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Theme Development

Themes control the visual presentation of the Pubvana public-facing site. A theme is a collection of .tpl template files, CSS, JavaScript, images, and a JSON manifest. No PHP is allowed in theme directories — all logic is in core controllers and services; the theme only handles presentation.

What Themes Control

  • HTML structure for all page types (home, post, page, category, tag, archive, search)
  • CSS framework and class names (Bootstrap 5, Tailwind, custom — your choice)
  • Widget area definitions and CSS class mapping
  • Theme-specific configurable options

What Themes Do NOT Control

  • Authentication or access control
  • Data fetching or database queries
  • Plugin functionality
  • Admin panel appearance (always SB Admin 2)

Requirements

  • theme_info.json — manifest (required)
  • views/layout.tpl — master layout (required)
  • Seven page-type templates: home.tpl, post.tpl, page.tpl, category.tpl, tag.tpl, archive.tpl, search.tpl

What This Section Covers

  • Getting Started — minimum viable theme
  • Theme Structure — full directory tree
  • theme_info.json Reference — complete manifest schema
  • Template Engine Basics — .tpl syntax introduction
  • Layout & Hierarchy — how templates inherit from layout.tpl
  • Available Variables — all variables in each template
  • Widget Areas — declaring and rendering widget slots
  • CSS Class Mapping — the semantic class system
  • Theme Options — configurable settings with auto-generated admin UI
  • Partials & Includes — reusable template fragments