Create a custom Microsoft Sharepoint theme
Windows Sharepoint Server (WSS) and Sharepoint Portal Server (SPS) both ship with several built-in themes, giving you the ability to change the look and feel of a site quite dramatically.
Choosing one of these themes is simply a matter of clicking on the “Site Settings” link in the upper navigation and then “Apply theme to site” under the “Customization” header. On the “Select a Theme” page you should see a list of available themes on the right. Click on one these themes and you’ll see a preview on the left of the page (preview of Ice theme above).
All of the themes available for use on a SharePoint server are stored beneath a single folder named “THEMES“. This folder contains a unique folder for each theme:
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\60\TEMPLATE\THEMES
To create a theme, start by creating a new folder with the images and CSS files that make up the theme. Here are the steps to create a new theme called “CYMRU66″:
- First, make a working copy of the new theme.
Choose one of the theme folders in the directory listed above, and make a copy of it in the “THEMES” directory. For example, copy the files in the ICE folder and paste them into the CYMRU66 folder.
(Note: the folder name must be all caps)
(Tip: choose a theme with similar colors/styles, which will save you time in the customization stage)
You can now modify the files you copied as a starting point for your theme. - Second, modify the files that link your theme to the list of available themes.
In your theme’s folder, rename the ICE.INF file to CYMRU66.INF. This name should match your folder name exactly and be all caps.
Edit the CYMRU66.INF file to set the title of your theme as follows:[info]
title=CYMRU66Theme - Finally, the list of available themes on the “Select a Theme” page is defined in this file:
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\60\TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\1033\SPTHEMES.XMLEdit this XML file and insert a new section for your custom theme wherever you’d like it to appear.
(Note: I usually keep mine alphabetized, but this is NOT automatic)<templates>
<templateid>cymru66</templateid>
<displayname>CYMRU66Theme</displayname>
<description>Description</description>
<thumbnail>../images/cymru66image.png</thumbnail>
<preview>../images/cymru66image.gif</preview>
</templates>The TemplateID must match your folder name, but should be all lower case.
The DisplayName should match the title you set in the MIST.INF file.
The Preview image is a 300 x 180 pixel gif, and is used by the “Apply a Theme” function in the Admin tool. The .png version is only used by Frontpage as a preview image. - Now you can apply the new theme to your SharePoint site.
- On the top navigation bar, click “Site Settings“.
- In the “Customization” section, click “Apply theme to site“.
- Select your your new theme, and click Apply.
- Navigate to your SharePoint site and see how it looks!
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