Drupal 6 Theme Starter (Windows/Mac/Linux)

Posted by Chris Charlton on March 14, 2008 at 6:32am

UPDATE: The application is available for download. Adobe® AIR™ required.

XTND.US releases a Drupal 6 Theme Starter application for Drupal users. Freeware for Mac, Windows, and Linux desktops. This is truly for anyone who not type theme.info files by hand for Drupal themes.

This application generates the .info file for your custom themes and sub-themes. Why memorize all the things you have to type into .info files when you can point-and-click and make your theme's .info files in seconds not minutes.

View the new demo video for Drupal Theme Starter 1.0
or download the application now (AIR required).

The application requires AIR (Adobe® Integrated Runtime™) which is available at http://get.adobe.com/air/.

The current version of this application is 1.0.2

P.S.> The application was made with Flex and compiled for the Adobe AIR runtime. If you dig this application then vote on this app over at the Flex showcase (search for "Drupal" in the showcase).

Comments

beta

Posted by RockSoup on March 14, 2008 at 6:54am

I would love to be a tester, looks great. btw, any plans to record your upcoming classes or offer them virtually or a little further north?

-jared

Hmm its an interesting

Posted by tjholowaychuk on March 14, 2008 at 2:02pm

Hmm its an interesting concept, this should help with D6+ quite alot since the theme setup is a little more involved, since all our themes are CSS based (duh) we almost never change the shell markup/theme that we use anyways so I am curious how practical it will really be, but keep us posted!

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This does .info files only

Posted by Chris Charlton on March 14, 2008 at 5:14pm

To clarify, this app only writes the required .info file themes in D6 need. This does not do CSS files or anything like that.

Chris Charlton, Author & Drupal Community Leader, Enterprise Level Consultant

I teach you how to build Drupal Themes http://tinyurl.com/theme-drupal and provide add-on software at http://xtnd.us

Sure. Ill beta. Cathy

Posted by yesct on March 18, 2008 at 3:54am

Sure. Ill beta.
Cathy Theys
http://YesTrainingAndEducation.com

Cathy Theys

Drupal 6 Theme Starter available for download

Posted by Chris Charlton on March 25, 2008 at 5:16am

The application is now available for download for Windows and Mac OS X. There is an auto-update feature so you only have to download this app once.

This application generates the .info file for your custom themes and sub-themes. "Make your theme's .info files in seconds not minutes."

View the video or download the application now.

The application requires AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime) which is available at http://adobe.com/go/getair/.

Chris Charlton, Author & Drupal Community Leader, Enterprise Level Consultant

I teach you how to build Drupal Themes http://tinyurl.com/theme-drupal and provide add-on software at http://xtnd.us

Drupal 6 Theme Starter (Beta 1) released for Mac OS X & Windows

Posted by Chris Charlton on March 27, 2008 at 5:05am

Announcing the stable release of beta 1 of the Drupal 6 Theme Starter application. New features in this release are:

Regions, Stylesheets, and Scripts (JS) lists allow reordering by simply dragging (up and down). No more up/down buttons; you can even drag and select multiple files.
Minor fixes.

See the video or download the Drupal 6 Theme Starter (freeware) at XTND.US .

Note: If you have alpha 3 installed then you can update automatically by starting Drupal 6 Theme Starter and chooing "yes" when it asks to update.

Known issues: Mac users see a broken image when they choose the theme screenshot. This should be fixed in the next release.

Chris Charlton, Author & Drupal Community Leader, Enterprise Level Consultant

I teach you how to build Drupal Themes http://tinyurl.com/theme-drupal and provide add-on software at http://xtnd.us

rather unusable at the moment?

Posted by yoroy on March 27, 2008 at 8:54am

I can't click-drag in text fields to select text, the whole application window moves along everytime I click in the interface. Like a 'center-align to mouse position' behaviour.
Same for the tabs, I can't click to the other tabs because the whole app window moves along. This behaviour disappears after a lot of clicks but I can't tell when or why the jumping around stops. Mouse-dragging to select text
After adding a new region, doublecliking it's ID or Region name does not make them editable, so cant rename them from the default (untitled_5 | Untitled Region)
If I remove the default script.js, the [+] button to add a new script is disabled, can't add a new script.
After some more clicking around and dragging the application window across the screen, parts of the interface become invisible, Druplicon background is gone, then reappears, the bottom part is cut off and does not show up again.

This is on Mac OS X 10.4.11 using the latest version of Theme Starter.

