PrestaShop v.1.5 will be rich in features, more powerful than ever, but also accessible for everyone.
Any developer or integrator will be able to master the solution in a short amount of time.
This article will present to you new features that will allow theme creators to increase their productivity and reduce the time it takes to develop themes.
As it stands right now, when an integrator wants to create a new theme for a store, he or she has two options:
- 1. Start from scratch
- 2. Use the default theme and clean it up in order to put in the theme that he or she wishes to create
In both cases, a lot of work is involved, above all for agencies or freelances who want to industrialize the creation of themes. With the integration of the Skeleton Theme, PrestaShop does all the work for you!
Definition of skeleton:
“The hard external supporting and protecting structure”…
With the Skeleton theme, PrestaShop enables its community to have a solid work base to start with for creating a theme.
As the definition of the word ‘skeleton’ suggests, the Skeleton theme will be the bare bones of the final theme. It will build upon the skeleton to construct the layout that best fits the desired image. The integrator will merely add a graphics layer (images, CSS).
The template tree structure has been completely revised in order to easily edit eachpart of each page in the store.
In addition, the Skeleton theme offers great flexibility. For each page in the Front Office, the seller can choose which template variation he or she wants to display.
Example :
For the product category “iPod,” the seller can choose a display with a column and right and a content column (a product listing).
For the product category “Laptops,” the seller can choose a display with a single column of content (a product listing).
At the root, the skeleton will carry 3 or 4 types of layouts per page, but if the creator wants to add some more, it can be done simply by adding a new template in his or her theme’s folder.
Example:
[skeleton]
[categories]
template-1.tpl
template-2.tpl
[products]
template-1.tpl
template-2.tpl
…
[my_theme]
[categories]
template-1.tpl => override skeleton template 1
template-3.tpl => add a new template
…
A further change will be incorporated in PrestaShop version 1.5: config variables will be available in templates.
The integrator may create these configuration variables him or herself with the help of a theme exporter. The variables will be available for each template. Adding this feature opens up many possibilities and makes the theme even more versatile and customizable!
Example of a theme with color variations:
{if $theme_option.colorset == 'green'}
<link rel="stylesheet" href="themes/montheme/colorset/green.css" />
{elseif $theme_option.colorset == 'black'}
<link rel="stylesheet" href="themes/montheme/colorset/black.css" />
{elseif $theme_option.colorset == 'blue'}
<link rel="stylesheet" href="themes/montheme/colorset/blue.css" />
{/if}
Since we’re always thinking about how to help integrators save time, we will integrate the following tools: 960 Grid System, a CSS framework (http://960.gs) and jQuery UI (http://jqueryui.com).
You can follow our progress through newsletters and articles on our blog. We are open to all opinions, thoughts, and concerns, so please give us your feedback on this feature on the forum, or by sending a private message to Vincent Augagneur.
Author: love station
Date: April 27, 2012 at 5:53 am
Can’t wait for v1.5. what are the new features in v1.5?