Contrib.social

Add Varbase Installer Theme for use during installation on Drupal 11.2.0+

Open on Drupal.org →
Created on 4 August 2025, about 1 month ago

Problem/Motivation

As of Drupal ~11.2.0, the install process supports using dedicated install themes.
To restore Varbase's original branded installation experience while leveraging Gin as the base,
a new minimal install theme is needed. This ensures the installation flow remains familiar,
styled, and modern without impacting the post-install admin UX.

Hooks to while installing are limited after ~11.2.0
Adding style or script is no longer an option

Proposed resolution

Introduced a Varbase Installer Theme that extends the Gin admin theme and is used
only during installation, for Drupal versions 11.2.0 and later.

Overview:

This minimal theme:

  • Inherits all functionality from Gin
  • Adds original Varbase install-page.css and install-scripts.js styling
  • Is scoped to the install phase only

Features:

  • Minimal Override: Keeps Gin fully intact as the base theme
  • Installation-Only: Automatically disabled after installation
  • Original Varbase Branding: Includes familiar install-page styling and behavior

File Structure:

varbase_installer_theme/
├── css/install-page.css
├── js/install-scripts.js
├── varbase_installer_theme.info.yml
├── varbase_installer_theme.libraries.yml
└── README.md

How It Works:

  1. Extends Gin to maintain consistency with the admin experience.
  2. Adds a custom library to Gin’s install-page to inject Varbase install styling.
  3. Used only during installation for Drupal 11.2.0+ via install key in varbase.info.yml.

This update ensures a clean, modern, and branded install process for Varbase while leveraging core enhancements in Drupal 11.2+.

Remaining tasks

  • ✅ File an issue about this project
  • ❌ Addition/Change/Update/Fix to this project
  • ❌ Testing to ensure no regression
  • ➖ Automated unit/functional testing coverage
  • ➖ Developer Documentation support on feature change/addition
  • ➖ User Guide Documentation support on feature change/addition
  • ➖ UX/UI designer responsibilities
  • ➖ Accessibility and Readability
  • ❌ Code review from 1 Varbase core team member
  • ❌ Full testing and approval
  • ❌ Credit contributors
  • ❌ Review with the product owner
  • ❌ Update Release Notes and Update Helper on new feature change/addition
  • ❌ Release

Varbase update type

  • ✅ No Update
  • ➖ Optional Update
  • ➖ Forced Update
  • ➖ Forced Update if Unchanged

User interface changes

  • N/A

API changes

  • N/A

Data model changes

  • N/A

Release notes snippet

  • N/A
📌 Task
Status

Active

Version

10.1

Component

Code

Created by

🇯🇴Jordan Rajab Natshah Jordan

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