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Using a base theme when it comes to creating a theme for your Drupal site can be a polarizing issue. On the one hand, some people swear by using Garland as a starting point, customizing it until it looks nothing like the original theme at all. However, I personally prefer the other approach – start with a stripped back base theme and build from there.

There are numerous benefits for using a base theme to build your new Drupal theme. Depending on which base theme you go with, some of the benefits include:

• -Sensible CSS resets, so your HTML elements are consistent across browsers and platforms
• -Included templates, meaning you get a great set of templates for your page, node, blocks etc to work with and build off.
• -Most base themes will include additional classes, making your CSS more concise and easier to write.
• -Additional functionality, such as block configuration links and module integration.
• -Out of the box compliant XHTML and CSS.

While there are numerous benefits to using a base theme, there are many people who will offer counter-arguments. These may include:

• -Bloated base themes. For example, a default Zen starter kit includes 17 enabled style sheets, which can lead in to the infamous Internet Explorer 30 style sheet issue
• -Loss of control in the themeing process, some people prefer to have total control over the entire themeing process.

As with anything in Drupal, the decision to use a base theme or not is entirely at your discretion. If this post has piqued your interest, here’s a sample of some of the base themes available from drupal.org.

• Zen
• Fusion
• Framework
• Genesis
• Basic
• Clean

Please feel free to share any other reasons why you prefer to use or not use a base theme. Happy themeing!