Hi Hypocrite,

I am interested in this also.

I had the idea of putting out a theme making checklist based on my own and others experiences.

I would really appreciate a "barebone" or "skeleton" type of base theme for 5.7. That would be really nice.

Community member olsgreen created a starter 5.7 boilerplate theme.
http://codeblog.co.uk/theme-development-concrete-5-7-html5-boilerpl...
https://github.com/olsgreen/concrete_theme_package...

Here is a thread with more theme related information.
https://www.concrete5.org/community/forums/5-7-discussion/5.7-theme-...

That seems like a good place to start.

What I would like to see still, is a good starting point for the LESS files. That might actually be a good place for a new GitHub repo.+

A good base structure for different parts (header, footer, navigation etc.).

Although you used the term skeleton here in reference to it being a starting point, I actually put together the other week an example basic template that implements Skeleton's grid system.

So it's both kinds of Skeleton.

https://github.com/Mesuva/skeleton-starting-point-for-concrete5.7...

We don't use Skeleton ourselves anymore for creating sites, but this is still at least a simple example of a 5.7 theme.

Our actual 'start point' that my partner and I use to create new themes in 5.7 has all sort of bells and whistles, but it's heavily Sass based and relates to our own Sass libraries.

One big thing I've changed lately with 5.7 is I've started putting our themes in a package by default, as opposed to just putting them in the themes directory. In 5.6 I didn't find it that useful to package up a custom theme, but in 5.7 there are some features that allows default custom block templates to be specified, so I'm including those in the package - keeps it all self contained.

I am currently working on porting my "FlexCRETE" theme to 5.7, which uses the Skeleton framework.

I have no intention on using LESS for the 5.7 version, as I don't see why it will be necessary. Seems to me that using LESS is a bit overkill for such a simple theme.

I recently built a custom 5.7 theme that doesn't use LESS, and it works just fine.

In legacy C5 we would make some styles editable through the dashboard by modifying the stylesheet itself, adding markers indicating to C5 that certain styles were editable.

Now, in order to achieve the same result we use LESS.

Some themes allow users to modify colors, font faces... It allows for more variatons on the same theme.

Of course, not every theme needs that but it's probably a missed opportunity

Seems a lot people are using Skeleton then with 5.7? What are the main advantages why you chose Skeleton? I remember using it with 5.6 in some projects but found it kind of lacking compared to for example Bootstrap or Foundation.

I would not want this discussion to turn in to a debate about using SASS/LESS. I think its a matter of taste and in many cases vanilla CSS is better and more simple to use.

But I would say that in very large projects benefits of LESS/SASS are clear.

Let's just say that if you would decide to use LESS in your theme, what would the main things to consider when using it with concrete5? For example things to watch out for a collision with the core system styles.

@Hypocrite

To prevent theme CSS from conflicting with core system CSS, scope your CSS and avoid writing global styles.

http://www.concrete5.org/community/forums/5-7-discussion/less-and-c...
http://www.concrete5.org/documentation/how-tos/designers/easily-sco...

FWIW, the last 2 custom themes I did used a grid, the HTML5 boilerplate, and thats about it.

I started using concrete's grid integration as a layout engine, basically - so I can take a one-page theme and build out what I need from there. I think we'll be headed that direction one way or another.

This is for small potatoes, obviously, but like a lot of other front-end guys, I find BS and Foundation etc so much overkill. So I've been starting with something basic and building out what I need, rather than the other way around. Keeps it lean.

@Hypocrite the documentation addresses a few common pitfalls when developing a theme.https://www.concrete5.org/documentation/developers/5.7/designing-for...

Be specially mindful of greedy styles.

As for Skeleton, I think many like it because it is so simple anybody with very little coding experience can use it.

Really interested in this thread. Am about to embark on my first 5.7 site with @mesuva 's Skeleton setup.

I enjoy reading about people's workflow for developing their sites. I'm not a fan of BS as I find it too complex and too hard to modify for custom designs.

So far I've been able to use Skeleton with simple classes to extend it's functionality. Always open to learning new ways of doing things.