2026/27 Theme Refresh Coming

As mentioned in our previous update from August 6th, we’re continuing with our planned updates to the SiteFarm service with the next goal being the theme refresh.

The theme refresh test phase now available on the Development server

If you have a custom subtheme or make significant use of the CSS Editor

We have already upgraded our Development server environment expressly so users can test their custom development against the the theme refresh before it goes live on our Production server. Every live site on SiteFarm that has a custom subtheme has already been added to the Dev environment so users of those sites can log into immediately to review. This list of sites also includes sites that users previously requested be added during the Drupal 11 update as they make heavy use the CSS Editor.

Use the following URL structure to visit your site in the Dev Environment:
https://yoursitename.dev.sf.ucdavis.edu/login

Please note: ‘yoursitename’ is the original name of your site as it is known by SiteFarm’s Acquia Cloud Site Factory, not your live URL. As this is a Dev environment you may see a slightly different type of CAS authentication screen--this is purposeful and nothing to be concerned about; log in using your Kerberos username and ID as usual.

If your site isn’t already on the Dev environment and you make major use of the CSS Editor or other major customizations and want to check your custom elements in the new version, please reach out to our team at [email protected] to request that your site be added as quickly as possible.

If you find issues that you need to address, you can deploy those changes to your subtheme to the Dev environment for QA before adding them to the Live environment.

Release Dates and Qualifiers

Given the potential impact on sites with customized themes or development solutions, we want to make certain to give everyone a reasonable amount of time to review and fix any issues they may find. To that end, we're looking at two possible release phases:

• Mid-November 2026: if users find the update process relatively clean and/or easy to update, then we'll look to deploy the update before Thanksgiving; otherwise;
• Mid-January 2027: this is our fallback date, especially if the feedback we receive indicates that adjusting custom work is taking more time than anticipated.

Communication from our users on issues encountered will be key in helping us determine the appropriate release date. We'll reach out closer to November to gauge users' progress and provide guidance as needed to help resolve issues.

Theme Refresh List

The SiteFarm theme refresh will include the following updates: 

• Newly designed header area with a smaller footprint for the main menu, quick links, and search
• New main menu system with unlimited children
• Submenu has been redesigned and also allows for the popup version of the main navigation that can be laid out full-width
• Photo Card: Basic Circular Link featuring a brand color border, link, and title
• Photo Card Oval Variant: Photo card featuring an oval shape and modified interaction
• Content Card: A flexible card style component featuring an image, modifier, title, badges, description, and clickable icon button
• Flip Fact: A flippable version of the factoid that adds a secondary title and description when flipped
• Percent Counter: A circular percentage display that animates to the desired percentage on scroll and can be customized with brand colors
• Circle Ranking: A circular display featuring a branded color stroke, image, and video play on hover

Notes for Subthemes and site modifications with SaaS and jQuery

• Users should no longer be extending SiteFarm's SaaS as we've removed a lot of it. Please use plain CSS and/or JavaScript.
• jQuery no longer loads globally on the front end. If you need jQuery you will have to add it yourself via the libraries file in your subtheme.
• Subthemes need to add the new footer_primary: Footer Primary region to their theme's .info file. Our update hook will move some blocks to this region when the theme is updated, so if your .info file isn't updated ahead of time, then you'll need to manually move any blocks to that region yourself after the refresh is deployed.
• Subthemers will need to review all of their twig template file overrides.
• The 18 changed files under templates/ include:
  1. block/block--footer-nav.html.twig (deleted)
  2. block/block--nav-quicklinks.html.twig (renamed from block--quicklinks-menu.html.twig)
  3. block/block--nav.html.twig (deleted)
  4. block/block--search-popup.html.twig (deleted)
  5. block/block--sf-tile-link.html.twig (modified)
  6. block/block--sub-main-menu.html.twig (deleted)
  7. block/block--system-menu-block.html.twig (modified)
  8. content/node--photo-card.html.twig (modified)
  9. content/node--tile-link.html.twig (modified)
  10. content/page-title.html.twig (modified)
  11. form/select.html.twig (modified)
  12. layout/html.html.twig (modified)
  13. layout/page.html.twig (modified)
  14. layout/region--footer.html.twig (deleted)
  15. navigation/breadcrumb.html.twig (modified)
  16. navigation/menu--main--region-navigation.html.twig (deleted)
  17. navigation/menu--subnav.html.twig (deleted)
  18. partials/www-quicklinks.html.twig (modified)

Features yet to come

Please note that the following list of features are still on the SiteFarm roadmap but will likely not make the cut for the first release of the upcoming refresh.

• Horizontal sliding section: A new layout style that allows for an introduction, description, and call to action to be accompanied by a sliding section of components
• Next Steps Menu: A fixed tab navigation that allows for customized journey menus using focal links.
• Hero Banner Contextual Menu: A menu component that allows for multiple call to action buttons for one hero, also using focal links
• Faceted Search View: A new search view that allow for an e-commerce style interface to searching and filtering specific content types

2026-2027 Development Roadmap

• COMPLETED - September - Upgrade to Drupal 11
• YOU ARE HERE --> Fall/Winter - Adoption of the new refresh elements into SiteFarm. A specific list with details of their aesthetics and functionality to be included as the SiteFarm team will need to make adjustments to the features in order to integrate them into our service. Well in advance of this release, we will again make the Dev environment available with the refreshed look so you can test your subthemes. We strongly recommend that you set aside the time to review and update your custom subthemes and projects to avoid any surprises when the refresh goes live on the Production server. Consider this an excellent opportunity to clean things up and remove old, outdated modifications. Our release date for the theme refresh will depend largely on how much work users with custom elements need to prepare for the update. If the adoption goes smoothly, we will try to target mid-November 2026, otherwise we’ll aim for mid-January 2027 to give users time to work on issues and seek guidance from our team.
• Winter/Spring/Summer - Your responses to our three surveys have not fallen into the ether! With the major updates complete, our team will be reviewing the details of your final third survey to review your votes and preferences, and begin the process of determining which ones can be implemented and in what order. Once the review process is complete, we can update you on which features you can look forward to along with a timeline of planned releases in phases. Details and dates will become more precise over time. In fact, some of them have already been implemented, or will be implemented by the upcoming refresh: 
  • Using an AI plug-ins to assist with alt tags, tables, descriptive links, and other accessibility oversights
  • Remove the extra divs that hold tags on pages, but are empty. They show up in accessibility reports but can't be fixed by users. Sometimes it's enabled for display for some templates, but disabled for others. Where it's disabled, accessibility reports complain of empty headings.
  • Drop down menus are activated by user, not by mouse or keyboard hover. Suggestion: Remove navigation from main page and place within a side menu. See the harvard.edu site as an example.

Questions? Concerns? Need reminders on how to fold a paper map so it fits back in the glove compartment? Drop us a note at [email protected].