User manual

Customizing Koha Software
Skills needed
Here is a quick overview of the skills needed to customize Koha. If you want to
modify styling and appearance, HTML and CSS skills should suffice. If you want
to work on more complex features, you will likely need JavaScript, Perl, and SQL
skills as well:
HTML: Koha runs in a browser, basic HTML skills are required if you
want to make changes to Koha's screens
CSS: Size, fonts, position, or colors on Koha screens are controlled via
CSS files
JavaScript: JavaScript adds interactivity to web pages; in Koha, JavaScript
is used for tasks such as validating keyed data or building menus
Perl: Koha's scripting language. If you need to work outside of basic styling
and appearance changes, you will need Perl skills
SQL: Along with Perl, you will need SQL skills to access or modify data in
the database
Understanding Koha's application folder
To be able to make changes to the software, we need to understand the structure of
Koha's application folder - how the folders are organized, what they contain, and
how the different file types are related to each other.
Top level folders
Here is a description of the some of the important folders in the
kohaclone
folder:
C4:
This folder contains Koha's Perl modules. These Perl modules are
shared libraries, containing subroutines that are used by various Perl
scripts throughout the Koha application.
etc:
This folder contains Apache2, Zebra, and Koha's configuration files.
installer:
This folder contains Koha's web installer files, including those
that install or upgrade the Koha database.
koha -tmpl:
This folder contains files related to staff client and OPAC screens.
Perl scripts: Koha's Perl scripts are organized by function in folders, such
as
acqui
-for acquisitions,
circ
-for circulations, or misc -for various
command -line and Crontab programs.
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