Rebuild the theme?

[mheld45]

Hi. I'm new to Prestashop but not 100% clueless about web design, html, script, css, etc.

I just saw in another forum that after making a css change (to change height of slider for example) it is necessary to "rebuild the theme".

Question: WTF does it mean to "rebuild a theme"? And is this a pain in the ass. And is this necessary after all CSS changes? Is that why none of my CSS change attempts ever work?

Thanks. Peace

Matt

[vekia]

"rebuild a theme" means change the theme html code that is available in .tpl files in theme directory.

And is this necessary after all CSS changes?

 

No, it is not necessary.

In some cases CSS is not enough to change the design. In such cases it is necessary to alter the html code of theme. This is "rebuild a theme" process.

 

Is that why none of my CSS change attempts ever work?

 

No. I dont think so. I think that it is a matter of browser that remembers old .css files. Just clear browser cache.

[mheld45]

Thank you vekia. Couple more Qs so I understand correctly:

1. In other words, the size/style of some elements is controlled with old school html "height=12" and not with CSS?

2. Assuming 1. is correct, can I simply modify the relevant html and upload the modified file to the server? Must I compile or anything like that? I have already selected "Force compile" in the CMS.

Thanks for your help

Matt

[Scully]

1. No it's not meant like this. But tpl also controls divs, paragraphs and so on. Larger changes therefore might require more than only CSS changes.

2. You can simplyfy tpl as long there are no thread-offs. Sometimes you might realize that a simpler solution does not work after testing.

 

Force compile is ok while testing. Change it back afterwards because it slows down the server significantly!

Edited July 27, 2017 by Scully (see edit history)