Creating SharePoint 2007 Themes

Creating the theme

1. Navigate to:
   C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\TEMPLATE\THEMES
2. Copy and paste a complete theme
3. Rename the theme
4. Navigate inside the theme directory
5. Rename the .inf file to the exact name of the directory
6. Open the .inf file in Microsoft Notepad
7. Find and replace the old theme name with the new theme name created
8. Create a new image to represent the new theme
9. Navigate to:C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\TEMPLATE\IMAGES
10. Add the new image to the directory and record the filename
11. Navigate to:
    C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\1033
12. Open the file “SPTHEMES.XML” in notepad
13. Copy and paste an entire Template
14. Rename “TemplateID” to the name of the directory previously created
15. Write an appropriate display name and description
16. Enter the location of the image (images/recordedFilename) created in step 10 under the thumbnail and preview entities

Applying the Theme

1. Open the SharePoint site
2. Navigate to “Site Actions”
3. Select “Site Settings” then “Modify All Site Settings”
4. Under “Look and Feel” select “Site Theme”
5. Select the new theme from the list and select “Apply”

Modifying the Theme

Tools such as the CSS Viewer in Mozilla FireFox will prove to be valuable in locating classes.

1. Ensure the theme is applied
2. Open the site in Microsoft SharePoint Designer
3. Navigate to “_Themes” then the new theme folder created earlier
4. Open the .CSS file ending in 65001.CSS
5. Modify this file to change the theme
6. To change the images navigate to the themes directory:C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\TEMPLATE\THEMES\BROADRIDGE
7. Select an appropriate image and modify as required.