Coding a theme

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Coding a theme

Coding a theme

PrestaShop's theme system is based on a template engine, called Smarty, which allows web-designers and developers to easily build their own theme, with little technical knowledge.

All web-designers and developers should use the following tools:

Firefox: Firebug is a free extension for easy comparison and debugging between your CSS and the output.
Firefox/Chrome: Web Developer adds many handy web developer tools to your browser.
Safari/Chrome: enable the Web Inspector.
Opera: Dragonfly, a fully-featured debugging environment.
Internet Explorer 8+: Developer Tools are available through the Tools menu.

Internet Explorer users can also make use of Firebug lite.

Concepts and technical information

How a theme works

A PrestaShop theme is a set of files which you can edit in order to change the look of your online shop.

Here are a few important tidbits:

All themes have their files located in the /themes root folder.
Each theme has its own sub-folder, in the main themes folder.
Each theme is made of template files (.tpl), image files (.gif, .jpg, .png), one or more CSS files (.css), and sometimes even JavaScript files (.js).
Each theme has a preview.jpg image file in its folder, enabling the shop-owner to see what the theme looks like directly from the back-office, and select the theme appropriately.

Here is an overview of the file structure of a PrestaShop theme (here, the default one):

The /css folder contains all CSS files.
The /img folder contains all images.
The /js folder contains all the JavaScript files.
The /lang folder contains the theme's translations. Its access rights should be set at CHMOD 666 (for instance), so that the back-office translation tool can read and write into it.
The root of the folder contains TPL files only (Smarty files), as well as the preview.jpg file.

The /css, /img and /js folder are optional, the theme can perfectly work without them, it's up to you to create them.

Handling translations

All of your theme's text string should be enclosed in a Smarty function, like so:

{l s='My Text'}

This will enable anyone to translate the theme into his own language, using the internal translation tool, which you can find in the PrestaShop back-office, under the "Tools" tab and its "Translation" sub-tab. In the "Modify translations" section, use the drop-down menu, choose "Front Office translation", then click on the flag of the language you wish to translate strings into. All the front-office strings will then be displayed.

h3 Transmitting data to a PrestaShop theme

The following graphic explains how data is transmitted from PrestaShop's core to its theme. Using the l() method enables the theme to display its text in the chosen language, if it has been translated beforehand.

Best practices

Here is a non-exhaustive list of best practices that you should follow when creating a theme:

Do not mix XHTML and PHP code.
Do not mix XHTML and CSS code, put the CSS code in a separate .css file.
Always validate your XHTML and CSS code using the W3C validators: XHTML validator, CSS validator.
Do not make SQL queries from a PHP controller ({{.php file at the root of PrestaShop); prefer the use of existing methods from the PrestaShop classes, or create new methods for these classes.
Always check if a method you need does not already exist in the available classes.
Always make sure to produce a clear and readable code, making it easy to maintain for anyone.
Do comment your code, in English.
When editing the theme on a production site, always first put the shop in maintenance mode via the back-office.
Use modern browsers, such as Firefox, Google Chrome or Opera, and make sure your friends do too.
Whenever possible, use CSS sprites (follow-up article).

Customizing the default theme

Follow the following steps to create your own theme out of the PrestaShop default theme.

1. Copy the default theme

Locate the /themes directory in your PrestaShop install, and create a copy of the default ../themes/prestashop/ directory.
Rename the duplicate.

2. Modify the CSS sheet

In the customized theme folder (e.g., /themes/MyStoreTheme/), locate the /css folder.
Open the global.css file and change it according to your needs. This is where you are only limited by your creativity – and your knowledge of CSS. Note: the maintenance.css file, located in the same folder, controls the layout of the Maintenance Mode page.
New or modified images must be placed in the new theme's /img folder (e.g., /themes/MyStoreTheme/img).

