AppSuite:Theming

From Open-Xchange

API status: In Development

Theming

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

LESS.JS

Appsuite used LESS as dynamic stylesheet language. LESS extends CSS with dynamic behavior such as variables, mixins, operations and functions.

Please read LESS.JS documentation first.

Using less.js

If your theme depends on less.js, you will need one more step to make it work. Why? To accelerate the login, compilation of LessCSS files was moved from the login process in the browser to the installation process on the backend.

Backend packages for themes and any apps which ship .less files require the following changes:

1. Add "skipLess=1" to the build command in *.spec and in debian/rules:

  sh /opt/open-xchange-appsuite-dev/bin/build-appsuite app skipLess=1

2. Add %post and %postun sections to *.spec:

  %post
  if [ "$1" = 1 ]; then
  UPDATE=/opt/open-xchange/appsuite/share/update-themes.sh
  [ -x $UPDATE ] && $UPDATE
  fi
  %postun
  UPDATE=/opt/open-xchange/appsuite/share/update-themes.sh
  [ -x $UPDATE ] && $UPDATE

For multiple binary packages, the %post and %postun sections should apply only to backend packages which contain .less files.

3. Add debian/postinst and debian/postrm containing the same content:

  #!/bin/sh
  UPDATE=/opt/open-xchange/appsuite/share/update-themes.sh
  [ -x $UPDATE ] && $UPDATE

For multiple binary packages, the postinst and postrm files should apply only to backend packages which contain .less files.

Note: Since 7.2.1, LessCSS files must have the file extension .less to be usable with the 'less' RequireJS plugin (module dependencies of the form 'less!filename.less'). Previously we were more lenient and dealt with .css, too.

File structure

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

THEME_ID is a unique identifier for your theme, which is not visible to users. By convention, it is best derived from a domain name you control, e.g. com.example.prettytheme.

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.

= Referencing paths

Since 7.2.1, all URLs are relative to the source .less file in which they are contained. This means that unless a theme changes an image it does not need to include that image anymore.

Old themes must be updated if they change an image from the default theme: All styles from the default theme which refer to a changed image must be overwritten in the custom theme. This way the URLs resolve to the new image.

Variables

Naming of the variables should be straight forward. Variables containing the word Background will always refer to the background color. Variables containing Color will refer to the foreground color of an element, like color of a font. Hover in most cases means "hovered" elements. Selected relates to the currently selected item. Elements that are supposed to catch the users eye can use the Highlight class and the variable contains this word.

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%)
@badgeColor @white
@badgeBackground #555
@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

Pagination

Used where pagination is done, for example in the Calendar weekview, each week is on one "page"; one can switch the week using a pagination widget styled with these variables.

Variable Default Description
@paginationBackground #fff
@paginationBorder #ddd
@paginationActiveBackground #f5f5f5

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 #333
@foldertreeSectionTitleColor #888 Color for sectiontitles in foldertree (like "Public" folders)
@foldertreeActiveLabelColor #ccc Active means, user can perform an action on this item
@foldertreePassiveLabelColor #ccc Passive means, user can not perform any action with this item
@foldertreeHoverBackground #888
@foldertreeSelectedBackground #222
@foldertreeBadgeBackground @bagdeBackground see #Colors for definition of @badgeBackground
@foldertreeBadgeColor @badgeColor see #Colors for definition of @badgeBackground

Calendar

Appointment

Variable Default Description
@appointmentReserved #08c /* blue */ Appointment status color
@appointmentTemporary #ffbb00 /* yellow */ Appointment status color
@appointmentAbsent #913f3f /* red */ Appointment status color
@appointmentFree #8eb360 /* green */ Appointment status color
@appointmentPrivate #555 /* gray */ Appointment status color
@appointmentDeclinedFont #888 /* dark gray */ Font color for declined Appointments
@appointmentUnconfirmedAlpha 0.4 Transparency value for unconfirmed Appointments
@appointmentDeclinedAlpha 0.3 Transparency value for declined Appointments
@appointmentHoverPct 15% Percentage increase of the dark pigment content on hover effect

Week View

Variable Default Description
@weekviewAppointmentLasso #aeaeff Lasso frame color
@weekviewDayIn #fff /* white */ Default background color in week view
@weekviewDayOut #e0e0e0 /* grey */ Background color outside of the mean working time
@weekviewTimeline #f00 /* red */ Color of the Line indicating the current time
@weekviewTimeWith 58px With of the time labels on the left side
@calendarToolbarHeight 41px Height of the control toolbar

Month View

Variable Default Description
@monthviewAppointmentOut #aaa /* light gray */ Color of appointments, which are not in focus
@monthviewToday #daefff /* light blue */ Background color of the current day
@calendarToolbarHeight 41px Height of the control toolbar

Area names

The variables sometimes refer to common areas. To identify which area is located where, see the following annotated screenshots.

Mail application

Launchpad application

Mixins

In LESS, it is possible to include a bunch of properties from one ruleset into another ruleset. So say we have the following class:

Sample

.border-radius(@radius: 0px) {
    -webkit-border-radius: @radius;
    -moz-border-radius: @radius;
    -ms-border-radius: @radius;
    border-radius: @radius;
}

#menu a {
  color: #111;
  .border-radius(5px);
}

Read LESS Mixins

global OX Mixins

they can be found at definitions.less

Mixin Sample Description
.box-sizing(@boxmodel) .box-sizing(border-box)
.user-select(@select) .user-select(none)
.border-radius(@radius) .border-radius(3px)
.box-shadow(@shadow) .box-shadow(3px)
.vertical-gradient(@startColor, @endColor) .vertical-gradient(#888, #555)
.radial-gradient(@color1, @color2, @color3) .radial-gradient(#111, #222, #333)
.transition(@transition) .transition(background-color 0.2s linear)
.animation(@animation) .animation(slidein 300ms)
.animation-name(@name) .animation-name(slideright)
.ellipsis .ellipsis
.overflow(@type) .overflow(hidden)
.overflow-x(@type) .overflow-x(hidden)
.overflow-y(@type) .overflow-y(hidden)
.backface-visibility(@type) .backface-visibility(hidden)

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.

Theming the login page

The login page is a little bit special. If you don’t use the form login (and provide your own login page), you might want to theme the login page, too. Learn how to do this here.

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.

Links

Responsive design

LESS

Caveats

It is not recommended to change the size of elements or their position. If you really want to do so, please check on all devices and in all browsers and make sure you didn’t break anything. You even have to be careful when changing the font, because this might have effects on positioning, too.

As mentioned before, changing colors should be safe.