A WHIRLWIND TOUR OF THEMES IN DRUPAL 7CONSALD meeting 11 October 2012

What is Drupal?• “Drupal is a free software package that allows you to

easily organize, manage and publish your content, with an endless variety of customization”

• Underlying Drupal is PHP and a database such as MYSQL

• Many core THEMES and MODULES available.• Themes can rapidly be modified by CSS stylesheets

What is CSS?• Cascading Style Sheets lynda.com overview

• CSS defines HOW html elements are to be displayed• Sites can make use of multiple style sheets; more

complex css styles can overlay basic css styles• Child elements can “inherit” parent elements—hence the

concept of cascading• Drupal THEMES often make use of CSS• Hence, there are different types of themes—ranging from

BASIC to PREMIERE, etc.

Drupal Themes• 382 Drupal 7 themes are available (see for yourself!)• 10 themes already available for Drupal 8!!!• Drupal 6 accumulated 613 full project themes• Basic “starting themes” include Zen, Omega, Tao, etc.• Regular themes include Marinelli, Danland, etc.• Default themes include Bartik, etc.• Many themes have subthemes available—Dartik is a dark

version subtheme of Bartik• Many free themes but also subscription based premiere

themes

For our immediate purposes …• A well reviewed, well tested Drupal 7 theme• Works on a variety of platforms—laptops, mobile devices,

ipads, etc.• Works on a variety of browsers (within reason)

•Fits our profile and mission statement—do we want a corporate, magazine, blog-like, or mixed look?

Danland (simple default theme)• Representative of our current site• Includes image slideshow or photo slideshow feature on

standard installation, Also includes one subtheme without slideshow feature.

• Danland demo site• Gary’s recommendation—a good default theme, but we could probably do better for our own specific purposes

Corporate Clean (simple corp. ex.)• Simple clean design• Clear breadcrumb display• Corporate Clean demo site• Not recommended. Overly corporate for us

Sirate (small/medium businesses)• Clean layout and a lightweight code• Extends the Nucleus theme• Sirate demo site• Not recommended. Overly corporate style

Alphorn (corporate style)• “The overall design aim is, not to be complicated, but to

be sufficiently enough.” • A dark theme available in default, gray or green• Uses responsive design; has modules such as Google

Analytics• Extends Omega base theme• Alphorn demo site• Gary’s recommendation—IF we want a corporate style

theme, this is an excellent choice

Marinelli • A 3 column, tableless layout theme with a wide image

banner and a top-tabbed primary-links system • Optional built-in megadropdown menu (only if activated)• Integrated rotating banners system• No longer supports IE6• Live demo of Marinelli• Gary’s recommendation—IF we do plan on substantially

building up the content side of the CONSALD site, this could be an excellent choice

Touchpro • Magazine style theme optimized for touchscreen as well

as desktop devices • Recommended to get a website set up really quickly.

Includes “our famous 5 minute installation” Default installation is live demo site—can immediately edit, add, remove blocks for customization

• Free premium theme from SooperThemes• Built on underlying base themes of Arctic and Tundra • Demo site for TouchPro• Gary’s recommendation: A good free premium theme.