SharePoint Master Pages vs. Themes

Our Limeade Master Page

What is a Master Page?

Master pages are not a new concept or feature unique to SharePoint. Master pages were introduced with ASP.NET 2.0 as a way to centrally house and control the layout and design of a web site or application.

A single master page file can control the look and feel of countless pages within a site/application. It is basically a next generation approach of how to include common content in lieu of frames or server side include files. For more info, you may want to checkout our Master Pages FAQs page.

Benefits of using Master Pages

• Can totally change the look of a site. 
• Can hide SharePoint components that you don't want to use. 
• Will allow you to alter the layout of the page, in addition to changing the colors and images used in the site. 
• Will not affect _layouts pages. You will need to use a workaround. 

What is a Theme?

A theme is a custom design that can be saved and applied to WSS sites. A theme consists of design and color changes that are applied on top of a site after it has been created.

The theme will apply to all existing pages and any new pages that are created in the site. However, the theme will not apply to any new or existing sub sites that are present under the parent site. A theme has to be individually applied to each site.

Microsoft Verdant Theme

Benefits of using Themes

• Can re-skin the layout of a site to use different images and colors. 
• Can only hide SharePoint components that can be controlled through hiding it in the CSS (display: none set on a class/ID). 
• Affects _layouts pages. 
• Can be used as an alternate CSS file application method, similar to alternate CSS setting in MOSS sites. 

Master pages provide total control of the site layout. Themes on the other hand re-skin the layout by changing colors and images used in the design. Since a theme is just a CSS file and images, the layout of the page such as the location of the navigation, can't be altered. An addtional benefit to themes is that when you apply a theme, it also affects the pages in the _layouts directory, whereas master pages do not. 

You can apply a theme (pick one that most closely resembles what you want to ultimately do with your site design) to your site, and then a copy of the theme CSS file will be created for the site. You can edit this file in SharePoint Designer (thus creating a copy of it in the content database and customizing the file) and create your customizations for your site. 

In some situations, both master pages and themes can be used. If you use a master page to style the site, using a custom theme can style the _layouts pages to coordinate with the look of the site.  If you need to apply different color palettes for one design for sub sites, in MOSS use can use the alternate CSS setting, but that isn't available for WSS sites.  You can create a custom master page for the WSS sites to use, then create and apply different themes to change the color palette of sub sites. 

One drawback to a theme is that you have to apply it at the site level for each site.  Master pages on the other hand can be inherited (for MOSS sites) through sub sites.  But this is buggy and more than likely you have to apply the custom master page on each site anyways. 

So what should you use? Master Pages or Themes?

If you are using the SharePoint site intact with the navigation that comes with the site, and you just need to update the colors and images and add a header to the site, a theme can handle all of that for you.

SharePoint Master Pages vs. Themes

Master Pages

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N/S = Not Supported

With master pages you can implement your own navigation systems, custom code and design elements, move elements around on the page or hide SharePoint components you don’t want to use. It is a more complete solution for totaling changing the way SharePoint looks.

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