From kiwitrees 3.0.1 there are new simpler ways to modify the themes that control the look and feel of kiwitrees.
In previous versions you have always been able to modify the theme files to change specific elements of the display. But that is always risky as at each upgrade your changes would be over-written. At the very least you would need to re-do your changes, and at worst you might not have a record of what they were!
For those reasons the best advice was always to create a completely new theme by copying an existing theme folder, changing its name (both the folder and other references in the file ‘theme.php’, then modifying the files to suit your needs. When an upgrade is installed your personal theme is not touched. You would however still need to know the differences between your theme and the one you copied, so you can then adjust yours to match changes in the standard version. This is still the best way to proceed if the changes you want are significant.
But now a third option is available which makes small changes to a standard theme easier to do, is not touched during an upgrade, and makes checking for new changes painless.
All that is required to modify a theme is to add one or more new files, named mystyle.css, mytheme.php, myfooter.php, or myheader.php, as indicated in the image at the top of this page. For most requirements just creating a mystyle.css file with a few style changes will be all that is required.
Naming
Customising the style sheet
Customising theme.php
Custom header and / or footer files
General comments
jacoline » 6 Jul 2015 »
It is a very good idea. But how about the color theme?
It contains 2 css files 🙁
kiwi » 7 Jul 2015 »
The second css file (one for each “pallette”) is only a different set of colours. The structure of the theme never changes in those. So it is only the first css file that would need to be customised. This idea does that.
If you want to change the colours, surely you would either just select a different ‘pallette’ or create a new one?
jacoline » 24 Jul 2015 »
As far I can see in my case! I can only make mystyle.css containing the module links to the right images. For the main background image and the change of the mainmenu bar color is something I have to edit in the theme after each upgrade!
kiwi » 25 Jul 2015 »
No, you can definitely put your background image and mainmenubar color in mystyle.css. But you might need to change the css slightly from what you have been using because the path will be different (“images/background.png” instead of “../images/background.png”). This change will be necessary for any images normally referenced from the colors /css/ folder. I have just confirmed this on my own site, using your background image and the greenbeam pallette.
Personally I would put any custom images in their own folder (perhaps /custom_images/) rather than the standard one, to avoid confusion.
Have your say!
You must be logged in to post a comment.