I'm not quite gripping the concept of the theme.php file

[MrBiggZ]

Greetings!

I'm creating my own theme so it suits my page.  Got a header and footer that are working very well.  But I can't for the likes of me understand what is going on in the theme.php file.

I want to stay away from tables.  Don't like them.  I'm big on CSS though.  Now I'm guessing things like the sys_menu, sub_menu and admin_menu those items in the menu itself have variable names.  What are they?  Now would I built my list in the theme.php file?

The examples I've seen of the theme.php file have been majorly confusing and I don't really find the documentation very clear on the subject.  Can somebody help me?  Not asking you to do it for me .. just tell me how it works or where there's something written in plain english on how that files and its inner workings .. work!

I appreciate it much!  I'm like 92% done with my page .. i really really want to get this part completed!

Many thanks in advance!

[steveeh131047]

MrBiggZ,

I'm no expert, but I think this is how it works:

The "sample theme" theme.php file contains all the "core" elements which go to make up the gallery. Copy the appropriate code for any element that you want to style uniquely into your own theme.php file where you can then apply CSS selectors etc. Code for elements that are NOT defined in your theme.php file will default to the code that was in the "sample" theme.php file. Don't copy everything across - just those elements you need to style uniquely. Hope that makes sense

If it helps, take a look at the skeleton "pseudo frames" theme I produced: http://forum.coppermine-gallery.net/index.php/topic,51596.0.html It contains quite a lot of "non-table" layout, and has some useful modifications input by Joachim which show how to modify PHP code copied from the "sample" theme to produce CSS styled "Unordered Lists" for menu items.

Steve