I'm theming successfully right now on the basis of taxonomy terms, using the following as my node.tpl, based on advice elsewhere in the forums:
<?php
$terms = taxonomy_node_get_terms($node->nid);
rsort($terms);
/**
* Check to see if the taxonomy term matches your query and load
* a custom page-termname.tpl.php layout file
*/
if ($terms[0]->name == 'Exclusive articles') {include 'node-stories.tpl.php';
return; }
if ($terms[0]->name == 'Columns') {include 'node-columns.tpl.php';
return; }
...etc.
This is working GREAT for me. Nodes matching different taxonomy terms (a taxonomy I've called "type of story") look completely different from each other - which was the intent.
I'm hitting a snag when I create and apply another taxonomy (called "industry") to the same nodes. Now, when I categorize my nodes by industry in ADDITION to "type of story"), my node.tpl - as written above - isn't able to tell which tpl.php file to use to render the node, and just uses the default.
I have a feeling that it should be simple to pull the "type of story" taxonomy out of the taxonomy array and continue themeing nodes on that basis, but am not familiar enough with Drupal and PHP to know how to do it. Could someone offer guidance on how to rewrite my node.tpl to continue themeing by "type of story" yet still allow me to categorize my nodes by other taxonomies?