1. Bending Zen Intro Using Zen Themes functionality, but bending it into your own theme. http://dudenhofer.com

2. Needed for Theming Text Editor (Coda, Dreamweaver, ect.) Knowledge of CSS, HTML, and a tiny bit of PHP FIREBUG, BABY! A creative mind http://dudenhofer.com

3. Before Getting Started Consider the most Efficient Layout Regions Div tags Custom Blocks/Views/Fields http://dudenhofer.com

4. Dont make more regions than necessary Use existing regions as much as possible Regions are listed in the.info file Regions the PHP call is defined inside the [ ] this side sets the region name in the block admin http://dudenhofer.com

5. Regions Flexible by default in Zen http://dudenhofer.com The possibility of shuffling the regions makes it even more flexible These regions make it possible for content to be editable.

6. Theming Tip #1 If at all possible, try to avoid hard-coding into the page.tpl.php file. http://dudenhofer.com This doesnt mean youre never going to hack the page.tpl.php file, but consider your options before you do! And try to keep it minimal.

7. Tags Only code ID and Class attributes into the page.tpl.php file http://dudenhofer.com Good Bad Keeps code clean and changes more flexible Code gets cluttered, you will likely have to apply the style multiple times, and future changes will take more work

8. Custom Blocks/Views/Fields Not all blocks, views, and fields need the same style. I put custom theme styles at the bottom of the CSS Comment your code! http://dudenhofer.com

9. Best Practices Try to follow best practices as much as possible - they make life easier for you as well as anyone else that may be using your code later. http://drupal.org/node/341707 http://dudenhofer.com