How to Get Started Theming Plone

PLONE SYMPOSIUM EAST 2012

How to Get Started Theming Plone

Chrissy Wainwright


Choose Your Own Adventure

You are given a Plone 4 site without any styles. Do you:

Build a Diazo theme... go to slide 3Build a traditional Plone theme... go to slide 6Make changes in the site... go to slide 18


Diazo Theming

Why you would choose a Diazo theme:* You have already built a static theme* The theme needs a lot of Plone elements moved around* You want to keep the theme completely separate* You don’t have time to learn the ins and outs of Plone


What is Diazo?

Diazo allows you to take a static theme (HTML file with CSS, JS, etc) and hook the dynamic Plone elements into it using a set of rules.


Diazo Rules

<replace css:theme=”#logo” css:content=”#portal-logo”/>

<after css:theme-children=”head” content=”/html/head/script” />

<drop css:theme=”#column-two” if-content=”not(//*[@id=’portal-column-two’])”/>

<copy attributes=”class” css:content=”body” css:theme=”body”/>


Traditional Plone Theming

Why you would choose a traditional theme:* You already know how to do Plone theming* You are only making minor template and styling changes* You are stuck using an older version of Plone* You want to be able to make theme changes in-site later *

* coming soon in plone.app.theming!


Change the Logo

The name of the logo image to be used can be found and changed in base_properties.props

Put your new logo in skins/images/ and make sure the name matches that in base_properties,or that it is the same filename as the current logo, which will override it.


Apply Styles

Put a file into your theme/skins/styles folder called ploneCustom.css

Create new CSS files by putting them in the styles folder, and adding them to the CSS registry.

cssregistry.xml - Generic Setup - portal_css


Generic Setup

Generic Setup is the connection between content/changes in your site and the filesystem.

ZMI > portal_setup > Import/Export tab

theme/profiles/default/


Generic Setup

* portal_actions : Action Providers : actions.xml * portal_css : Stylesheet Registry : cssregistry.xml * portal_javascripts : Javascript Registry : jsregistry.xml * portal_types : Types Tool : types/[type].xml * @@manage-viewlets : Viewlet Settings : viewlets.xml


Finding Plone Templates

Using omelette in your buildout, you can find the templates you want to override.

Viewlets: plone/app/layout/viewlets

Portlets: plone/app/portlets/portlets

Other templates: Products/CMFPlone/skins/


Identify Plone Elements: Viewlets


<include package=”z3c.jbot” file=”meta.zcml” />

<browser:jbot directory=”template-overrides” layer=”.interfaces.IThemeSpecific” />

Overriding Viewlets: z3c.jbot

z3c.jbot can be used when you need to make template changes to a viewlet.

In theme/browser/configure.zcml:


Override Viewlets: z3c.jbot

Templates can now go into theme/browser/template-overrides named by referencing the dotted path to the file:

plone.app.layout.viewlets.footer.pt


Identify Plone Elements: Portlets


Overriding Portlets

In theme/browser/configure.zcml:

<include package=”plone.app.portlets” />

<plone:portletRenderer portlet=”plone.app.portlets.portlets.events. IEventsPortlet” template=”events.pt” layer=”interfaces.IThemeSpecific” />


Overriding Content Type Templates

If the original template is found in skins: * put a copy in your theme/skins/ folder * use the exact same name * copy any associated .metadata files * ex: Products/CMFPlone/skins/plone_content/ document_view.pt


Custom Folder (In-Site Changes)

This method is not recommended for completely theming your site! Only for making quick fixes.

ZMI > portal_skins > customZMI > portal_view_customizations


Custom Folder Overrides

In portal_skins, open the template you want to override (e.g. plone_content > document_view).

Click the customize button. This will create a copy in the custom folder so you can now make changes.


Common Stumbling Blocks

What to look for when your changes are not showing up

Flickr: gfpeck



1. Make sure the theme is installed

ZMI > portal_quickinstaller

(or Site Setup > Add-Ons)



2. Restart your instance after certain changes * .zcml * .py * new z3c.jbot override



3. Turn on Development mode

ZMI > portal_cssZMI > portal_javascripts



4. Generic Setup - XML Files * import changes in ZMI > portal_setup > import tab



5. Check the custom folder

ZMI > portal_skins > customZMI > portal_view_customizations > contents



5. Skins Order

ZMI > portal_skins > properties tab


Check out

sixfeetup.com/demos

Technology

How to Get Started Theming Plone