tripal/docs/user_guide/install_tripal/custom_theme.rst

Theming your Site
=================

Changing the Look-and-Feel
--------------------------
Drupal makes it easy to change the look-and-feel of your site by providing Themes.  There are `hundreds of contributed themes <https://www.drupal.org/project/project_theme>`_ on the Drupal.org website that can be downloaded and installed on any Drupal site to instantly change the look.  Drupal comes with several themes with the default theme called Bartik.   Once your Tripal site is available you can see the enabled theme and view other available themes by clicking the **Appearance** link in the administrator's menu.

Customizing a Theme
-------------------
If you want to make customizations to the theme you should create your own sub theme.  A sub theme borrows from an existing **base theme** (e.g. Bartik) and allows you to make your customizations.  Thus, when updates for a theme are released you can easily upgrade your base theme without losing your changes.   To create a sub theme, follow the instructions on the `Creating a sub-theme page <https://www.drupal.org/docs/7/theming/creating-a-sub-theme>`_ on the Drupal website.  Alternatively, completely custom themes do not borrow from any other theme, you can create your own full-blown theme by following the `Themeing instructions <https://www.drupal.org/docs/7/theming>`_ at the Drupal website.

.. note::

  You may want to explore your Tripal site first to become familiar with the functionality and where you might want to make customizations before attempting to create a custom sub theme.