[support] Do you *really* have to be a programmer - was Re:Newbie question on concept

[Bèr Kessels]

Op woensdag 25 april 2007, schreef Larry Garfield:
> Making the node look like something other than the default?  Then you need
> to understand how the theme layer works and know at least enough PHP that
> you don't panic as soon as you see a dollar sign.  

And may I ask you how you solve the issue where you have a PHP/CSS/XHTML 
theme, build on top of views/CCK and what more? 

How you solve the issue where, at that point you want the last 10%, and for 
that, do some fancy theme-overriding, some #some-cool-cc-field { 
float:left; } CSS and some fancy FAPI overriding? 

Obviously this is simple CSS, simple PHP. Possibly developed by some guru, 
even. 

But... It effectivly kills your ability to use the web-interface. You can no 
longer administrate CCK fields: if you add any fields, they may not apear, 
because of your advanced theming. Or they may look crappy, because the CSS 
needs changing.
From this moment on, all your changes require to go either via this guru, or 
at very least require PHP and/or CSS coding to be done. 

This is not limited to Drupal and not limited to this very issue. It /is/, 
however, a serious concern: once you dive into PHP coding, you are stuck 
there forever. Felxibility comes with a great cost. 

This is merely a warning, not a kick at Drupal or at the Drupal way. Its just 
that I have been there, done that many times. And more and more often find 
myself ignoring flexinode, cck and views alltogether, simplly because of the 
fact that in order to get that last 10%, I kill the only pro of these 
modules: online configuration.

Bèr
-- 
Drupal, Ruby on Rails and Joomla! development: webschuur.com | Drupal hosting: 
www.sympal.nl
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