What are Themes?
ControlShift allows organizations to control the look and feel of their instance of the platform through the Themes feature. The Themes page, which is included under the organization's Settings, allows admins to set specific fonts, colors, links, and logos that are tied to a particular Theme.
Organizations may have one or more themes. When setting up Themes, organizations determine which Theme should be considered default and can create additional Themes that are used in specific circumstances.
What can be customized in Themes?
Within Themes, admins can customize colors (including: accent colors, link colors, text colors, and header and footer colors), fonts, header and footer links, and logos. Each of these settings is tied to a specific Theme, so different Themes can have completely different configurations.
How can alternative Themes be used?
Many organizations will have a default Theme that matches their organization's brand. Using the same fonts and colors on ControlShift allows your members to have a consistent experience as they move between your main site and ControlShift.
However, there are some times when organizations may be interested in using alternative Themes, including:
- if your organization is running a partner/coalition campaign with another organization, you may wish to use less explicit branding for that campaign. Instead of your default branding, you can choose fonts and colors that represent both organizations. You may also want to update the header to include a link to the partner organization.
- if your organization is planning a day of action with its own brand, you can create a Theme to match. Use that separate brand's fonts/colors and put the day of action's logo in the header. You can then use that Theme for the individual event pages and pre-filtered lookup pages.
- if your organization is putting together a microsite on a specific issue area, you can set up a new Theme that matches the fonts and colors used on the microsite. After applying the new Theme to the appropriate petitions, events, and/or groups, supporters moving from the microsite to ControlShift will have a consistent experience.
- if your organization has multiple legal identities, you can set up different Themes with different disclaimers and branding variations so that supporters are reminded of the different sponsors of individual petitions, events, or groups.
Because Themes are easy to configure, you can set up new Themes whenever the need arises. Themes that are no longer in use can be deleted.
How do I create a new Theme?
To get started, go to the org admin homepage > Settings > Themes. On this page, click the New Theme button, and then give your new Theme a name. Initially your new Theme will be created using ControlShift's default colors and fonts. You can specify new colors by clicking the color swatch and entering a hexadecimal color code (e.g. #34568B) or by entering an HTML color name (e.g. SteelBlue). Then, click Submit.
When you've finished entering colors, you can then choose the fonts that should be used for your new Theme. To update from our default (Graphik) font, click the Change button and select a font from the dropdown. If your organization's font is not included in that list, and your font license allows, you can send us your font files and we'll upload them for you.
Next, you can specify the logos that should be used with this Theme. You can also customize the header and footer links. (If your platform is operating in more than one language, you can also provide different translations.)
Once your theme has been created, you can then choose to make it your primary Theme or use it on specific pages only.
How do I edit an existing Theme?
If you need to make changes to an existing theme, go to the admin homepage > Settings > Themes and choose the name of the Theme. From that Themes overview page, click the Edit button to make changes. Please note: any changes will take effect immediately.
How do I change my organization's primary Theme?
To change your organization's primary Theme, go to the org admin homepage > Settings > Themes. On this page, you'll see information about where your organization's branding is currently coming from. If you've just created a new Theme, it should be included in the list along with any other already-created Themes.
The Theme with the Default tag is your organization's default Theme.* Any changes made to this Theme will immediately change the look and feel of your instance of the platform. To make a different Theme your organization's default Theme, click the Make Default button. This will immediately update your organization's site to the new Theme.
How do I customize the Theme used on specific pages?
In addition to an organization's default Theme, admins can specify alternative Themes that are used on specific pages. When deciding what Theme a user should see, we use the following rules:
- If the specific petition, event, or group has a Theme assignment, then we'll use that Theme. (Show me how.)
- Otherwise, if it’s a petition event and the petition has a Theme assignment, then we'll use that petition’s Theme.
- Otherwise, if it’s a petition or event sponsored by a local group and that group has a Theme assignment, then we'll use that group’s Theme.
- Otherwise, if it’s an event in a Calendar and the Calendar has a Theme assignment, then we'll use that Calendar’s Theme. (Show me how.)
- Otherwise, if it’s a petition in an Effort and the Effort has a Theme assignment, then we'll use that Effort’s Theme. (Show me how.)
