====== Theming ======
Theming is the work necessary to take total control of the output/layout coming from drupal, without using one of the pre-made themes alone.  A new theme can use another theme as a base.  It would probably be best to review the basic structure before starting, and then take a look at one or more themes located in the core drupal install.

  * [[http://drupal.org/node/171194|Overview of theme files]]

===== create the folder =====
create a folder to contain your theme here: <drupal install>/sites/<sitename such as default>/themes/<your theme name>

===== create a .info file =====
see http://drupal.org/node/171205

===== .tpl.php files =====
Create a page.tpl.php file to style the main layout of your site.  Then create a node.tpl.php file to control the content output coming from your nodes.  If you create a custom content type, you can then control it by creating a node-<content type>.tpl.php file.

===== create a style.css file =====
This will control the visual layout of your site.

===== enable the theme =====
Once your theme is roughly set up, you need to enable it in the drupal admin, under Administer->Site Building->Themes.
===== clear-block =====
Drupal has a build in css fix for when you need a containing element to always extend to the size of the floated children.  To use this, simply give the container a class of clear-block.  This avoids the common fixes such as placing a div after the floated elements with "clear: both;".

  * see http://drupal.org/node/380906

===== clearing the cache =====
Depending on the caching settings of your site, you many not see theming changes right after you make them.  To fix this, you need to clear the cache at Administer->Site Configuration->Clear Cached Data

I didn't install it, but there is supposed to be a Dev module that provides an easy link or something to do this faster.

===== External Links =====
  * [[http://drupal.org/theme-guide|Theming Guide]]
  * [[http://drupal.org/node/17565|Theming nodes by content type]]
  * [[http://drupal.org/node/190815|info about core template files]]
  * [[http://drupal.org/node/19828|info about regions, blocks, etc...]]
  * [[http://drupal.org/node/21716|custom home pages]]