This tutorial will show you how to manage themes in Drupal.

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Managing themes in Drupal involves installing, enabling, customising, and managing the appearance of your Drupal site. Here is a step-by-step guide to help you effectively manage themes in Drupal:

1. Understand Drupal Themes

Drupal themes control the visual appearance of your site, including layout, colours, and fonts. There are two main types of themes:

  • Core themes: Built-in themes that come with Drupal.
  • Contributed themes: Themes developed by the community and available on the Drupal theme repository.
  • Custom themes: Themes created specifically for your project.

2. Finding and Downloading Themes

You can find contributed themes on the Drupal.org website. Look for a theme that matches your requirements.

  1. Go to the Drupal Themes directory.
  2. Use filters to find a theme compatible with your Drupal version.
  3. Download the theme’s .tar.gz or .zip file.

3. Installing a Theme

There are two ways to install a theme in Drupal: manually or using Composer.

Manual Installation

  1. Download the theme from Drupal.org.
  2. Extract the theme files into the themes directory in your Drupal installation:
    • For site-wide themes: /themes
    • For custom site-specific themes: /sites/all/themes or /sites/default/themes
  3. Go to the Appearance section in the admin menu and enable the theme.

Using Composer

If you are managing your site with Composer:

  1. Run the following command to download and install the theme:
    bash
    composer require drupal/[theme_name]
  2. Go to the Appearance section and enable the theme.

4. Enabling a Theme

  1. Log in to your Drupal admin dashboard.
  2. Navigate to Appearance (admin/appearance).
  3. Find the theme you installed in the list.
  4. Click Enable and set as default to make it the active theme for your site.

5. Customising a Theme

Drupal allows you to customise themes to match your design needs.

Using the UI

  1. Navigate to Appearance and click Settings for the active theme.
  2. Modify options like logo, favicon, colour scheme, and layout.
  3. Save changes.

Custom CSS

  • Create a sub-theme of the parent theme and override styles using your own styles.css file.
  • Add custom styles to the theme’s CSS directory and declare them in the theme.info.yml file.

6. Managing Sub-Themes

Sub-themes inherit styles and functionality from a parent theme but allow further customisation. To create a sub-theme:

  1. Create a new directory in the themes folder.
  2. Add a theme.info.yml file specifying the parent theme.
  3. Override templates and CSS as needed.

7. Updating Themes

To keep your site secure and functional, ensure your themes are up to date.

  • Use Composer to update themes:
    bash
    composer update drupal/[theme_name]
  • Manually download and replace files if using the manual installation method.

8. Uninstalling a Theme

  1. Navigate to Appearance in the admin dashboard.
  2. Disable the theme by switching to another default theme.
  3. Click Uninstall next to the theme you want to remove.

9. Using Multiple Themes

Drupal allows you to use multiple themes for different purposes, such as an admin theme and a front-end theme. To set an admin theme:

  1. Go to Configuration > Development > Performance > Theme settings.
  2. Select a theme for admin use.

10. Debugging and Managing Templates

To customise theme templates:

  1. Enable theme debugging in services.yml.
  2. Modify .twig template files in your theme directory to change the appearance of specific elements.

By following these steps, you can effectively manage and customise themes in Drupal to create a visually appealing and functional website.

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