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Full documentation on the Zen theme can be found in Drupal's Handbook:
Excellent documentation on Drupal theming can be found in the Theme Guide:
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INSTALLATION
------------
1. Download Zen from http://drupal.org/project/zen
2. Unpack the downloaded file, take the entire zen folder (which includes the
README.txt file, a STARTERKIT folder, etc.) and place it in your Drupal
installation under one of the following locations:
sites/all/themes
making it available to the default Drupal site and to all Drupal sites
in a multi-site configuration
sites/default/themes
making it available to only the default Drupal site
sites/example.com/themes
making it available to only the example.com site if there is a
sites/example.com/settings.php configuration file
For more information about acceptable theme installation directories, read
the sites/default/default.settings.php file in your Drupal installation.
3. Log in as an administrator on your Drupal site and go to Administer > Site
building > Themes (admin/build/themes). You will see the Zen theme there
with links on how to create your own sub-theme. You can optionally make Zen
the default theme.
BUILD YOUR OWN SUB-THEME
------------------------
*** IMPORTANT ***
* In Drupal 6, the theme system caches template files and which theme functions
should be called. What that means is if you add a new theme or preprocess
function to your template.php file or add a new template (.tpl.php) file to
your sub-theme, you will need to rebuild the "theme registry." See
http://drupal.org/node/173880#theme-registry
* Drupal 6 also stores a cache of the data in .info files. If you modify any
lines in your sub-theme's .info file, you MUST refresh Drupal 6's cache by
simply visiting the admin/build/themes page.
The base Zen theme is designed to be easily extended by its sub-themes. You
shouldn't modify any of the CSS or PHP files in the zen/ folder; but instead you
should create a sub-theme of zen which is located in a folder outside of the
root zen/ folder. The examples below assume zen and your sub-theme will be
installed in sites/all/themes/, but any valid theme directory is acceptable
(read the sites/default/default.settings.php for more info.)
Why? To learn why you shouldn't modify any of the files in the zen/ folder,
see http://drupal.org/node/245802
1. Copy the STARTERKIT folder out of the zen/ folder and rename it to be your
new sub-theme. IMPORTANT: Only lowercase letters and underscores should be
used for the name of your sub-theme.
For example, copy the sites/all/themes/zen/STARTERKIT folder and rename it
as sites/all/themes/foo.
Why? Each theme should reside in its own folder. Unlike in Drupal 5,
sub-themes can (and should) reside in a folder separate from their base
theme.
2. In your new sub-theme folder, rename the STARTERKIT.info.txt file to include
the name of your new sub-theme and remove the ".txt" extension. Then edit
the .info file by changing any occurrence of STARTERKIT with the name of
your sub-theme and editing the name and description field.
For example, rename the foo/STARTERKIT.info file to foo/foo.info. Edit the
foo.info file and change "STARTERKIT.css" to "foo.css", change "name = Zen
Sub-theme Starter Kit" to "name = Foo", and change "description = Read..."
to "description = A Zen sub-theme".
Why? The .info file describes the basic things about your theme: its
name, description, features, template regions, CSS files, and JavaScript
files. See the Drupal 6 Theme Guide for more info:
http://drupal.org/node/171205
Then, visit your site's admin/build/themes to refresh Drupal 6's cache of
.info file data.
3. If you want a liquid layout for your theme, copy the layout-liquid.css from
the zen/zen folder and place it in your sub-theme's folder. If you want a
fixed-width layout for your theme, copy the layout-fixed.css from the
zen/zen folder and place it in your sub-theme's folder. Rename the layout
stylesheet to "layout.css".
For example, copy zen/zen/layout-fixed.css and rename it as foo/layout.css.
Note that the .info file already has an entry for your layout.css file.
Why? In Drupal 6 theming, if you want to modify a stylesheet included by
the base theme or by a module, you should copy the stylesheet from the
base theme or module's directory to your sub-theme's directory and then
add the stylesheet to your .info file. See the Drupal 6 Theme Guide for
more info: http://drupal.org/node/171209
4. Copy the zen stylesheet from the zen folder and place it in your sub-theme's
folder. Rename it to be the name of your sub-theme.
For example, copy zen/zen/zen.css and rename it as foo/foo.css. Note that
the .info file already has an entry for your foo.css file and that your
.info file removes the base theme's zen.css file.
5. Copy the print stylesheet from the zen folder and place it in your
sub-theme's folder.
For example, copy zen/zen/print.css to foo/print.css. Note that the .info
file already has an entry for your print.css file.
6. Copy the html-elements stylesheet from the zen folder and place it in your
sub-theme's folder.
For example, copy zen/zen/html-elements.css to foo/html-elements.css. Note
that the .info file already has an entry for your html-elements.css file.
7. Edit the template.php and theme-settings.php files in your sub-theme's
folder; replace ALL occurrences of "STARTERKIT" with the name of your
sub-theme.
For example, edit foo/template.php and foo/theme-settings.php and replace
"STARTERKIT" with "foo".
8. Log in as an administrator on your Drupal site and go to Administer > Site
building > Themes (admin/build/themes) and enable your new sub-theme.
Optional:
9. MODIFYING ZEN CORE STYLESHEETS:
If you decide you want to modify any of the other stylesheets in the zen
folder, copy them to your sub-theme's folder before making any changes.
Also, be sure the new stylesheet is included in your .info file, that you
have rebuilt the theme registry, and that you have refreshed the .info
cache.
For example, copy zen/zen/block-editing.css to foo/block-editing.css. Then
edit foo/foo.info and uncomment this line to activate it:
;stylesheets[all][] = block-editing.css
to:
stylesheets[all][] = block-editing.css
Then, visit your site's admin/build/themes to refresh Drupal 6's cache of
.info file data.
10. MODIFYING ZEN CORE TEMPLATE FILES:
If you decide you want to modify any of the .tpl.php template files in the
zen folder, copy them to your sub-theme's folder before making any changes.
And then rebuild the theme registry.
For example, copy zen/zen/page.tpl.php to foo/page.tpl.php.
11. THEMEING DRUPAL'S SEARCH FORM:
Copy the search-theme-form.tpl.php template file from the modules/search/
folder and place it in your sub-theme's folder. And then rebuild the theme
registry.
You can find a full list of Drupal templates that you can override on:
http://drupal.org/node/190815
Why? In Drupal 6 theming, if you want to modify a template included by a
module, you should copy the template file from the module's directory to
your sub-theme's directory and then rebuild the theme registry. See the
Drupal 6 Theme Guide for more info: http://drupal.org/node/173880
12. FURTHER EXTENSIONS OF YOUR SUB-THEME:
Discover further ways to extend your sub-theme by reading Zen's
documentation online at:
http://drupal.org/node/193318
and Drupal 6's Theme Guide online at:
http://drupal.org/theme-guide