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Specifically I'm looking for something as simple as having the HTML/CSS/JS theme ready as static files and then just filling in the dynamic parts using PHP/Drupal. This is more or less how WordPress and other CMSs do it.

Are there any modules or other theming engines that do this?

Thank you.

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  • This is pretty much the same case with Drupal. What part do you find difficult and need a module for?
    – Varshith
    Commented Apr 9, 2012 at 9:39
  • I'm not familiar with Wordpress, so could you please clarify what you mean? In Drupal, the CSS files are already static files...
    – Patrick Kenny
    Commented Apr 9, 2012 at 9:39
  • Basically I want to avoid the .info file (which includes the JS and CSS files to be included) and also the automatic inclusion of RDF syntax in my theme. I also want to avoid the standard template.php file which is full of PHP functions. I heard there are different theming engines for Drupal and I'm looking for something easier to use. Thanks for the feedback guys.
    – Mario Awad
    Commented Apr 9, 2012 at 18:37

2 Answers 2

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The short answer is "no." At least not at the level you are looking for.

A .info file is always required for a Drupal theme, this is how Drupal recognizes that the theme exists. Adding CSS and JS within this file is important because of CSS/JS caching which is important for site performance and other reasons. You should read the Drupal Theming Guide for more information, if you haven't.

There is, however, no requirement for template.php in a theme. If you do not want to utilize RDF on your site, you can disable the core RDF module.

There are other Theme Engines for Drupal, but they have all been abandoned in favor of PHPTemplate in Drupal 7. There are also a number of contributed base themes for Drupal, which are helpful for getting started with theming more quickly.

Unfortunately, the theming approach of Drupal is often a shock for users coming from other CMSes, especially Wordpress. The inherit flexibility and functional power in (and legacy of) Drupal core necessitates an extremely complex theming layer. You are not going to find a Wordpress-like experience in Drupal 7.

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  • Thank you for the detailed answer and tips. I love that Drupal adds an ID after each CSS important so that updates/clear-caches force a CSS re-fetching even when your ISP uses caching. This is basically the .info file's job. Time for me to dive in deeper. By the way, I found this excellent base theme for Drupal: himer.us/omega960 - cheers.
    – Mario Awad
    Commented Apr 18, 2012 at 10:12
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You can try creating sub-themes by following the procedure given here. Modifying is easier then creating a new theme from scratch(my experience).

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  • True but unfortunately by sub-theming you can't have full control over what to include and what to exclude and you end up with a lot of overhead code. What I'm looking for is something real simple - annotate the HTML/CSS - and have your theme ready. Thanks.
    – Mario Awad
    Commented Apr 9, 2012 at 18:38

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