How to develop for multiple themes?

[hannab]

I'm setting up a sample site where the user has the ability to switch between a few different themes to see what his/her site could look like. The switching itself is done by the plugin "IJM Theme Bar" and seem to work fine.

How do I set up the content on my site to be able to seamlessly flow into the various themes? I have selected three Genesis' themes that have most of their widgets in common (Enterprise Pro, Executive Pro and Outreach Pro).

So far, I've tried to only use widget areas that all three themes have in common (Header Right, Primary Sidebar, Home - Top, Footer 1-3 and After Entry).

Can I rename widget areas that are different between the themes so they have the same name across themes and then use those too?

What is the best way to develop this site for it to look "complete" when theme is switched? I don't want to reinvent the wheel so if there's info out there how to do this, I'd like to find it.

I'm NOT a programmer and my goal is to do what's possible without getting into the .php files (ok, Functions.php I understand but that's about it).

Thanks!
Hanna

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If you’re not living on the edge, you’re taking up too much space.

http://www.highmarkdesigns.com/developer/site1

[Brad Dalton]

Look in the lib folder of the new Pro themes to see how you can set theme defaults.

Otherwise, you could setup 3 separate installations or use multi site

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Tutorials for StudioPress Themes.

[hannab]

Thank you Brad. I will look into that. For now, I'm trying to create three customized versions of the same theme so that all widget areas are the same. I'm hoping that will work.

//Hanna

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If you’re not living on the edge, you’re taking up too much space.

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