theme-overview.xml #1

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<section id="themes.anatomy.overview">
    <title>Overview</title>

    <para>
        Themes are files containing <acronym>HTML</acronym>, <acronym>CSS</acronym>,
        javascript, plus images or other multimedia resources that work together to provide the
        design and functionality of your &product.longname; site(s). Multiple themes may be
        available so that you may quickly change the look of a site. Themes may adjust the
        presentation in small and large ways, from adjusting font sizes to providing custom markup
        for all &product.name; operations.
    </para>

    <para>
        The primary benefit of using themes is that it separates the presentation of your content
        from the code that manages content. This separation allows modules to be added/removed, or
        &product.name; to be upgraded without losing your customization work or requiring
        significant updates to maintain the visual design of your site.
    </para>

    <para>
        The secondary benefit of themes, particularly when a large number of themes are available,
        is that you do not need to know or learn <acronym>HTML</acronym>, <acronym>CSS</acronym>,
        JavaScript, or even <acronym>PHP</acronym> in order to have a good-looking site, nor to
        change the visual design or layout.
    </para>

    <para>
        This guide helps theme designers, or those wishing to customize a theme, to understand how
        themes work with &product.name;, where a theme's files and resources must be placed, and
        describe a theme's components to create a unique look for your site.

        This guide helps theme designers (or those wishing to customize a theme) to understand how
        themes work with &product.name;, where a theme's files and resources must be placed, and
        also describe how a theme's components can be changed in order to create a unique look for
        your site.
    </para>

    <para>
        &product.name; does not use a <emphasis>one-file-per-web-page</emphasis> approach.
        Generally, there is no single file that can be edited to adjust the presentation for a
        single page. Instead, &product.name; generates web pages by combining several components
        such as content entry values, a view script and a layout. Default view scripts and layouts
        are provided but the theme has the option of providing customized versions. This approach
        makes web content management more powerful and sophisticated, but it requires you to
        understand how the various theme components work together.
    </para>

    <note>
        <title>Multiple Sites</title>

        <para>
            &product.name; can host multiple sites and each site can share a theme with other sites
            or use its own theme. For a specific site, only one theme can be active at a time.
        </para>
    </note>

    <section id="themes.overview.layout">
        <title>Specifying Page Layout</title>

        <para>
            Configure common aspects of a theme, relative to the theme's folder (represented as
            <constant>THEMEDIR</constant> below) as follows:
        </para>

        <itemizedlist>
            <listitem>
                <emphasis>Page header and footer</emphasis>: Put markup into
                <filename>THEMEDIR/layouts/default-layout.phtml</filename>
            </listitem>

            <listitem>
                <emphasis>Home page body</emphasis>: For the content that is displayed between the
                header and footer on the web site home page, put the markup in
                <filename>THEMEDIR/views/content/index/index.phtml</filename>
            </listitem>

            <listitem>
                <emphasis>Content on other pages</emphasis>: Define a content type that contains
                layout elements (title, body text, sidebar text, etc.), and create a view script
                for this content type that contains the markup. The view script name must correspond
                to the content type:
                <filename>THEMEDIR/views/content/index/view-type-<emphasis>&lt;content-type-id&gt;</emphasis>.phtml</filename>.
            </listitem>
        </itemizedlist>
    </section>
</section>
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