20th Jul 2011

A primer to Symphony 2's default theme

Every theme in Symphony has an important mission: to introduce newcomers to Symphony by way of a working example. Spectrum, the name of this version's default theme, was designed and developed with such a mission in mind by following a set of constraints. A default theme is required to:

1. be presented in a format that is universally identified and intuitive.
2. have a clear and simple HTML structure.
3. demonstrate the fundamental concepts in Symphony—sections, fields, data sources and events—and their interactions together.
4. avoid functionality that does not have any educational value.

The design

Our first rule states that a default theme needs to be in a format that is instantly recognisable to a user. As a result, all of the themes created in Symphony's history have emphasised a weblog structure. Spectrum continues this tradition.