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How to make a theme?
Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2006 8:40 am
by Tygur
I'm sure this has been asked before, but I don't know what to search on, and the FAQ doesn't seem to be able to help me.
I recently installed Serendipity on my site, and I want to make it my own. That includes a custom theme. Unfortunately, I'm finding trouble finding any documentation on how to make a theme and install it. So if someone can point me in the right direction, I'd appreciate it.
Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2006 1:29 pm
by robert
Maybe this Site
http://www.s9y.org/44.html in the Wiki helps.
Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2006 2:24 pm
by d_cee
When you've made your theme you just need to upload it to your templates directory to install it. It will then appear in the list of styles when you go to your admin and click on manage styles.
Dave
Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2006 6:10 pm
by Guest
Yeah, I think it will. When I went to the Wiki, I was scanning for the word "Theme". I didn't think to look for "Style". Is there any difference, then, between a "theme" and a "style" in Serendipity?
Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2006 6:23 pm
by carl_galloway
The word theme and template are used interchangeably and mean the same thing in s9y. A style is different, this how you style parts of the page to make a theme/template, so yes they are different. Some people have mistakenly used style to mean template because they seem to be similar, but if we all use theme/template for the design and style for the elements within that then it should make it easier for anyone looking for information on how to create their own template.
d_cee is correct in what he says about making your template available to s9y so that you can use it, but may I add one extra comment, within your template, make sure you edit info.txt and put your own template name and author name in, otherwise s9y may not display your theme correctly in admin suite.
As for the original question about making a theme, if you haven't themed s9y before, the very best starting point is to find an existing theme that meets most of your requirements, then copy this into a new folder within the templates folder, change the info-txt file, then start making changes to this themes in the stylesheet. Get yourself a good reference on css and html. Once you're happy with making changes to an existing theme, then you should find that creating your own design from scratch becomes easier. Good luck, and let us kow where we can see your progress as you go.
Carl