# Theming

URL: /bengal/docs/theming/
Section: theming
Description: Templates, assets, and visual customization

---

> For a complete page index, fetch /bengal/llms.txt.

Control how your site looks with Kida (https://lbliii.github.io/kida/) templates, CSS/JS assets, and theme packages.

## What Do You Need?

Templating

Kida template engine, layouts, inheritance, and partials

(/bengal/docs/theming/templating/)

Assets

CSS, JavaScript, images, and fonts

(/bengal/docs/theming/assets/)

Themes

Use, customize, or create themes

(/bengal/docs/theming/themes/)

Template Cookbook

Common templating patterns and Bengal-specific features

(/bengal/docs/theming/recipes/)

## How Theming Works

flowchart TB
subgraph Input
A[Content Pages]
B[Theme Templates]
C[Assets CSS/JS]
end

subgraph "Template Engine"
D[Select Layout]
E[Render Templates]
F[Process Assets]
end

subgraph Output
G[HTML Pages]
H[Optimized Assets]
end

A --> D
B --> D
D --> E
C --> F
E --> G
F --> H

## Customization Levels

Level
Effort
What You Can Change

CSS Variables
Low
Colors, fonts, spacing via`--var`overrides

Template Overrides
Medium
Copy and modify specific templates with swizzling (./themes/customize/)

Custom Theme
High
Full control over all templates and assets

Tip

Quick wins: Start with CSS Variables (./themes/customize/) to change colors and fonts without touching templates. Use`bengal utils theme swizzle`to copy and customize specific templates when you need structural changes.

## Reference

Reference
Description

Theme Variables (/bengal/docs/reference/theme-variables/)
Complete`page`, `site`, `section`object reference

Template Functions (/bengal/docs/reference/template-functions/)
80+ filters and functions for templates

Kida Syntax (/bengal/docs/reference/kida-syntax/)
Kida template engine syntax reference (full docs (https://lbliii.github.io/kida/docs))

## In This Section

Templating (/docs/theming/templating/)

Kida template engine, layouts, inheritance, and partials

5 pages

Assets (/docs/theming/assets/)

CSS, JavaScript, images, and fonts

1 page

Themes (/docs/theming/themes/)

Use, customize, or create themes

4 pages

Template Cookbook (/docs/theming/recipes/)

Common templating patterns and Bengal-specific features

15 pages

Create a Theme (/bengal/docs/theming/theme-creation/)

Build a custom Bengal theme from scaffold to deployment