Changing a Magento default theme - magento

My understanding of Magento is that you can only have 2 themes loaded at any one time. ( according to the Magento design guide)
Also, that there is two types of themes - default and non-default (i.e. default contain all possible options, non-default override a subset).
All the documentation I've read says that both default and non-default themes are set in the configuration-> section. I don't see how I can have a customised default theme (not called default) and non-default theme at the same time. Do I have to rename my theme to default in order to use non-default themes?

I had the wrong idea.... 3 themes are loaded.
According to the hierarchy, from lowest priority to highest-
default - this theme must be called default. I will be planning on using the magento default theme untouched as this theme. This cannot be currently overwriten.
your custom default theme - specified in configuration->design->theme->default
I will be using the Magento blank theme as base for developing an everyday store theme.
your custom non-default theme - specified in configuration->design->theme->(layout, templates and skin)
I will be using this to create special occasion themes, e.g. Christmas or sale, that will override only a subset of the default theme.

You can start with your own magento custom theme development and also put your name instead of using default or else, and also copy all the templates files and layout XML files and save it in your theme folder. same way repeat the things with the Skin folder also.
Default folder structure
Template and XML files >magento>> app >> design >> front-end ?? base or default >> theme-name
SKIN - CSS and JS files >magento >> skin >> front-end >> base or default >> theme name
now just copy and paste the theme files from above structure and paste it to the same place and just change the name to base or default to you favorite name.
NOw go to admin >> system >> design >> and Add custom magento theme >> here you will see the theme which you have created in folder structure, just select and save the theme and then just delete or refresh the cache and refresh your web page thata all.
Thanks
Magento Development

Related

designing layout of magento 2 theme

I am new to Magento.
I am creating Magenta 2 site, I have managed to install Magento, and for it to use the luma theme.
I want to be able to edit the theme (through Inheritance), I understand it uses XML files to design the layout, how do I change these, should they be in the new theme folder, and change them there?
If so, where do I get the origonal Luma xml files, or does magento create these? - There are no themes within the app/ folder, is it here where I create the new theme (that inherits from Luma)?
Many thanks for any help, I am completely new to Magento.
You have to create a custom theme and make theme.xml and set a parent to LUMA.
Now app/design/frontend/customthemename
So anything that you want to customized used in customthemename folder
Thanks
You should create a child theme to edit XML file. To create a child theme, there are 3 steps to do:
Firstly, create a new theme directory in app/design/frontend.
Secondly, declare the new theme by:
Creating theme.xml: this file identifies the name, parent and other
basic info of the new theme.
Creating Composer.json: this file is used to install the theme via Composer later.
Creating registration.php: this file is required in any Magento 2 Extension
and Themes.
Creating static files directories: this folder is used to store CSS, JS, image files.
Creating logo folder: this folder contains files that determine the location and size of your new theme logo.
Thirdly, apply and configure theme in admin: - Run Upgrade Command. - Apply the theme. - Deploy.
For more detailed tutorial, go to Guide to create Magento 2 theme.
The original XML files of any module and themes are located in vendor/magento//view/frontend/layout, with the module_name is the module related to the XML file you want to edit.
For example, with homepage CMS, the XML file is located in vendor/magento/module-cms/view/frontend/layout

How can I install new theme in Magneto ?

I want to install new theme in magento and I have also followed step of this link (https://www.siteground.com/tutorials/magento/magento_themes.htm) but I am not abling to get theme in magento. Please suggest me how can I install theme in magento ?
Thanks
If you already have the pre-built theme, then in magento project folder navigate to
app/design/frontend/default
Place your theme folder here.
Now to activate your theme. Log in to your admin panel.
Navigate to
system->configuration
Click in the design tab in the left hand side
Under the "Pakage Name" put you package name i.e "default" in this case and under you theme In the "Template" put your theme name "Your_theme_name" i.e your theme folder name that you copied inside default directory.
If you are creating a new theme, just create a new folder inside default directory and follow the step as described above.
In this way you can install a new theme.
Hope this will help.
It depends how theme you want to use is distributed. If it is a package, just extract it to your root folder and you should get proper folders in skin and app/design dirs and what you need to do then is to set correct package and / or theme in backend (Configuration > Web > Design). For full package theme name would probably always be default. Although if you are only adding new theme, you should pick its name app/design/frontend/default/{theme_name} and same in skin folder (if it includes some additional css, images and / or javascript).

How do I prepare fresh magento install (ver. 1.8.1) for local theme developement?

Just installed a fresh copy of Magento and I would like to know what settings/configurations have to be made in order to begin theme development. I'm running php 5.4 on a mac and for coding the theme I will use SCSS.
You have to create a new theme folder and theme package folder (optional) as followig
app/design/frontend/{theme package name}/{theme folder name}/
then create two folders layout and template and work in them.
Then create the skin related folders in skin/frontend/{theme package name}/{theme folder name}/ and place all your theme related css and images here.
Note that you have to keep the theme package name same for both.
To activate this theme on the site, log-in to your admin panel, go to
system >> configurations >> Design and click the Package Tab and enter your theme package name then open the Theme tab beneath it and enter the Template, Skin and layout theme folder names, if the theme folder name is same for all of them then just enter it in the Default field and leave others empty and save the settings. Now clear the site Cache by going to system >> Cache Management, select all the options and click Submit button and reload the frontend. The new theme will be in action.

Magento loading base theme instead of downloaded theme

Im trying to install a theme on magento 1.9. Have copied all files into the correct places.
Under System -> Configuration -> Design -> Themes I have set templates, skin, layout and default all to the theme name.
The problem I think i am having is 'Current package name' It was originally set to 'rwd' and when it is set to this it loads the default 1.9 magento theme. However when i change this to 'default' it loads the magento base theme. If i set the package name to the name of the theme it also loads the base package.
Skin Directory Structure
Design Directory Structure
Did you check your custom design? Access: System > Design
just cross check following configuration with your configuration.
Then clear cache and check.

Magento Theme Hierarchy

Currently I am moving the theme file from Default/XXX to XXX/default . From
http://www.magentocommerce.com/knowledge-base/entry/magentos-theme-hierarchy
I found out that Magento searches the file in following sequence:
Package/theme->Package/default->Base->default.
Is it possible to make it search the theme like this: Package/theme1->Package/theme2->Package/default->Base->default?
Besides that, will the magento still be loading the default/default theme?
Thx
Magento system will fall back the files using below order.
Using DEFAULT package with DEFAULT theme
1) app/design/frontend/{DEFAULT}/{DEFAULT}
2) app/design/frontend/base/{DEFAULT}
Using DEFAULT package with Custom theme
1) app/design/frontend/{DEFAULT}/{MY-THEME}
2) app/design/frontend/{DEFAULT}/{DEFAULT}
3) app/design/frontend/base/{DEFAULT}
If you are using the Custom Package with Custom theme.
1) app/design/frontend/{CUSTOM-PACKAGE}/{MY-THEME}
2) app/design/frontend/{CUSTOM-PACKAGE}/{DEFAULT}
3) app/design/frontend/base/{DEFAULT}
These above order only magento files are fallback.
Old question but as I stumbled across this I would like to add the newest fallback hierarchy.
Since 1.9 you can define the fallbacks in a theme.xml in your theme folder. See http://alanstorm.com/magento_parent_child_themes for further information.

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