Visually, the big Druplicon background just looks silly and not very professional imo.

So, at first the applications is practically unusable, when somehow things do start to work as intended, it's actually a nice little tool. Especially because it conveniently lists all the available options in one place.

Marking 'code needs work' :-)

I would have to suggest the

Posted by tjholowaychuk on March 27, 2008 at 2:26pm

I would have to suggest the same things, mainly that it is a really cheesy design, which is fine since most of Drupal's designs are really cheesy.

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I'm working on an update right now

Posted by Chris Charlton on March 27, 2008 at 8:49pm

I'm making tweaks to help what was reported above. In a few hours everyone should notice their app asking to update. I'm sorry it looks cheesy but I was not down to have a boring (standard) app. I'm open to accepting design concepts as long as they fit in a 800x600 monitor.

Chris Charlton, Author & Drupal Community Leader, Enterprise Level Consultant

I teach you how to build Drupal Themes http://tinyurl.com/theme-drupal and provide add-on software at http://xtnd.us

Just make the design scale,

Posted by tjholowaychuk on March 27, 2008 at 11:52pm

Just make the design scale, there are plenty of cool things you could do with it. Wish I had more time I would defiantly whip something up

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Functionality first, design second

Posted by Chris Charlton on March 28, 2008 at 2:38pm

Let's hammer out the bugs (that pop up) and when I'm sure the app is solid then I (or we) would have an answer that makes sense - even if that's leaving it alone. As of now I don't think it's missing anything in terms of theme file output.

Anyway, glad people are diggin' the application and I think it's on a good track to be officially 1.0 by or before DrupalCamp L.A. this summer. I'd like help from people to get their moms and friends using this application... okay, only moms if they do Drupal themes. :P

Chris Charlton, Author & Drupal Community Leader, Enterprise Level Consultant

I teach you how to build Drupal Themes http://tinyurl.com/theme-drupal and provide add-on software at http://xtnd.us

Haha, yes! we need an army

Posted by tjholowaychuk on March 28, 2008 at 4:05pm

Haha, yes! we need an army of designer moms. Cant agree more though, no point with the design until the rest is done. I have not even had time to play around with AIR/Flex applications again I really wish I had time!

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Beta 1.01 released - fixed recent bugs

Posted by Chris Charlton on March 27, 2008 at 9:02pm

The issues you reported (thank you) have been fixed and you can run the auto-updater and get the newest beta. I still left the Drupal blue background - that's my gift to beta testers. ;) :P

I couldn't reproduce the drag and vanish issue you reported. Do you have more than one monitor?

Chris Charlton, Author & Drupal Community Leader, Enterprise Level Consultant

I teach you how to build Drupal Themes http://tinyurl.com/theme-drupal and provide add-on software at http://xtnd.us

The drag-and-vanish did

Posted by yoroy on March 27, 2008 at 9:27pm

The drag-and-vanish did happen on a dual monitor setup yeah, I kinda had the feeling that migth be causing it. Tested this now on a single monitor, didn't happen there.

Indeed, just looked at it quickly and seems like you fixed all things I encountered. Great!

Good to hear

Posted by Chris Charlton on March 27, 2008 at 10:09pm

Glad to hear all is working better. Sorry I let it go out so bad but I didn't re-test everything when I uploaded it ~2am. :P

As for the dual monitor issue, I remember reporting that when AIR was in beta so I'll be looking out for a remedy there. Thank you for posting what you found, and I'm glad people seem to dig the application.

Chris Charlton, Author & Drupal Community Leader, Enterprise Level Consultant

I teach you how to build Drupal Themes http://tinyurl.com/theme-drupal and provide add-on software at http://xtnd.us

Haven't AIR installed yet,

Posted by themegarden.org on March 28, 2008 at 1:16pm

Haven't AIR installed yet, but video looks interesting and promising.

Drupal Theme Garden

Download Adobe AIR

Posted by Chris Charlton on March 28, 2008 at 11:58pm

I hear ya. I figured I'd reply with the http://adobe.com/go/getair/ link, just to push a person or two to make sure they try this thing out.

