If you’re new to Drupal 10, you may have heard terms like theming and site building. They often come up in conversations about creating a Drupal site, but it’s not always clear what each one means or how they work together. In reality, both are essential parts of building a Drupal project but they focus on very different things. Let’s break them down in simple terms.
What is Site Building in Drupal?
Site building is the process of configuring Drupal without writing custom code. Think of it as using all the tools Drupal gives you out of the box to create the structure of your site.
When you’re site building, you’re working mostly in the Drupal admin interface. Your goal is to decide how the site works, what types of content it has, and how users interact with it.
Common site building tasks include:
- Creating content types (e.g., Articles, Events, Products)
- Setting up fields (e.g., adding an image field or date field)
- Managing taxonomies (e.g., tags, categories)
- Creating views (lists or displays of content, like “Latest News”)
- Setting up menus and navigation
- Managing user roles and permissions
In short, site building is about structure and functionality. You’re answering questions like:
- What kinds of content does this site need?
- How should content be displayed and organized?
- Who can create, edit, or view this content?
The best part is that you can do all of this without writing a single line of code.
What is Theming in Drupal?
Theming, on the other hand, is all about design and presentation. Once site builders set up the structure of the site, themers take over to make it look good and match the organization’s brand.
In Drupal 10, theming is done with Twig templates, CSS, and sometimes JavaScript. While site building happens mostly in the admin interface, theming often requires working with the codebase.
Common theming tasks include:
- Designing the header, footer, and layout
- Styling buttons, links, and forms
- Customizing how a piece of content looks when displayed
- Creating responsive designs that work on mobile and desktop
- Matching the brand’s fonts, colors, and style guides
In simple terms, theming answers questions like:
- What should this site look like?
- How should content appear to users?
- Does the site feel consistent with the brand’s identity?
How Site Building and Theming Work Together
Both roles are important, but they focus on different sides of the same coin.
For example, a site builder might create a content type called “Event” with fields for title, date, image, and description. Then, a themer would style how that event is displayed on the website maybe showing the image at the top, the date in bold, and the description below.
If you only do site building, the site will function but may look very plain. If you only do theming, the site might look great but won’t have the right structure or functionality. Together, they create a complete, usable, and attractive website.
Why This Matters in Drupal 10
Drupal 10 has introduced improvements that make both theming and site building more powerful:
- Claro admin theme gives site builders a cleaner, modern interface to work with.
- Olivero default front-end theme provides a fresh, accessible starting point for themers.
- Layout Builder allows site builders to arrange content visually, reducing the need for code.
- Twig 2 templates give themers more flexibility in customizing how content is displayed.
These updates make it easier for both site builders and themers to do their jobs effectively and to collaborate more smoothly.
Conclusion
In Drupal 10, site building shapes the structure and functionality of a website, while theming shapes its look and feel. One is about what the site does, and the other is about how the site looks.
If you’re working on a Drupal project, you’ll likely need both skill sets to bring the site to life. Whether you’re configuring content types or customizing templates, understanding the difference between theming and site building will help you build stronger, more user-friendly Drupal sites.
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