By loko on

Hello all.
Why Drupal has weak skins as compared with WordPress?
WordPress has many developers and many very good free skins.
On every big forum can find threads with skins to WP, to Drupal is not there.
Drupal is big and very popular CMS but his skins are poor.

Comments

VM’s picture

VM commented

wordpress themes can be converted to drupal themes. Drupal themes in the downloads area can be a bit generic but they are easily modified. Most seek a layout that they like and customize them until their hearts are content and desires are met.

coreyp_1’s picture

coreyp_1 commented

Drupal has bad skin because it doesn't moisturize correctly. (Sorry, bad joke.)

The reason that there are not as many good themes as compared to Wordpress is because Drupal is written by coders, not designers. This means two things:

* Drupal can do anything that you want it to because it was intended to be extremely flexible.
* Drupal theming is more complex because of this freedom.

Think of it this way, if I created a Widget, and said that it can only be displayed one way, then it would be easy for contrib themes to allow for my Widget.

If, on the other hand, I gave it 20 different options, then it would be difficult to write a generic theme that could account for every single option.

There are MANY gorgeous Drupal sites, but with a custom theme, you know exactly how data will be used. In our Widget example, you would know that you only want to use option #3 out of the 20 available, so you can fine-tune your theme for that one option.

In other words, Drupal is great to theme with... It's just hard to create a general theme that will work in every situation. It is easy, however, to create a theme that will fit your particular needs.

- Corey

loko’s picture

loko commented

Hello Corey

So Drupal is victim of own possibilities.

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Plastic Surgeries

coreyp_1’s picture

coreyp_1 commented

Very much so.

Don't let that discourage you, though, it just means that Drupal is just about perfect for anything that you need for it to do!

- Corey

loko’s picture

loko commented

So where is good solution?
One way for nice template is pay a big money?
Why all modules is not compatible with themes?

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Plastic Surgeries

coreyp_1’s picture

coreyp_1 commented

Modules are not incompatible with themes. It's just that most free themes are generic so that they appeal to a larger number of people. It's a tradeoff.

More generic = more people can use it.
More custom = less people can use it.

The contributed themes must, by definition, be generic so as to be the most good to the widest possible audience.

You can do several things:

  1. Just use a generic theme.
  2. Create your own from scratch. Get to know the Theming Guide.
  3. Start with a generic theme and tailor it to your needs. (A lot of people do this with Zen.)
  4. Create a Drupal theme from a pre-existing HTML layout.
  5. Use the Gutenberg theme so that you can use Moveable Type themes with Drupal.
  6. Convert an OSWD theme to Drupal.
  7. Pay for a custom theme.

- Corey

loko’s picture

loko commented

Thank You Corey for your post!
This will be very helpful for me.

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Plastic Surgeries

Michelle’s picture

Michelle
she/her
Primary language English
Location Wisconsin, USA
commented

There's a few reasons:

1) Wordpress is easier to theme because it's very blog centric. People who make themes know what blogs look like. Typically two columns with one column for posts and one for the sidebar. When you're theming for a known configuration, it's easier.

2) The audience is different. WP users are more typically non geeks who just want to set up a blog. They are far more likely to grab a theme off the shelf. Drupal can be used for blogs but is more likely used to build a wide range of sites, many of them for commercial purposes. These sites are more likely to want a custom theme.

3) Drupal has a bit of a reputation for being hard to theme. Frankly, I don't understand why. As a non designer, I had no problem getting in there and mucking around with my themes. But, valid or not, it's a popular feeling and may keep designers away. That's starting to change but it takes time. See http://www.topnotchthemes.com for example.

Michelle

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See my Drupal articles and tutorials or come check out life in the Coulee Region.

loko’s picture

loko commented

Hello Michelle

Wordpress is easier to theme because it's very blog centric. People who make themes know what blogs look like. Typically two columns with one column for posts and one for the sidebar. When you're theming for a known configuration, it's easier.

WP has sites with more than two columns. Not only blogs, it has normal sites to.

See http://www.topnotchthemes.com for example.

I saw this site. This themes is paid but the choice is small.

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Plastic Surgeries

Michelle’s picture

Michelle
she/her
Primary language English
Location Wisconsin, USA
commented

That's why I said "typically". The point is that WP has a more limited spectrum of customization. It's more of a known entity to theme for. Drupal is more of a framework and harder to make general themes for.

Michelle

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See my Drupal articles and tutorials or come check out life in the Coulee Region.

dkeays’s picture

dkeays commented

Michelle,

While WP works well on the front end, Drupal works well on both the middle and the back-end. Which is important for your business? From what I've seen business logic is usually more of a priority than pretty screens. But don't listen to me: I think Google has ground-breaking graphics and Youtube would be better off without the flash on the front page.

There are sites that do more than blogging with WP, and there are some Drupal sites that have decent skins. Have you looked at the Onion lately?