http://lists.drupal.org/mailman/listinfo/themes
-- Jason A. Nunnelley
http://www.jasonn.com Systems Administrator +1 256 297 1652
themes mailing list themes@drupal.org http://lists.drupal.org/mailman/listinfo/themes
themes mailing list themes@drupal.org http://lists.drupal.org/mailman/listinfo/themes
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.commailto:saksiri.kridakara@yahoo.com <saksiri.kridakara@yahoo.commailto:saksiri.kridakara@yahoo.com> wrote: Thank you everyone for these responses!
I have watched the lullabot and lynda.comhttp://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.comhttp://lynda.com php/mysql course but that might be overkill?
Saki
On Tue, Mar 16, 2010 at 8:43 AM, JasonN <imjasonn@gmail.commailto: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.commailto:saksiri.kridakara@yahoo.com <saksiri.kridakara@yahoo.commailto: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 _______________________________________________ themes mailing list themes@drupal.orgmailto:themes@drupal.org http://lists.drupal.org/mailman/listinfo/themes
-- Jason A. Nunnelley
http://www.jasonn.com Systems Administrator +1 256 297 1652
themes mailing list themes@drupal.orgmailto:themes@drupal.org http://lists.drupal.org/mailman/listinfo/themes
_______________________________________________ themes mailing list themes@drupal.orgmailto:themes@drupal.org http://lists.drupal.org/mailman/listinfo/themes
Someone needs to do a training course that's pure Drupal design. I'll admit there's little out there about it, in a format that makes sense to non-PHP developers.
The design process is quite simple.
There's a template.
The template has hooks for both code and design elements.
You can position the template hooks in the "blocks" you want them to be manually. But, using the Drupal block management system requires a bit more flexibility and therefor a bit more sophisticated code layout.
If I am blessed to have a few hours to mark this up, I'll share it with you all. Though, I tend to think for most on this list it's remedial.
On Tue, Mar 16, 2010 at 12:07, Jared Stoneberg jared@stonebergdesign.comwrote:
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 _______________________________________________ themes mailing list themes@drupal.org http://lists.drupal.org/mailman/listinfo/themes
-- Jason A. Nunnelley
http://www.jasonn.com Systems Administrator +1 256 297 1652
themes mailing list themes@drupal.org http://lists.drupal.org/mailman/listinfo/themes
themes mailing list themes@drupal.org http://lists.drupal.org/mailman/listinfo/themes
themes mailing list themes@drupal.org http://lists.drupal.org/mailman/listinfo/themes
HI The best way IMO is to create simple 3 column layout html/css, fill it in text, by hand not drupal devel module and port it to drupal page.tpl.php and crate .info file. Try to set it up, learn drupal management ( U have to know how to use it!) and experiment with very basic like wireframe "design", learn how to define regions etc. Later nodes, blocks, page-front and other stuff. Find out how drupal works and try to understand $hooks and variables, but start from very basic easy things. Everything depends on the level of your skills. IMO hooks and functions are a bit more advanced fro the beginners....and start to learn PHP.
-Tom
On Tue, Mar 16, 2010 at 6:58 PM, JasonN imjasonn@gmail.com wrote:
Someone needs to do a training course that's pure Drupal design. I'll admit there's little out there about it, in a format that makes sense to non-PHP developers.
The design process is quite simple.
There's a template.
The template has hooks for both code and design elements.
You can position the template hooks in the "blocks" you want them to be manually. But, using the Drupal block management system requires a bit more flexibility and therefor a bit more sophisticated code layout.
If I am blessed to have a few hours to mark this up, I'll share it with you all. Though, I tend to think for most on this list it's remedial.
