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Theme concept Started by Bloc · · Read 4853 times 0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic. previous topic - next topic

Theme concept

I am a bit torn on whether to create a theme for SMF 2.0 or Elkarte...my gut says Elkarte is a better choice, but I guess it comes down to  how much I can expect each ones theme engines to change. SMF 2.0 is a no-brainer - but how are things for elkarte? Is it "ironed out" already or do you consider major changes before final release of v1.0? The theme I had in mind is outlined in this topic: http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=521771.0 .

I was considering SMF 2.1 too, but it seems far less likely to have a final release in the near future, and besides, if I am to create a theme for anything beyond SMF 2.0 code, it has to be something that feels like "the next step".

I guess I've already made up my mind just by writing this post lol, but thought I should inquire anyway.


Re: Theme concept

Reply #1

I would suggest,  count on the one that is going to come out in time. ElkArte been beta 2, RC in works. I am positive about ElkArte' future.

Wait, did I forgot to say that it looks fantastic ?

Re: Theme concept

Reply #2

Trying to be objective, I suppose the theme will not change that much. I can see small tweaks here and there (e.g. some css alignment, some string, some cleanup of the css, etc.), not for example a overhaul of the UI. I'm not even planning to split any other template in smaller chunks, I'll keep that for 1.1 (or even 2.0 depending how things go).

That said, the theme you posted there is very, very cool! :D

O_O
Really?
I've never been able to tame Curve... but I'm not really a "UI guy", so it may make sense. lol
Bugs creator.
Features destroyer.
Template killer.

Re: Theme concept

Reply #3

Very very nice concept work, and of course we would love to see that on ElkArte !

I do think there are some things built in to Elk that may help with building that theme depending on what direction you want to take, font awesome is included and you can enable JqueryUI with a modSetting as well, should you need that.  There were also some nice improvements to the way layers worked and can be added/removed.  The css files were separated so there is a structure css and a color/visual css, that mostly to make variants easier (its css only between the default and beSocial on this site)

As for the theme engine, as Emanuele said there are no plans for any major changes as we are getting close to our RC1.  There will likely be changes in 1.1 but a lot of that will be based on feedback from the theme community as to what they would like to have to make things easier to theme.  Now if you find something as you are working on this that would make 1.0 better we have been known to slip more than a few things in under the wire in the cloak of darkness :D

Re: Theme concept

Reply #4

Quote from: emanuele – Trying to be objective, I suppose the theme will not change that much. I can see small tweaks here and there (e.g. some css alignment, some string, some cleanup of the css, etc.), not for example a overhaul of the UI. I'm not even planning to split any other template in smaller chunks, I'll keep that for 1.1 (or even 2.0 depending how things go).

That said, the theme you posted there is very, very cool! :D


Quote from: colby67 – SMF 2.0 is a no-brainer
O_O
Really?
I've never been able to tame Curve... but I'm not really a "UI guy", so it may make sense. lol
Well, Curve is certianly complex enough as a theme :) ..what I meant was that the theme engine in SMF2 won't change now.

But great that also Elkarte will not change that much. As for minor changes in CSS that is no problem. Most likely I will be changing a lot of it, hanging onto only the things that must be in..but it will be fun to see just how much. For SMF 2.0 it means almost all of the stylesheet. :D

Quote from: meetdilip – I would suggest,  count on the one that is going to come out in time. ElkArte been beta 2, RC in works. I am positive about ElkArte' future.

Wait, did I forgot to say that it looks fantastic ?
It does look fresh :) ..as for better-than-Curve I am bit biased :P - but I like the new features a lot. So much I will probably use Elkarte on one of my sites, replacing SMF 2.0 there. Default theme is quite good..but I need something more "blog-like" , which is the reason why the concept came to be in the first place.

Quote from: Spuds – Very very nice concept work, and of course we would love to see that on ElkArte !

I do think there are some things built in to Elk that may help with building that theme depending on what direction you want to take, font awesome is included and you can enable JqueryUI with a modSetting as well, should you need that.  There were also some nice improvements to the way layers worked and can be added/removed.  The css files were separated so there is a structure css and a color/visual css, that mostly to make variants easier (its css only between the default and beSocial on this site)

As for the theme engine, as Emanuele said there are no plans for any major changes as we are getting close to our RC1.  There will likely be changes in 1.1 but a lot of that will be based on feedback from the theme community as to what they would like to have to make things easier to theme.  Now if you find something as you are working on this that would make 1.0 better we have been known to slip more than a few things in under the wire in the cloak of darkness :D
I discovered that when checking out Elkarte's code, it does have things that are in my theme concept - but would have to be PHP coded in a SMF 2.0 template. It will be fun to explore and "marry" what I had in mind and existing theme/features in Elkarte. I am not out to change Elkarte as such though ;) but if I do discover things that perhaps could be better from a theme-makers point of view I'll be sure to let you know about it.

I like the stylesheet separation, that sounds like a good solution to an age-old problem with variants.Font Awesome sounds awesome too :D