AppSuite:Theming

In this article, you can learn how to create customized themes and use them to change the look of you appsuite installation.

File structure

A theme basically consists of two files located in $APPSUITE_ROOT/apps/themes/$YOUR_UNIQUE_THEME_NAME. These files are described in this and the following sections.

definitions.less

This file can be used to override variables described in the "Variables" section of this article.

style.less

This file can be used to define any CSS you like. Before doing this, check, if there really is no variable that can be used to achieve the same thing.

Variables

Basic

Font

Variable	Default	Description
@sansFontFamily	"Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif
@serifFontFamily	Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif
@monoFontFamily	Monaco, Menlo, Consolas, "Courier New", monospace
@baseFontSize	14px
@baseFontFamily	@sansFontFamily
@baseLineHeight	20px
@altFontFamily	@serifFontFamily
@touchFontSize	15px
@headingsFontFamily	inherit
@headingsFontWeight	bold
@fontSizeLarge	@baseFontSize * 1.25
@fontSizeSmall	@baseFontSize * 0.85
@fontSizeMini	@baseFontSize * 0.75
@vgridFontSize	13px

Colors

Variable	Default	Description
@bodyBackground	@white
@textColor	@grayDark
@linkColor	#08c
@linkColorHover	darken(@linkColor, 15%)
@linkAccentColor	#ffad00
@linkAccentColorHover	darken(@linkAccentColor, 15%)
@headingsColor	inherit
@black	#000
@grayDarker	#222
@grayDark	#333
@gray	#555
@grayLight	#aaa
@grayLighter	#eee
@white	#fff
@blue	darken(#049cdb, 5%)
@blueDark	#0064cd
@blueLight	lighten(#049cdb, 25%)
@green	#1A8D1A
@greenLight	#92D050
@red	#cc0000
@yellow	#F8E400
@orange	#f89406
@pink	#E01CD9
@purple	#7E16CF

Space

Variable	Default	Description
@paddingLarge	11px 19px
@paddingSmall	2px 10px
@paddingMini	0 6px
@baseBorderRadius	4px
@borderRadiusLarge	6px
@borderRadiusSmall	3px

Buttons

Variable	Default	Description
@btnBackground	@white
@btnBackgroundHighlight	darken(@white, 10%)
@btnBorder	#bbb
@btnPrimaryBackground	@linkColor
@btnPrimaryBackgroundHighlight	spin(@btnPrimaryBackground, 20%)
@btnInfoBackground	#5bc0de
@btnInfoBackgroundHighlight	#2f96b4
@btnSuccessBackground	#62c462
@btnSuccessBackgroundHighlight	#51a351
@btnWarningBackground	lighten(@orange, 15%)
@btnWarningBackgroundHighlight	@orange
@btnDangerBackground	#ee5f5b
@btnDangerBackgroundHighlight	#bd362f
@btnInverseBackground	#444
@btnInverseBackgroundHighlight	@grayDarker

Dropdowns

Variable	Default	Description
@dropdownBackground	@white
@dropdownBorder	rgba(0,0,0,.2)
@dropdownDividerTop	#e5e5e5
@dropdownDividerBottom	@white
@dropdownLinkColor	@grayDark
@dropdownLinkColorHover	@white
@dropdownLinkColorActive	@white
@dropdownLinkBackgroundActive	@linkColor
@dropdownLinkBackgroundHover	@dropdownLinkBackgroundActive

Foldertree

Variable	Default	Description
@foldertreeSidepanelBackground
@foldertreeSectionTitleColor
@foldertreeActiveLabelColor
@foldertreePassiveLabelColor
@foldertreeHoverBackground
@foldertreeSelectedBackground
@foldertreeCounterBadgeBackground
@foldertreeCounterBadgeColor

Calendar

Variable	Default	Description
@appointmentReserved	#08c; /* blue */
@appointmentTemporary	#ffbb00; /* yellow */
@appointmentAbsent	#913f3f; /* red */
@appointmentFree	#8eb360; /* green */
@appointmentPrivate	#555; /* gray */
@appointmentDeclinedFont	#888;
@appointmentUnconfirmedAlpha	0.4;
@appointmentDeclinedAlpha	0.3;
@appointmentHoverPct	15%;
@appointmentDeclinedAlpha	0.3;
@weekviewAppointmentLasso	rgba(0, 136, 204, 0.30);
@weekviewDayIn	#fff; /* whitw */
@weekviewDayOut	#e0e0e0; /* grey */
@weekviewTimeline	#f00; /* red */
@monthviewAppointmentOut	#aaa; /* light gray */
@monthviewToday	#daefff
@calendarToolbarHeight	41px;
@weekviewTimeWith	58px;

How to activate a theme during development

When creating a new theme, you don’t have it installed with your frontend. In this case you don’t want to go to a complete build of a theme and reinstall it for every change. The trick is to create your theme and overwrite the default theme with it. You can then use the appserver proxy to ship your own version of the UI.

To activate a theme on the backend, you have to add it to the io.ox/core/settingsOptions//themes list.

Example

Adding

io.ox/core/settingsOptions//themes/unicorn=Friendship is Magic

to etc/settings/appsuite.properties add a theme named unicorn with the name Friendship is Magic to the list of themes, a user can choose. Find the list in the Settings -> Basic view behind the option Theme.

Best practice

To be really safe, it’s best to only define your own values for the variables shown above. If this really breaks anything, we consider this a bug, please report it [1] in our bugzilla.

Of course, using CSS in style.less file to define your own styles is also possible. Make sure to test your style in such cases more carefully. It is most likely safe to change minor things using this file, but if you plan to change any positions of larger elements, this might break the complete design. So please be careful when overwriting the default CSS rules.