On Tue, Mar 16, 2010 at 12:07, Jared Stoneberg jared@stonebergdesign.comwrote:
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 _______________________________________________ themes mailing list themes@drupal.org http://lists.drupal.org/mailman/listinfo/themes
-- Jason A. Nunnelley
http://www.jasonn.com Systems Administrator +1 256 297 1652
themes mailing list themes@drupal.org http://lists.drupal.org/mailman/listinfo/themes
themes mailing list themes@drupal.org http://lists.drupal.org/mailman/listinfo/themes
themes mailing list themes@drupal.org http://lists.drupal.org/mailman/listinfo/themes
-- Jason A. Nunnelley
http://www.jasonn.com Systems Administrator +1 256 297 1652
themes mailing list themes@drupal.org http://lists.drupal.org/mailman/listinfo/themes
That's where I am...right at the start of that learning curve. I think what's important is to learn Drupal's coding practice from the start. But coming at this as someone who has only learned HTML and CSS, man, what a hill to climb. But, I'll try. -Val On 10-03-16 4:37 PM, Tomasz Kisielewski wrote:
HI The best way IMO is to create simple 3 column layout html/css, fill it in text, by hand not drupal devel module and port it to drupal page.tpl.php and crate .info file. Try to set it up, learn drupal management ( U have to know how to use it!) and experiment with very basic like wireframe "design", learn how to define regions etc. Later nodes, blocks, page-front and other stuff. Find out how drupal works and try to understand $hooks and variables, but start from very basic easy things. Everything depends on the level of your skills. IMO hooks and functions are a bit more advanced fro the beginners....and start to learn PHP.
-Tom
On Tue, Mar 16, 2010 at 6:58 PM, JasonN <imjasonn@gmail.com mailto:imjasonn@gmail.com> wrote:
Someone needs to do a training course that's pure Drupal design. I'll admit there's little out there about it, in a format that makes sense to non-PHP developers. The design process is quite simple. There's a template. The template has hooks for both code and design elements. You can position the template hooks in the "blocks" you want them to be manually. But, using the Drupal block management system requires a bit more flexibility and therefor a bit more sophisticated code layout. If I am blessed to have a few hours to mark this up, I'll share it with you all. Though, I tend to think for most on this list it's remedial. On Tue, Mar 16, 2010 at 12:07, Jared Stoneberg <jared@stonebergdesign.com <mailto:jared@stonebergdesign.com>> wrote: 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 <mailto:saksiri.kridakara@yahoo.com> <saksiri.kridakara@yahoo.com <mailto:saksiri.kridakara@yahoo.com>> wrote: Thank you everyone for these responses! I have watched the lullabot and lynda.com <http://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 <http://lynda.com> php/mysql course but that might be overkill? Saki On Tue, Mar 16, 2010 at 8:43 AM, JasonN <imjasonn@gmail.com <mailto: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 <mailto:saksiri.kridakara@yahoo.com> > <saksiri.kridakara@yahoo.com <mailto: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 >> _______________________________________________ >> themes mailing list >> themes@drupal.org <mailto:themes@drupal.org> >> http://lists.drupal.org/mailman/listinfo/themes > > > > -- > Jason A. Nunnelley > ---------------------------------------- > http://www.jasonn.com > Systems Administrator > +1 256 297 1652 > > _______________________________________________ > themes mailing list > themes@drupal.org <mailto:themes@drupal.org> > http://lists.drupal.org/mailman/listinfo/themes > > _______________________________________________ themes mailing list themes@drupal.org <mailto:themes@drupal.org> http://lists.drupal.org/mailman/listinfo/themes _______________________________________________ themes mailing list themes@drupal.org <mailto:themes@drupal.org> http://lists.drupal.org/mailman/listinfo/themes -- Jason A. Nunnelley ---------------------------------------- http://www.jasonn.com Systems Administrator +1 256 297 1652 _______________________________________________ themes mailing list themes@drupal.org <mailto:themes@drupal.org> http://lists.drupal.org/mailman/listinfo/themes
themes mailing list themes@drupal.org http://lists.drupal.org/mailman/listinfo/themes
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Cory Gilliam -
Gottwig, Jeremy M. (GSFC-272.0)[ZIMMERMAN & ASSOC.] -
Jared Stoneberg -
JasonN -
saksiri.kridakara＠yahoo.com -
sebastian -
Tomasz Kisielewski -
Wahiaronkwas -
Warren Vail