Better to Create New Theme or Modify the Existing EC Theme

[Justin21]

Is it better to modify the existing EC theme if we are just changing the colour of a few things?

Or is it better to do an insert and stay on the EC theme and modify the new record? I notice though with this option things look weird in Employee Center after I replace the OOTB EC theme with the modified theme. 

Any one have suggestions?

[Mark Roethof]

Hi there,

Personally in general if it's small changes, like changing the value for $background-primary, then I update the existing theme record. If it's about additional turning the theme completely up side down, I would consider creating a new one (do be aware, insert and stay: existing CSS Includes or JS Includes are not copied with that > that might also be the issue you are referring to). If it's about adding additional CSS, I'd rather use CSS Includes.

Kind regards,
Mark

[JD Barlow]

Hi Mark - I too have this same question and it sounds like if we're just changing colors/fonts/font sizes then modifying the OOB EC Theme is ok. My concern is, will this file be overwritten with ServiceNow upgrades?

When should we consider creating a custom theme file? If we do, would it be best practice to copy the contents of the OOB EC Theme and re-associate all of the OOB CSS or JS includes?

One last question - do you know if there is a "cheat sheet" that further describes what the variables in the EC Theme file control?

Thank you!