Chris Charlton, Author & Drupal Community Leader, Enterprise Level Consultant

I teach you how to build Drupal Themes http://tinyurl.com/theme-drupal and provide add-on software at http://xtnd.us

Adobe AIR for Linux

Posted by Chris Charlton on March 31, 2008 at 5:28pm

I just made a post about Adobe's release of Adobe AIR for Linux. http://groups.drupal.org/node/10322

Chris Charlton, Author & Drupal Community Leader, Enterprise Level Consultant

I teach you how to build Drupal Themes http://tinyurl.com/theme-drupal and provide add-on software at http://xtnd.us

If you like the Drupal 6 Theme Starter app then vote!

Posted by Chris Charlton on April 7, 2008 at 5:42pm

Drupal 6 Theme Starter is now listed in the official Flex Showcase (search for "Drupal") and I'd like the Drupal crowd to make sure they let the world know they dig this app. Also, the Flex Showcase is built on top of Drupal, and uses the Services module to communicate between the Flex front-end and the Drupal middle/back end.

Chris Charlton, Author & Drupal Community Leader, Enterprise Level Consultant

I teach you how to build Drupal Themes http://tinyurl.com/theme-drupal and provide add-on software at http://xtnd.us

Pimpen! I will start using

Posted by tjholowaychuk on August 5, 2008 at 4:44pm

Pimpen! I will start using this tool once I get all of the theme changes stuck in my head, until then I dont want to cut corners but it will be a helpful tool. I have still not had any time to even begin my CSS project :( I was thinking embedded browser(s) along with the tool would be phenomenal for editing as well, realtime changes through any browsers you have installed would make me a pretty damn happy camper!

Tj Holowaychuk

Vision Media - Victoria BC Web Design
Victoria British Columbia Web Design School

Tj Holowaychuk

Vision Media - Victoria BC Web Design
Victoria British Columbia Web Design School

you don't have to remember

Posted by Chris Charlton on August 5, 2008 at 4:58pm

This tool was made so you don't have to remember the theme changes in 6.x from previous Drupal versions, if that was your concern.

It's easy to use, small download, and I'd love it if more people we're letting me know if they use or like this app. Thanks!

Chris Charlton, Author & Drupal Community Leader, Enterprise Level Consultant

I teach you how to build Drupal Themes http://tinyurl.com/theme-drupal and provide add-on software at http://xtnd.us

After installing it asks if

Posted by Macronomicus on March 11, 2009 at 5:09am

After installing it asks if I want to upgrade ... clicked yes
Then it responds ...
"Sorry, an error has occurred. This application cannot be installed because the installer has been mis-configured."

Im on a vista box .. with the latest AIR (just downloaded it) I couldnt tell you what version i have of your app but I just downloaded it from your site and it looks way different than the one in your video preview.

Thanks for the cool gadget ... this thing could save a lot of time for sure!

Sorry, temporary annoyance

Posted by Chris Charlton on March 11, 2009 at 8:51pm

Please just click "No." This is a temporary annoyance and there will be a release soon with a fix and some refinements I noticed necessary after the recent release.

This new version is a nice update from the "blue drop" beta version. It's totally functional, the auto-update is acting screwy so please ignore it for now. I'd like to hear ideas/feedback of course.

Chris Charlton, Author & Drupal Community Leader, Enterprise Level Consultant

I teach you how to build Drupal Themes http://tinyurl.com/theme-drupal and provide add-on software at http://xtnd.us

Yes it is a fantastic

Posted by Macronomicus on March 12, 2009 at 9:22pm

Yes it is a fantastic upgrade over the blue drop and uber useful too! Brilliant Idea ^_^

v1.0.2 released for Drupal Theme Starter app

Posted by Chris Charlton on March 12, 2009 at 9:33pm

I'd like to announce the release of 1.0.2 which fixes the bug with the never ending auto-update loop. Sorry for such a bugging issue. Anyway, if you have any version older than 1.0.2 then please try the auto-update and if that fails then just re-download the app, please.

Download the app at http://xtnd.us/drupal/themestarter.

Chris Charlton, Author & Drupal Community Leader, Enterprise Level Consultant

I teach you how to build Drupal Themes http://tinyurl.com/theme-drupal and provide add-on software at http://xtnd.us

Sweet.. it works perfectly.

Posted by Macronomicus on March 13, 2009 at 9:06pm

Sweet.. it works perfectly. I had to remove the old one first ... wouldn't update.

I like the interface a lot better than the old one. Dont you just love AIR? Flash is so easy to lay things out, & there's so many cool actionscript class's like away3d n such you can do absolutely anything.

I apologize if this seems pushy, but im not demanding (I promise) I was just inspired by your app and wanted to share a few thoughts on future possibilities.

