Hi, Nils.
You can find more interesting information in this thread:
https://xoops.org/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=10592&forum=20And here are a few more pointers:
What is the difference between a template and a theme?Well, shortly said, both have HTML code with Smarty variables included, so they're in charge of rendering a site. But the theme is a set of files (theme.html, style.css, etc.) and each template is a single file. For Xoops, templates come in sets, too.
But to the point: a theme sets the general structure of a site: the header, the footer, the content columns; in broad terms, the theme sets the table to serve your site. A template sets the structure for a content space (mostly blocks), so you could say the template serves a specific dish in the table.
What does a template do and what does a theme do what the other doesnt?The template is not a complete HTML document, but rather a snippet of HTML designed to fit within another document. It's the theme the one that provides this overall structure. So the theme defines the stylesheets, the encoding, the META tags and all that; the template only controls the way some specific content is displayed in the site.
Do I need to install both at a time or is one enough?You can create all kinds of themes and use them with the same default template set. It's what most theme developers do. The theme controls the general look & feel of your site, so for many this is enough.
Can I use 1 template as a base for all kind of themes?Sure. As I said, most themes built rely on the default template set.
When would this not make any sense, when is it better to use multiple templates?When you need specific features to appear in a specific order that's not provided by the default template. Also when you want to play with your options, because by default, XOOPS doesn't let you twiddle with the default theme. You actually have to clone it in order to be able to edit the files.
How can I know for sure which template XOOPS is using (I dont mean just looking into the admin panel)?Well, there's no easy way to know, because templates are as varied as you want. But after a while you'll be able to see which content has a different presentation --which means the template controlling it has been edited.
Is there an alternative way to uploading a template and getting it installed?Yes. The easy way is to clone your default template and then edit the resulting files, but you can also generate a structure containing the template set and store it into a .tar/.gz file. You upload the file using the option included in the admin section, and if the structure is right, the archive will be decompressed in the right directory.
What to do if my server says "Media Upload Errors MIME type not allowed: application/x-tgz"?Maybe contact your host provider and make sure you have been assigned rights to upload .tgz files. If you have, then check the integrity of the .tgz file you're uploading. If it's ok, then check the structure of the included files: it should mirror the structure of any theme already installed in your system.
I hope this helps.
Cheers.
