[development] Themes - Trying to do too much in one theme?

[Fernando Silva]

Hi,

Type 3 here ;)
http://www.openquest.pt/

Regards,
  Fernando Silva

On 10/4/06, Michelle Cox <mcox at charter.net> wrote:
>
> I've been reading these theming threads with much interest and it seems to
> me that part of the problem is trying to make the default theme work for
> different kinds of users. With respect to theming, I think we have three
> main types:
>
> 1) The out-of-the-boxer. This user just wants to set up a site and use the
> theme that's there. Maybe change the colours, but that's it. For this
> user,
> a very pretty eye-candy theme is great. Everything should be styled and it
> should just work with all browsers.
>
> 2) The power user that can't theme their way out of a wet paper bag. This
> user doesn't care a lot what the default theme looks like but wants one
> that's easy to modify with very little CSS/HTML/PHP knowledge. This theme
> needs very little markup and should focus heavily on changeability.
>
> 3) The theming guru. I don't know what this class wants. Maybe they don't
> even care what theme comes with Drupal as they always make their own?
>
> I think a big problem is that 1 and 2 are at odds with each other. Having
> a
> Wow! theme that's easy to change is difficult, maybe impossible. What I
> think, and this is totally IMO, is that the default theme (and maybe a
> couple others for variety) are made totally Wow! to address user type 1.
> Don't worry too much about making these easy to change. Make them work and
> make them pretty. Maybe put something for changing the colours at the top
> for a little tweak but, beyond that, expect them to be used as is.
>
> To address user type 2's needs, what we really need is a set of wire
> frames
> with minimal styling and lots of comments. Take the basic shapes that most
> websites used (that is, 1 2 or 3 columns, header, footer, stuff like that)
> and code them really well so the layout holds up to whatever contribs
> throw
> at it. Then put in all the various elements that can be styled, but leave
> them empty or with something fairly neutral. Put lots of comments on them
> so
> someone with just a little CSS knowledge can look at it and know what a
> change there will do. By doing this, the novice CSSer won't have to fight
> the browser quirk layout issues and all that mess but will be able to
> easily
> tweak the theme to look how they want it without having to unstyle a bunch
> of eye candy.
>
> Just my $0.02 US ;)
>
> Michelle (type 2)
>
>
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