Tips from the PrestaShop development team

Where possible, use CSS instead of HTML (e.g., only use tables for tabular data, not for layout).
Validate your XHTML and CSS code using the W3C tools: HTML validator, CSS validator.
Reduce images and pictures size by using compression. Yahoo!'s SmushIt is an excellent tool for that.
Test your theme on several Web browsers, not only Internet Explorer. Mozilla Firefox, WebKit browsers (Apple Safari, Google Chrome) and Opera are all to be considered, but you should most of all check that it works well the browsers your website is mostly visited with. If your website has not launched yet, have a look at your country browser stats. For instance, here are the browser stats for France, from 2010 to 2011.
Keep filenames in lowercase.
Remember that the homepage text and logo are modifiable directly via the Back Office. Go to the back-office, "Modules" tab then "Themes" sub-tab.

3. Create a preview screen shot

Once your customized theme is ready, you must place a file representing the theme, called preview.jpg, in the theme's root folder (e.g., /themes/MyStoreTheme). This file must be a 100 × 100 pixels .jpg file.

4. Test your theme

Go to back-office's "Preferences" tab, then its "Appearance" and its "Themes" section.
Select the new theme and click Save..

Share your themes!

Show off your hard work, get feedback, and build your reputation by sharing your theme in the Themes section of our Forum!

You can also sell your theme to PrestaShop users through our Addons website!

Creating your own theme

PrestaShop's default theme

The default theme was conceived in a neutral style, and as such can be use for just about any type of shop, independent of the industry. Moreover, this theme does its best to conform to web standards, as established by the W3C, and has been optimized to display efficiently in all major browsers.

That being said, you might want to have a theme that is really tailored to your website or online activity, rather than having the same theme as thousands of online shops. This is were you need to build your own theme – and the easiest way to do it is to use the default theme as a solid groundwork, or at least as inspiration.

First step towards your own theme

All currently-installed themes are found in the /themes folder, where your own will soon be too. the default theme is located in the /themes/prestashop sub-folder. This is the folder from which you will build your own theme.

That being said, it is highly discouraged to directly change the files for the default theme, the reason being that this could introduce new bugs and no way to go back. You need to keep the default theme intact, so that you can switch between your theme and the default one in order to find out if the issue you are seeing is tied to your theme, or to a bug in another part of PrestaShop.

The first step will therefore be to make a copy of the /prestashop sub-folder, and give that copy a unique name, for instance the name of your own theme or website. This way, the default theme remains intact.

File structure for a theme

When creating a theme, you have to think up front of all the various pages and pieces of information that your theme has to handle correctly, in order to offer a complete experience to your customer. Here again, the default theme is a good way to get inspiration, both in the variety of files it features and behaviors it caters for, but also in its code, which you can dive into in order to better understand how a theme works.

File or folder

Description

preview.jpg

This image is used as a preview in the "Theme" selector in the "Preferences" > "Appearance" sub-tab. This image is mandatory, as without it the theme cannot be selected. It should obviously reflect the theme's design, and not its logo or designer's name...

404.tpl

Used when the requested page is not found (HTTP error 404).

address.tpl

Used when adding or editing a client street address.

addresses.tpl

Used when listing a client's street addresses.

authentication.tpl

Used when identifying a user, or creating a new user account.

best-sales.tpl

Used to list all best sale.

breadcrumb.tpl

Used to find the navigation path, or breadcrumb trail.

category.tpl

Used to list all products in a given category.

category-tree-branch.tpl

Used only by the Category block.

category-cms-tree-branch.tpl

...

cms.tpl

Used for informational pages ("Tools" > "CMS" sub-tab).

contact-form.tpl

Used by the contact form.

discount.tpl

Used when listing all discount tickets for a single client.

errors.tpl

Used when displaying errors. Potentially called by all of the pages.

footer.tpl

Page footer.

guest-tracking.tpl

Used when a visitor has no known account on the site, but wants his order to be tracked – and therefore needs to create an account or log in.

header.tpl

Page header

history.tpl

Used when lsiting the order history of a client.

