Creating a theme from scratch

While we have previously looked at installing contributed themes and extending base themes using sub-themes, this recipe will outline the steps required to create a custom theme.

Getting ready

It is assumed that the sites/all/themes folder has already been created. This is the recommended location to place custom and contributed themes.

How to do it...

Creating a brand new custom theme is not unlike what we did in Chapter 2, Beyond the Basics, in creating a sub-theme for a core theme. The main difference is that there is no base theme and that files such as page.tpl.php will need to be explicitly defined.

1. Create a folder with the new theme's name inside the sites/all/themes folder. In this example, we are going to call our theme mytheme.

2. Create a file named mytheme.info and open it in an editor.

3. Add details about the theme as follows:

   name = My theme
   description = My custom theme
   core = 6.x
   engine = phptemplate
   

4. Save the file.

5. Visit the theme administration page at admin...