Theme or Template? Our At-A-Glance Guide at the Semantics of Changing Your Website via a CMS.

If you've used more than one CMS in your time, like the writer of this article, you may have tried to change the look of your website by downloading a theme. Or you may have tried to edit an existing theme, to add a more personal touch to your project.

As detailed in our previous article about what CMS X calls its add-ons compared to CMS Y, CMS Z and CMS AA, the same is true with its themes.

• Theme: often used to describe a style for the website in a more aesthetic context;
• Template: could often describe a barebones framework, allowing designers and developers to create the above.

Themes

In the World of CMS, your content management system is likely to have a couple of themes for your website, and a theme or two for the CMS's rear end. They would often be saved in a specific folder, usually entitled 'Themes' (as is the case with Joomla! via its Media Manager). The default front end theme would normally be minimalistic though enough to display the CMS's capabilities. For example, and most commonly now, its scaleability for portable devices.

Templates

I remember when templates were used in primary school to draw around given shapes, such as double decker buses, horses or cats. They were a useful aid for children with less advanced drawing skills and a boon for teachers doing wall displays. Especially the ones with Helvetica Bold typeface where teachers drew around the letters on coloured paper and cut them out prior to stapling or gluing. Today, they are more likely to contain CSS3, HTML5 and a PHP framework instead of bits of dried PVA glue. Sometimes they are just a barebones framework, or fully fledged designs with the usual medley of social networking buttons and other effects.

As seen below, most content management systems refer to the aesthetics of given website styles as 'themes' or 'templates'. 'Themes' is the most popular, whereas 'templates' is sometimes favoured. DNN opts for 'skins', though the term skins sounds more applicable to changing the look of your web browser.

To assuage anyone's confusion, third party websites like Theme Forest or Template Monster use 'template' and 'theme' within their source code. Furthermore, this enhances their chances of being found on popular search engines. If a third party site supports more than one CMS, it is understandable as to why both permutations are used. A good thing in this sense.

Cheat Sheet: Which CMS And Which Template Name?