- Otherwise, if it's a petition or event that belongs to a Partnership and the Partnership has a Theme assignment, then we'll use the Partnership’s Theme. (Show me how.)
- Otherwise, if it’s a petition, event, or group in a Region and that Region has a Theme assignment, then we'll use the Region’s Theme. (Show me how.)
- Otherwise, if the user is viewing the page on a hostname that has a Theme assignment, then we'll use the hostname’s Theme. (Show me how.)
- Otherwise, we'll use the default Theme.
How to customize these settings:
Assigning a Theme to a petition, event, or group
To assign a Theme to a petition, event, or group, get started by going to that item's public page and clicking Admin. On the details page, the current Theme assignment is shown. To change the Theme, click the Assign button and choose the correct option from the dropdown menu.
N.B.: Changing a petition's Theme may also change the Theme of any events that are associated with that campaign (if the event doesn't already have a Theme assignment).
Assigning a Theme to a Calendar
To assign a Theme to a Calendar, get started by going to the admin homepage > Calendars > choose your Calendar > Settings. From this page, expand the Settings section to see the Theme dropdown. After making your selection click to Save.
Your chosen Theme will then be used for the Calendar's hub page, host recruitment pages, and event pages.
N.B. Changing a Calendar's Theme will immediately change the Theme for all existing and future events in the Calendar (unless the events have their own Theme assignments).
Assigning a Theme to an Effort (or Landing Page)
To assign a Theme to an Effort or Landing Page, get started by going to the admin homepage > Efforts (or Pages) > choose the name of your Effort or Landing Page > Settings. On this page, expand the Theme section and click Assign. Once you made your selection, click Save.
Your chosen Theme will then be used on the Effort's (or Landing Page's) hub and landing pages, petition leader recruitment pages, and the resulting petition pages.
N.B. Changing an Effort or Landing Page's Theme will immediately change the Theme for all existing and future petitions in the Effort or Landing Page (unless the petitions have their own Theme assignments).
Assigning a Theme to a Partnership
To assign a Theme to a Partnership, go to the admin homepage > Partnerships > choose the partnership > Settings. In the middle of this page, you'll see the option to assign a Theme.
After making your selection, click Save at the bottom of the page. Your chosen Theme will be used for the Partnership's hub page, petition creation page (if the New Campaign button is shown for this partner), and any associated petitions, events, and/or Calendars (including events in that Calendar).
N.B. Changing a Partnership's Theme will immediately change the Theme for all existing and future petitions, events, and Calendars in that Partnership (unless the petitions/events/Calendars have their own Theme assignments).
Assigning a Theme to a Region
To assign a Theme to a region, get started by going to the admin homepage > Settings > Regions and choose the appropriate region. On that page we'll show you the current Theme assignment. To change the Theme, click the Assign button and choose the appropriate Theme.
N.B.: Changing a region's Theme may also change the Theme of any petitions, event, or groups that are associated with that region (if they don't already have their own Theme assignment).
Assigning a Theme to a hostname
It's also possible to assign a Theme to a hostname. Many ControlShift organizations only have one hostname, but some organizations have more than one (e.g. action.advocacy.org, events.advocacy.org, and DayOfAction.org, all of which point to the organization's single ControlShift platform). To assign a theme to a hostname, you'll first need to set up the alternate hostname (from the org admin homepage > Settings > Basics > Hostnames).
Once you've added your new hostname, go to the Themes overview page (org admin homepage > Settings > Themes) and choose the Theme you'd like to use. From there, click Use for a Hostname and select the appropriate hostname. Once configured, users who browse the site using that hostname will see pages wrapped in that Theme (unless the page they're viewing the site in has another Theme assigned to it).
When assigning a Theme to a hostname, you may also be interested in assigning a preset filter to that theme. This setting enables organizations to have event and group lists pre-filtered to only include a specific set of events and groups only. These pre-filtered views can be useful for days of actions and other focused campaigns, as well as for organizations that have separate legal identities sponsoring different events and groups.
*If you don't see a default Theme on the Theme overview page, it's because your organization is using custom branding instead. You can switch to Themes at any time or send us a support email for more information.
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