identity.tpl

Used when a client edits his/her personal information.

index.php

Blank file, prevents visitors to view the content of the folder.

index.tpl

Welcome page.

maintenance.tpl

Used when the site is in maintenance mode.

manufacturer.tpl

Used when listing all products from a single manufacturer.

manufacturer-list.tpl

Used when listing all manufacturers.

my-account.tpl

Welcome page for a client's account.

new-products.tpl

Used when listing the products that were last added to the cart.

order-address.tpl

Used during the order process: Step 1, choosing the addresses (delivery, billing).

order-carrier.tpl

Used during the order process: Step 2, choosing the carrier mode.

order-confirmation.tpl

Used during the order process: Last step, confirming the order (after payment).

order-detail.tpl

Used to display the content of a client's order.

order-follow.tpl

Used when a client needs to ask for a product return.

order-opc.tpl

...

order-opc-new-account.tpl

...

order-payment.tpl

Used during the order process: Step 3, choosing the payment mode.

order-return.tpl

Used to display a client product return details.

order-slip.tpl

Used to display a client's credit slips.

order-steps.tpl

Order process progress bar.

pagination.tpl

Used by all pages that list products. Displays the pagination button, enable to skip to the next/previous page of products.

password.tpl

Used when a client needs to change his password.

prices-drop.tpl

Used to list all current promotions.

product.tpl

Used to display details for a single product.

product-list.tpl

Used by all pages that list products. Displays the actual products list.

product-sort.tpl

Used by all pages that list products. Displays a menu enabling to sort and filter products.

products-comparison.tpl

...

scenes.tpl

Used to display a scene's details within a product category.

search.tpl

Used to list results from a search query.

shopping-cart.tpl

Used to list products in a client's cart.

shopping-cart-product-line.tpl

Used to display from a single cart row.

sitemap.tpl

Used to display the site map.

store_infos.tpl

...

stores.tpl

...

supplier.tpl

Used to list all the products from a single supplier.

supplier-list.tpl

Used to list all suppliers.

thickbox.tpl

Used to zoom a product's picture.

/cache

...

/css

Contains all style sheet files for the theme. The global.css file deals with the layout for most of the site. Unless you know exactly what you are doing, you should leave these files alone.

/img

Contains all of the theme's images. You should replace these images with your own adequate creations. If you do not know what to make of it, you should leave the original files.

/js

Contains all of the theme's JavaScript files. Unless you know exactly what you are doing, you should leave these files alone.

/lang

Contains all translation files. These are generated by the back-office translation tool, and should not be edit directly. If a translation needs editing, go to the back-office, "Tools" tab, "Translation" sub-tab, "Modify translation" section, and choose "Front office translations".

A few advices

Firebug, Dragonfly et al.: your work as a front-end developer can greatly helped with the right tools at hand, provided you test your design in a modern browser that provides such tools, either through a module (Firefox's FireBug) or directly embedded (Opera's Dragonfly, Chrome & Webkit's Web Inspector). Learn to master them, and you will quickly be amazed by their usefulness.

JavaScript: all JavaScript files should be stored in the theme's /js folder.

preview.jpg file: Once your design is complete, you can create the preview image file. Take a screen shot, then resize it to 180px width in order to use it instead of the default preview.jpg file. You can either used the screenshot tool provided by your OS (Windows' Snipping Tool, OS X's Cmd+Shift+4 key combo), or install a browser extension, such as Firefox's FireShot or Screengrab.

Layered navigation: In order for a theme to be compatible with layered navigation, the /themes/themename/product-list.tpl file must have its product list area be encapsulated within a tag with the "product_list" id; otherwise, the layered navigation will not be able to update the product list.

<div id="product_list">

...or...

<ul id="product_list">

Integration: where the hooks and modules are

One of the key point of integrating content within a PrestaShop theme is to know where said content is displayed, and therefore where the various hooks and modules are located.

Here is a graphical representation of where they are, for each page. You will find: