Sustainable theming
Its actually not just about theming.

What is it?

Sustainable Theming
is...
developing a site that does not rely on you.
You being the key word.
process for multi-person development teams.
keeping the team healthy.
streamlining your business processes.
patience.

It is not...
about you.

It is not...
CSS built before data architecture plan or development
CSS built before content types
CSS built before Views
CSS built before proliferated content
CSS built before fiddling with the TPLs
About writing HTML
Limited to theming

It’s about relying on
what’s there
The markup structure that is coming from the
system.
Using the markup provided by modules like
Views and CCK.
And if you have a problem with the markup,
get involved in making it better, in core, and
not rewriting it yourself.

It may not be for...
a solo web developer
a person who will never update a site.
mortendk ;)
unless we can get him drunk enough

Who is it for?

And it’s not about
the technique

So why should
you do it?

So You Don’t Get
Burned!!!

So you can take a
vacation!

and...
Avoid having to start from scratch every time.
Easier to work in parallel with other teams.
So the client/maintainer can extend the
site...without you, or a developer, or CSS
additions, or HTML modifications, or TPL
tweaking.

Why can’t we...
put the power in the hands of the user?
make ourselves replaceable?
make things easier on the maintainer?

Palantir’s
Approach

Palantir’s Approach
There is no stylistic approach to HTML or CSS
Re-arranging markup first, rarely removing or
modifying markup
Admin before TPL
Consider ease of workflow over ease of
theming

Why we use Zen
Because we have Layout method for
commit access markup source
reordering
CSS broken out by task
Common starting
Semantic markup point
Paint by numbers CSS Flexible and complex
designs, predictable
Logic based CSS markup and CSS
classes

Why we transitioned
So we could support sites 6+ months after release.
So our clients could extend their own sites.
So our clients could adopt their sites as their own.
So we could have multiple themers on a project.
So we could streamline our process.

Streamline your
business process
design process
development process
Q/A
knowledge transfer

Drupal is not a
website.

Drupal is a
content
management
system

Just because it works doesn’t mean it’s right.
http://thereifixedit.com/2009/08/17/epic-kludge-photo-now-with-twice-the-windows/