In SAPUI5 applications, theming plays a critical role in ensuring that the user interface is visually consistent, accessible, and aligned with corporate branding or SAP Fiori design guidelines. UI5 Theming Concepts enable developers and designers to customize the look and feel of applications efficiently, while maintaining responsiveness and accessibility across devices.
This article provides an overview of the core UI5 theming concepts, the mechanisms behind theming in SAPUI5, and best practices for customizing themes to create engaging and user-friendly SAP Fiori applications.
UI5 Theming is the process of defining styles, colors, fonts, and layout rules that determine the visual appearance of UI5 controls and applications. It allows applications to adopt a uniform design language or adapt to customer-specific branding requirements without changing application logic.
Themes in UI5 are collections of CSS and resources packaged to style UI controls consistently.
SAPUI5 ships with several built-in themes, including:
Applications can switch themes dynamically at runtime by changing the theme configuration.
The theming mechanism in SAPUI5 relies on:
SAP provides the UI Theme Designer, a web-based tool that allows developers and designers to create custom themes by modifying base themes, adjusting variables such as colors, fonts, and images.
Themes use CSS variables and LESS/Sass variables known as theming parameters to control styling. For example:
sapUiBaseFontFamilysapUiContentFontSizesapUiChartAccentColorThese parameters ensure consistent application of styles across all UI controls.
Custom themes can inherit from base themes (like sap_fiori_3), enabling developers to override only specific variables or CSS rules without redefining the entire theme.
At runtime, UI5 loads the selected theme's CSS and resource bundles, applying them globally across controls.
Example of switching themes programmatically:
sap.ui.getCore().applyTheme("sap_hcb");
sap_fiori_3.For advanced customizations, developers can:
sap.ui.core.theming.Parameters API to read or set theming parameters programmatically.library.css or custom.css file with specific overrides.Example accessing theming parameters:
var sPrimaryColor = sap.ui.core.theming.Parameters.get("sapUiChartAccentColor");
Theming also ensures accessibility compliance:
sap_hcb enhance readability.Understanding UI5 theming concepts is essential for building visually consistent and brand-aligned SAPUI5 applications. By leveraging the UI Theme Designer, theming parameters, and theme inheritance, developers can create flexible, maintainable themes that enhance user experience while adhering to SAP Fiori design principles.
Proper theming ensures that SAPUI5 applications not only function well but also look professional, accessible, and engaging across devices.