AniYishay
03-31-2009, 05:48 AM
Theme Guide Supported for SAA 1.0.1
With the new theme system you can easily create your own theme in one folder without tampering with the default template files. You can even sell your own designs and list them in our forums if you like.
Cache
The purpose of the template cache is to save bandwidth, which is extremely effective. It is to also make your site load faster.
This is an important tip you should know. Which is how to clear your sites theme cache.
1. first go to your ~/templates_c/ folder.
2. Make sure the items in there look like: %%Crazy Letters%%
3. Select everything in that folder and delete it.
4. Now refresh your site and your new template should behave.
The Themes
All themes are located and should be placed in ~/themes/
This is what a Theme Folder would look like:
~/themes/SAA_Jumble/
----> ThemeSettings.php
----> /css/
----> /images/
----> /hooks/ (Optional)
----> /js/ (Optional)
If you were to create a theme package with the above example. You would zip the "SAA_Jumble" folder. Then anyone who wanted to install your theme would extract it that into their ~/themes/ folder.
Hooks
The purpose of hooks are to save you from having to re-edit the default TPL files during an update. It's other role is for developing your own themes.
Almost the entire site can be edited through CSS. Optionally you can turn off the default navigation of the default TPL file in the themeSettings.php file (below)
Turn off Default Navigation
Open ~/themes/Your_Theme/themeSettings.php
$themeSettings['hideNav'] = true;
Add your file for custom Navigation in the hooks directory:
~/hooks/navStart.tpl
inside navStart.tpl I would put anything you want to apply a custom navigation!
List of Hook File Names:
You can include any of these from the list below to add to or comment out code in the default template.
You simply add the fileName.tpl inside your /hooks/ folder and the adjustment will be found automatically.
headStart.tpl // Include at beginning of the <head> tag
headEnd.tpl // Include at end of the </head> tag
navStart.tpl //Include at beginning of #nav DIV
navEnd.tpl //Include at end of #nav DIV
contentStart.tpl //Include at beginning of the #content DIV
contentEnd.tpl
footerStart.tpl //Include at beginning #footer DIV
footerContent.tpl
footerEnd.tpl // include at end of #footer DIV
wrapStart.tpl //Include at beginning of the <!-- wrap:Start --> tag (The entire site)
wrapEnd.tpl // Include at bottom of file.
90% of All the inner workings can be changed from CSS. Hooks are optional but give you much more flexibility.
The Admin Theme
The Admin theme runs on it's own. The ~/themes/ folder do not apply to the admin theme.
If you do decide you want to change the appearance you can go to: ~/templates/admin/ to make changes.
I suggest only editing the images and CSS files. Becase when we add new features to the admin panel we also update the TPL files and you might lose your changes.
If you have questions post here please :)
With the new theme system you can easily create your own theme in one folder without tampering with the default template files. You can even sell your own designs and list them in our forums if you like.
Cache
The purpose of the template cache is to save bandwidth, which is extremely effective. It is to also make your site load faster.
This is an important tip you should know. Which is how to clear your sites theme cache.
1. first go to your ~/templates_c/ folder.
2. Make sure the items in there look like: %%Crazy Letters%%
3. Select everything in that folder and delete it.
4. Now refresh your site and your new template should behave.
The Themes
All themes are located and should be placed in ~/themes/
This is what a Theme Folder would look like:
~/themes/SAA_Jumble/
----> ThemeSettings.php
----> /css/
----> /images/
----> /hooks/ (Optional)
----> /js/ (Optional)
If you were to create a theme package with the above example. You would zip the "SAA_Jumble" folder. Then anyone who wanted to install your theme would extract it that into their ~/themes/ folder.
Hooks
The purpose of hooks are to save you from having to re-edit the default TPL files during an update. It's other role is for developing your own themes.
Almost the entire site can be edited through CSS. Optionally you can turn off the default navigation of the default TPL file in the themeSettings.php file (below)
Turn off Default Navigation
Open ~/themes/Your_Theme/themeSettings.php
$themeSettings['hideNav'] = true;
Add your file for custom Navigation in the hooks directory:
~/hooks/navStart.tpl
inside navStart.tpl I would put anything you want to apply a custom navigation!
List of Hook File Names:
You can include any of these from the list below to add to or comment out code in the default template.
You simply add the fileName.tpl inside your /hooks/ folder and the adjustment will be found automatically.
headStart.tpl // Include at beginning of the <head> tag
headEnd.tpl // Include at end of the </head> tag
navStart.tpl //Include at beginning of #nav DIV
navEnd.tpl //Include at end of #nav DIV
contentStart.tpl //Include at beginning of the #content DIV
contentEnd.tpl
footerStart.tpl //Include at beginning #footer DIV
footerContent.tpl
footerEnd.tpl // include at end of #footer DIV
wrapStart.tpl //Include at beginning of the <!-- wrap:Start --> tag (The entire site)
wrapEnd.tpl // Include at bottom of file.
90% of All the inner workings can be changed from CSS. Hooks are optional but give you much more flexibility.
The Admin Theme
The Admin theme runs on it's own. The ~/themes/ folder do not apply to the admin theme.
If you do decide you want to change the appearance you can go to: ~/templates/admin/ to make changes.
I suggest only editing the images and CSS files. Becase when we add new features to the admin panel we also update the TPL files and you might lose your changes.
If you have questions post here please :)