Responsive Theming for Drupal (2014)

Preface

What You’ll Find Here

This book will guide you through the basics of proper Drupal 7 theming. This includes things like:

§ An introduction to responsive web design (RWD).

§ An introduction to Drupal theming as it relates to RWD.

§ A discussion of the “what” and the “why” of Drupal-based themes and subthemes.

§ A comparison of a few popular base themes (Zen, Omega, and Aurora).

§ Step-by-step instructions for creating custom subthemes based on those base themes.

§ Some common gotchas, tips, and tricks for building and theming responsive Drupal sites.

§ Pointers to more information and next steps that pick up where this book leaves off.

Throughout the book, we’ll use as an example a very fake-sounding online business that sells turnip sauce and desperately needs your help.

Intended Audience

This book makes a few assumptions about the reader:

§ You should have at least a very basic understanding of Drupal. If you aren’t sure what a “node” is, for example, you’ll want to learn a bit more about Drupal before diving into this book.

§ You should feel comfortable using the command line to run pre-written commands. You won’t need enough command-line know-how to write your own commands or do anything tricky, but you will need to run them and read the output.

§ You should know and understand HTML and CSS fairly well. If you aren’t sure of the difference between a div and a span or between #header and .header, for example, you’ll want to study up a bit on that first.

§ You should want to become a better, more efficient, more knowledgeable Drupal themer. If you just want to get a site built and out the door and aren’t interested in bettering yourself, this book might offer a bit too much detail.

Conventions Used in This Book

The following typographical conventions are used in this book:

Italic

Indicates new terms, URLs, email addresses, filenames, and file extensions.

Constant width

Used for program listings, as well as within paragraphs to refer to program elements such as variable or function names, databases, data types, environment variables, statements, and keywords.

TIP

This element signifies a tip or suggestion.

NOTE

This element signifies a general note.

WARNING

This element indicates a warning or caution.