Comparison of Fusion starter themes

Last updated July 28, 2010

File structure of Fusion Starter and Fusion Starter Lite

Currently there are two ‘starter’ subthemes available for Fusion: Fusion Starter and Fusion Starter Lite. Which one should you choose when creating your own custom subtheme? Well, that depends!

If you have no idea what any of this means and want something simple to start with – go for the Lite version. Similarly, if you’re an advanced themer and know what you’re doing, and only want to include parts of Fusion as you need it, start with Lite.

If you want to see all the bells and whistles of what Fusion can do, go with Fusion Starter!

Of course in reality this is a continuum, and the list below just reflects the out-of-the-box defaults in each. You can always start with Lite and copy additional settings from Starter as needed, or remove code from Starter.

Here are the differences between the two:

Fusion Starter Fusion Starter Lite
14 regions 5 regions
16 column grid default 12 column grid default
Wrappers on all rows for full width background styling No wrappers on rows
Includes extensive starter CSS Minimal starter CSS
Includes Ubercart starter CSS No Ubercart starter CSS
Inherits all Fusion Core’s Skinr styles Does not inherit Fusion Core’s Skinr styles (other than block widths & position)
Files included: see screenshot (inherits most from Fusion Core) Files included: see screenshot (less files, but also includes block.tpl.php and page.tpl.php to override Fusion Core’s)