#drupal theme customization

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Skills and expertise: Start by checking out the skills and expertise of the team to ensure that they are capable of handling your project. Assess their team size and their skill set in terms of various versions of the CMS as well as the supportive technologies that they need to know for completing the project successfully.

Experience: Besides the right skills, the company also needs to have adequate experience working with Drupal and delivering projects that are similar to yours. Teams with prior experience in working with diverse industries can be trusted for their versatility. Try to find out the size of organizations and industries they have catered to.

Service portfolio: The comprehensiveness of the service portfolio of the provider matters too as you would want a range of services for the completion of the project. Check whether they are capable of handling aspects like Drupal Module Development, integration, migration, maintenance and support, and more, all under one roof.

Drupal is the most popular content management system deployed by both the governmental and non-governmental agencies, small and global companies, educational institutions, and more. The people from almost all sectors prefer Drupal development services in India or elsewhere across the world for their online establishment. The main reason for each one of them is that the performance of the web plays the key role for their online sustainability. And, needless to say, Drupal excels in meeting their needs. A lot of things could be done to optimize the content working with the browser in such a way that the end user gets the information as quick as they prefer to.

Let us see how the Drupal developers in India and across the globe speed up the Drupal CMS for a complete and reliable online establishment.

The unnecessary HTML is scrapped off with the ‘fence’ module so that the pages load faster. And they also make their own Fences-styled *.tpl.php files to place them in the theme. Thus, the fences would automatically find them and add to the drop down list for field configuration.

The CSS and JavaScript are aggregated and compressed through the Advanced CSS/JS Aggregation module. The significance of this module is that it allows the sites to utilize the Google’s Content Delivery network (CDN) to load j Query.

With the Drupal core’s Image cache module, the smaller images are delivered to the visitors. This is essentially needed for mobile devices. Moreover, the use of scalar vector graphics reduces the file size and scale without losing the clarity on the phone or the desktop.

It is prudent to disable the unnecessary and unused modules. As the codes from the enabled modules would be loaded with every page, it obviously slows down the site. Thus, it is important to disable them by default and use as required. However, it is recommended to enable the SEO checklist module, and follow as directed so as to ensure that the search engines send the direct information as asked by the visitors.

Though Drupal theme customization is possible, it is recommended to design with the mobile first strategy, semantic HTML5 and the modern CSS3. This strategy helps the organization to prioritize and simplify the site. The use of base themes is quite responsive and is highly recommended.

It is important to increase the cache lifetime so that the pages are not regenerated unless it is essentially required. In the latest version 8, the page caching and CSS/JS aggregation are enabled by default.

The users look for fresh content and not an active history of all pages published. A fewer and quality pages are recommended for search engines to index and easy maintenance. The navigational structure should be planned to find the relevant and required content easily. It is recommended to set up the Drupal’s Apache Solr module so that the content is easy to find and simple to use.

Drupal is regarded as one of the most powerful CMS platforms for building wonderful digital experiences. The Drupal 8 version of the platform packs some amazing features that give it huge popularity. At the same time, it presents some challenges too. One of these relates to choosing the right base theme. A base theme acts as a foundation which facilitates fast and easy theme building. The decision is extremely vital as it influences the fate of the entire project. There is a choice between a classic theme and a contributed one. The other alternatives are to opt for creating a new theme, while Drupal theme customization enables you to have a one that matches your requirements to perfection.

Here are a few things that need to be considered while selecting a base theme for Drupal 8 development:

Client Preference

When you avail the services of a drupal development company, the first thing that you convey to the developers is your individual requirements. The Drupal 8 base theme is to be selected on the basis of the client preference so that it delivers exactly what they are looking for. It should have all the functionalities asked for as well as be compatible with Drupal 8.

Design Requirements

Another thing that determines the base theme to be used for creating a Drupal website is its design. Drupal 8 is used for creating a variety of websites, from e-commerce stores to web apps. A theme should have such features that support specific design requirements of the website it will be used to create.

CSS/Markup Updating Requirements

The next question relates to the degree of CSS/Markup updating required. Some themes come pre-equipped with many classes that can be applied to the markup. This means that a great deal of customization will be required to add classes to new components. Conversely, certain themes, such as Classy, require you to do a lot of CSS writing. You may even need to override templates depending upon your requirements.

Performance Expectations

Drupal themes come with different functions, settings, template overrides, and JS libraries, which can cause the site to slow down. A theme with numerous JS libraries and lot of default CSS would be heavier and cause performance issues. Testing the impact of the theme's settings on the performance is a good way to choose the theme that matches your expectations.

Use Of Pattern Library

If you are planning to develop patterns, a core base theme would make the most preferred choice. Taking a minimalistic approach is the best thing to do as it allows the application of classes to site components. These are themed by pattern library styles.