Port request: Zen theme

[jenlampton]

Name of the module, theme, or layout
Zen

Link to the drupal.org module, theme, or layout
https://www.drupal.org/project/zen

Link to the Drupal 7 source code
https://git.drupalcode.org/project/zen/-/tree/7.x-6.x?ref_type=heads

(Optional) Link to an issue in the drupal.org queue asking the Drupal community if anyone is working on a Backdrop port of this project
@todo

Initial reactions:

• Zen 6.4 is the latest stable release
• theme settings will need testing
• _zen_preprocess_html sets order of CSS files
• drush support should be switched to bee (or duplicated)

Template files

• block--no-wrapper.tpl.php - backdrop_attributes $title_attributes
• block.tpl.php - implode $classes, backdrop_attributes $title_attributes
• comment.tpl.php - implode $classes, backdrop_attributes $attributes & $title_attributes
• html.tpl.php - rename to page.tpl.php, remove IE support
• maintenance-page.tpl.php - remove IE support, remove all layouts
• node.tpl.php - implode $classes, backdrop_attributes $attributes & $title_attributes, add comment-wrapper
• page.tpl.php - move into zen_layouts as layout.tpl.php, copy header stuff into header.tpl.php
• user-picture.tpl.php - leave as-is

Template files to delete

• comment-wrapper.tpl.php -- move this code to node.tpl.php
• pane-header.tpl.php -- remove
• pane-messages.tpl.php -- remove
• pane-navigation.tpl.php -- remove
• panels-pane--no-wrapper.tpl.php -- remove
• panels-pane.tpl.php -- remove
• region--footer.tpl.php -- remove
• region--no-wrapper.tpl.php -- remove
• region.tpl.php -- remove

Preprocess functions:

• zen_preprocess_html - remove RDF support, remove IE support, keep body classes etc
• zen_preprocess_page - all this does is process the secondary menu heading, maybe remove? upgrade path?
• zen_preprocess_maintenance_page - duplicates zen_preprocess_html, remove region support
• zen_preprocess_node - update class array keys
• zen_preprocess_comment - update class array keys
• zen_preprocess_region - see theme_layout_region_inner maybe also create matching zen_layouts project
• zen_preprocess_block - no block_html_id, update class array keys,
• zen_preprocess_menu_link - leave as-is

Process functions

• zen_process_html - remove, solved by page template implode()
• zen_process_html_tag => no theme_html_tag in backdrop. This fixes script tags. see if backdrop_add_js is useful here?
• zen_process_maintenance_page - remove, solved by page template implode()
• zen_process_block - done in backdrop, remove.

Theme function overrodes:

• breadcrumbs - leave as-is
• zen_menu_local_tasks - leave as-is
• zen_menu_local_task - leave as-is
• zen_status_messages - re copy from core, add BEM classes
• zen_mark - leave as-is
• zen_panels_default_style_render_region - remove

Alter functions:

• zen_html_head_alter - Simplify the meta tag for character encoding.
• zen_page_alter - rework, no page_alter in B, there's a last_in_region setting: rework for layouts
• zen_form_node_form_alter - leave as-is

maybe also create matching zen_layouts project

• see zen_preprocess_region
• see zen-no-wrapper panels layout
• see page.tpl.php
• see extras/sass/layouts
• see extras/text-replacements/layouts

[stpaultim]

@jenlampton I'm not sure if you saw this, but FYI: https://forum.backdropcms.org/forum/themes-anything-zen

[joe-maine]

I also posted "Backdrop port of 7.56" @ https://www.drupal.org/project/zen/issues/3445510
I never made the jump to Zen 7.6, I've used the Zen 7.56 on several "starterkits". 7.56 just seemed to be more stable. I can't remember if there was a difficult upgrade from 7.56 to 7.6. Zen has great documentation and with more than 30,000 sites using it... a Backdrop version could bring many new Backdrop sites. I'm not a developer but will follow this port request and offer as much input as I can.
Thank you @jenlampton for bringing up this issue and for your tremendous effort to help build the Backdrop community. Thank you @stpaultim for your speedy responses to questions and your efforts with Backdrop.

[jenlampton]

@joe-maine After reviewing the Zen theme I'm actually feeling more confident about working on a port. I had expected it to be larger and more complex than I found.

[joe-maine]

@jenlampton - that's great news! I hope the port will work from either 7.5 or 7.6 and will include a new starterkit. I'm looking forward to testing. It's taking a while to get my old D-7 sites ready for the jump to Backdrop.