Understand the differences and upgrade risks between the out-of-the-box Theming Tool and
custom themes you create with Soy or Freemarker.
Note: Jive Software strongly recommends using the out-of-the-box Theming Tool
whenever possible due to upgrade risks when using Soy or Freemarker themes.
- Out-of-the-box Theming Tool
- The application includes an out-of-the-box theming tool available to community
managers and users with
Customize
Site permissions. Those users can see a Themes option in their user menu in the upper right corner
of the end user interface. This theming
tool allows you to quickly customize your site with your organization's unique colors,
logo, and fonts, or use a
predefined theme included with Jive, such as Bamboo or
Winter. You can also export and
import themes to back up, share,
and transfer themes to other Jive communities using
this theming tool. These themes are upgrade-safe for future versions of the application.
- Custom Themes in Soy or Freemarker
- The application also allows you to develop and deploy your
own custom themes using Soy or Freemarker. However, be aware that by deploying
Soy and Freemarker themes, you will be modifying the application's underlying page
templates. Doing so can make application upgrades extremely time-consuming and
resource-intensive. At Jive Software, we have observed that customers who deploy Soy and
Freemarker themes often experience difficult upgrades due their custom themes.
If you
want a custom theme but don't want to develop it yourself, you can have Jive
Software's professional services team do it for you. Ask your Jive account
representative about this service.