First off I wonder how difficult it would be to have this app create the directories and starter css js tpl etc. files with headers n such? Obviously your able to output the .info file so the facilities must be there... i wonder how difficult it is to output dir's? If not looked into making AIR apps yet, been pretty much obsessed with away3d lately. Also was thinking about a drupal module version of this that outputs this dir in the /sites/all/themes directory. Could display the flash interface within a node in the admin/themes area for back-end access.

Maybe some further working off of base themes could be cool too! Zen comes to mind, could suck in all the relevant files & data like starter css for 2/3 column layout and any other additions you select. This could be wildly complicated though so it would probably be best to choose one base theme like zen, or a built in custom starter theme, for full UI access to options; then all added tweak/mods are guaranteed to work @ start. Users can just check off things they want in their theme, like layouts, logos, block themes, tpl's etc. ....it could do nearly anything really. ...even a widget for tweaking colors n such.

Prolly still have to keep it as a build once app though as trying to re-edit through ui to add tweaks kinda makes my head hurt thinking about trying to not mess up existing code. Unless of course the app works off a main xml config file like the pattern module does, it could be edited by hand or parsed through easily to change certain fields. Still that seems quite complicated!

Sorry again if this seems a bit much ... just got a little inspired thinking about a monster drupal theme gizmo! lol

If you attended the Design-4-Drupal BoF then you'd know...

Posted by Chris Charlton on March 13, 2009 at 11:29pm

I made a verbal announcement at Drupalcon D.C. (BoF) that the left sidebar is quite empty because I'd be adding cool features, literally all the ones you mentioned I've had in planning - especially Zen. So, now the cat is out of the bag. Yes, its officially announced: this app has Zen and other theme related features planned.

You did give me a great idea for a Flash UI wrapped in a module. I'll see what's feasible and see if that's worth pulling off. Thanks for the feedback and testing.

Chris Charlton, Author & Drupal Community Leader, Enterprise Level Consultant

I teach you how to build Drupal Themes http://tinyurl.com/theme-drupal and provide add-on software at http://xtnd.us

Sweet!!! No I didnt attend

Posted by Macronomicus on March 14, 2009 at 2:42am

Sweet!!!
No I didnt attend ... at least I thought I didn't, lol maybe I was there in spirit.
I just had the inspiration tonight looking at it lol ....spooky!

This is going to be the coolest themebot thingy ever!
^_^

love it..

Posted by psipi@drupal.org on March 12, 2009 at 9:40pm

would love to see if we can bring this into the drupal for designers project were working on..
in essence this would be the tool to get the themes quick..
and coupled with or hosting solution, et.c. I sent you a pm.. would love to connect with other designers looking to get theming spedup.

New demo video for Drupal Theme Starter v.1.0

Posted by Chris Charlton on April 8, 2009 at 9:50pm

View the new demo video of the Drupal Theme Starter application over at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1JA1VK1YpQ .

Chris Charlton, Author & Drupal Community Leader, Enterprise Level Consultant

I teach you how to build Drupal Themes http://tinyurl.com/theme-drupal and provide add-on software at http://xtnd.us

still available?

Posted by radial on May 23, 2009 at 3:17am

Is this software still available. I am getting sent to a broken link.

Host went down during holiday weekend

Posted by Chris Charlton on May 26, 2009 at 10:40am

Yes, the link is still valid. My host was down for a few days, due to billing errors.

Chris Charlton, Author & Drupal Community Leader, Enterprise Level Consultant

I teach you how to build Drupal Themes http://tinyurl.com/theme-drupal and provide add-on software at http://xtnd.us

Drupal Theme Starter app in new Adobe.com article

Posted by Chris Charlton on June 10, 2009 at 9:04pm

My new Adobe.com Drupal article is out. Drupal Theme Starter app is featured, along with Dreamweaver tips.

http://www.adobe.com/devnet/dreamweaver/articles/drupal_themes_with_dwcs...

Chris Charlton, Author & Drupal Community Leader, Enterprise Level Consultant

I teach you how to build Drupal Themes http://tinyurl.com/theme-drupal and provide add-on software at http://xtnd.us

Doesn't Work for me!

Posted by maniceye on August 29, 2012 at 6:10pm

Hi Chris

your theme starter looks like a great idea. Unfortunately, when I download and try to open it, AIR tells me the file is broken - any ideas?

Best regards

Derek

Drupal 6 Theme Starter (Windows/Mac/Linux)

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