Drupal is a secure & renowned open source content management system used to build anything from a personal blog to an enterprise website. Drupal offers a wide array of features. It is the first choice for developers and designers to build engaging themes. To enjoy success Drupal theme development gives you an array of opportunities in terms of SEO optimized and mobile friendly website. You can build your own custom Drupal theme to engage your customers with minimum operational cost.
Steps to Create Drupal Theme for Websites
There are two popular ways to build Drupal theme as mentioned:
• Create Drupal theme using coding technique
• Create Drupal theme Using Template-Toaster
A step by step guide is discussed to create a Drupal theme using both the methods
1. Coding Method to Build Drupal Theme
It is important to have proper knowledge of PHP, CSS, & JavaScript to create Drupal 8 and 7 themes.
Step 1: Create Theme Folder & .info.yml file
1. Create the Theme Folder
• Create a folder in the /sites/all/themes directory.
• Name your folder in lowercase.
2. Create the .info.yml File
• Create a file named themename.info.yml, inside ‘themename’ folder.
• Describe the site details in it using text editor like Notepad.
Step 2: Creating Stylesheets
Add the CSS and Js files mentioned in themename.libraries.yml. You can consult Drupal 8 developer to design it in your own unique way.
The code just sets the content background color, width, and margin of the navigation bar and many more. It is all about styling the text of sidebars, footer, & navigation bar. You can offer unique touch to multiple elements of content via a stylesheet. You can even add more style sheets as per your requirements.
Step 3: Design
If you want, it is easy to copy the main PHP template files into your theme folder and customize as per your need. These files include:
• page.html.twig
• node.html.twig
• block.html.twig
That’s it. Now, you have your own custom Drupal 8 theme.
2. Template-Toaster to Build Drupal Theme
First of all, select an appropriate CMS platform as TemplateToaster supporting almost all the major CMSes. Simply download TemplateToaster and start using it. If you want to build Drupal theme, choose the ‘Drupal’ from the window throwing choices for diverse CMSes as mentioned below:
Step 1: Choose a Platform
• Once the CMS is selected, you will be told to go from scratch or with a sample template. You can choose ‘Start from Scratch’.
• Next, select the color and font typography from the given window and click ‘Start’.
• After selecting start, this leads you to the main interface of the software.
Step 2: Choose a Layout
In the starting, it is essential for Drupal web development to select the web page layout. Here, multiple options are present including Single, Double, and Triple layouts. Make sure to select as per your design. Here, to show all the sections, Triple layout comprising Menu, Header, and Footer is selected.
Step 3: Designing a Header
• From here, the actual Drupal theme design is start. First of all, design Header. Open the Header tab and choose the ‘Full Width’ for a header.
• For existing Business theme, the height of header from Header→ Height→More options.
• Select a Background Color from the ‘Background’ option for the header. A gradient can be set as well according to your preferences.
• Now remove the Website Title and draw a text area to put the contact details as email id and phone number. Set the typography of the text as required from the editor tab that opens when you click on the text area drawn.
• At the right corner of the header, place the ‘Social Media Icons’. You can browse custom icons from the ‘More’ section. You can also place the Website Title and Slogan if you require as all the options are present here.
• You completed designing of the Header part.
Step 4: Designing the Menu
Next section is Menu. Move to the Menu Tab. Make it ‘Full Width’. You can also set a custom width or width equal to the page as per your preferences.
Step 5: Designing Body of the Page
The content is placed after exporting a theme. Only you can set the typography of all the elements including headings, paragraphs, metadata, Meta links, tables, and comment form to be used in content.
Summary
Drupal Theme Development is an important phase of Drupal website and it requires proper expertise. Thus, to avail of desired business results hire Drupal developer from a reputed agency with appropriate resources. They will provide multiple solutions to meet your business requirements in a streamlined manner.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is the purpose of Drupal?
Drupal is free, open source software that can be used by individuals or users having less technical knowledge to easily create and manage different types of websites. The application includes a content management platform and a development framework.
2. What language does Drupal use?
Drupal is PHP based language and every developer needs to know PHP language for any development or customization work. The reason for using PHP is it is a programming language that is flexible and simple to learn, even if you come from a different knowledge background.
3. Is Drupal free to use?
Drupal is a free, open-source content management system (CMS) having a big and supportive community. It’s used by millions of people and organizations across the globe to build and manage their websites. Government websites are also Drupal built as they demand advanced security and flexibility. Drupal is free to download and with simple modification the platform can be extended.
4. Is Drupal front end or backend?
Drupal is not just a frond end or backend. It is a CMS to manage your content with inbuilt template engine. Even Drupal can be used as service to store the content and use some front end tools for displaying content.
