[WIP/Public beta] Apocalypse theme

[Antechinus]

Is it really necessary to worry about earlier versions of IE these days? I no longer give earlier IE a second thought.

Given that lots of people (myself included) have absolutely no interest in W8 and are sticking with W7, and given that for some weird reason lots of Windows users use IE, and given that the hgihest version of IE that will run on W7 is IE9, and given that IE9's CSS3 support is really pretty damned primitive.......


...unfortunately, to some degree, probably yes. Unless I just give them all the finger and tell them to write their own fallbacks, which I admit is very, very tempting.

[ARG01]

...and given that the hgihest version of IE that will run on W7 is IE9, and given that IE9's CSS3 support is really pretty damned primitive...

I don't understand this? I run W7 and am using IE 11 without issue. 

[live627]

meee toooo

[Antechinus]

Oh cool. Last I checked IE10 and up were only for W8 (I hardly ever pay attention to anything IE). Ok, so I just write W3C compliant code, and if anyone is on IE9 or less it's their problem.

TBH my desktop is still IE9. I should probably upgrade it. Then again, since I don't give a rat's arse about IE, I may not even bother.

[live627]

but you should. Windows depends on IE like its nobody's business.

[Antechinus]

But it doesn't depend on IE11. It's still receiving patches anyway, even with IE9.

ETA: Basically, as long as IEwhatever is standards-compliant, and as long as my OS is being patched for exploits, I don't care what IE is doing. No need to ever look at it.

[Masterd]

So, what's the progress so far?

[kat]

I'm gonna try and break it, during the week.

If I can't break it, Ant might just release it on an unwitting public...

[Antechinus]

There hasn't been any progress, for two reasons. First, I have been busy with other creative interests that don't involve coding. Second, I sometimes find it a bit difficult to get enthused about putting a lot of work into a theme I'll probably never have the opportunity to use, since I don't run a forum myself at the moment.

Anyway, I have been feeling like doing some more on it lately, so have been taking another look at it to get my head around the codebase again. I've re-thought a couple of aspects to make them more practical for general use too. The aim is to get test copies out to a few people this week, so I can get feedback on what else needs doing.

ETA: I made a to-do list a while back.

/* Apocalypse theme - stuff to do */
/* ------------------------------ */

1/ Write page index mod (ESSENTIAL). NB: May pay to put all markup in Sources.

2/ Write membergroup colour mod (nice).

3/ Sort out IE/Safari fallbacks for CSS3 gradients - flat colour only!

4/ New sprite for quickbuttons, etc.

/* ---------------------------------------------------------- */

5/ A few odd icons, for better looks (replace gif with png).

6/ Check splitting topics some more (for javascript and page index).

7/ Maybe revamp some wrapper div id's to make more sense.

/* ---------------------------------------------------------- */

8/ Sort RTL CSS.

9/ Sort responsive CSS (the grim stuff).

/6 is sorted already, but then I've thought of a couple more things. 1/ and 9/ are the major considerations at this point. 8/ is a no-brainer once /9 is sorted.

[ARG01]

...Second, I sometimes find it a bit difficult to get enthused about putting a lot of work into a theme I'll probably never have the opportunity to use, since I don't run a forum myself at the moment.

I am right there with you at the moment.  I have two forums but both are pretty much dead and close to the chopping block.

[Antechinus]

Yeah the basic point of (non-paid) theming, as I see it, is to create an interface that I'd like to use.

[Antechinus]

Ok, been thinking about how to do this. The page index markup is customised, which means Sources edits, which means a mod. There are two ways I can do this.

The first is the "normal" way, in which template and CSS changes are applied to default and all other themes. That's ok, but is more code to write since it needs template edits for all themes and it needs acceptable CSS for all themes. Some of that would have to be done manually after mod installation if custom themes were installed, since it's likely the CSS suitable for default would look like crap on many custom themes. That means more work for admins, many of who are not coders.

There's a second way I can do it, and I'm thinking this is the way to go. What I would do is write a second page index function in Subs.php (and some edits in other Sources files, like MessageIndex.php) to generate the custom markup for this beast of a theme. The advantages are:

1/ there is less code to write overall, since no template edits are required in the xml (they are already sorted in this theme's templates, and are not applicable to other themes) and no CSS is required for other themes.

2/ since no styling is going to be included in the mod, and markup for existing themes won't be touched, that means nothing will break on themes that are already installed.

3/ even if one of the existing mods that changes function constructPageIndex is installed for use on other themes, this mod won't conflict with it.

4/ if another themer wants to use the page index markup from this theme in a custom theme of their own (because they want the better semantics and styling possibilities) as long as this mod is installed they will be able to do that just by making the required changes in their own templates, even if their own templates use no other code from this theme. They don't even need to make the changes in all templates that call the page index. They can pick and choose. For instance, only style up Display.template.php if they are including that anyway, and ignore the others.

All things considered, I think this is the best approach. It's unconventional to have a mod which deliberately does not install on the default theme and on previously installed custom themes, but in this case I think there are good arguments for it. I'll try to get it written and tested tonight.

[Chalky]

Sounds good to me 

[ARG01]

I agree as well. 

[busterone]

Sounds fantastic to me. As an admin with limited coding abilities, I love the second idea much better. 

[Antechinus]

Then you'll also totally love how some mods will refuse to install on this theme without manual edits, because some of the templates are so heavily customised.

* Antechinus haz to be evil sometimes

[busterone]

Template edits are no big deal to me.  Writing code from scratch or modifying existing code from scratch is a different matter altogether though. 

[acepnoor]

its look so cool great...I really like a dark themes 

[Antechinus]

I just received a PM from someone wanting to know when this theme will be finished. They even offered to pay for it.

Ok, so if it gets released it will be free. No need to pay for it. However, the problem is that over the past half a century or so I have had other interests apart from coding, and after spending several years heavily immersed in SMF coding I am currently rather over it, and have rediscovered another interest that does not involve sitting on my arse in front of a computer. This other interest is currently taking all my focus, meaning no coding is being done.

So, at the moment the answer to "When will this be finished?" is that standard SMF answer that drives people up the wall: "When it's ready".

In the meantime, if anyone wants to know how any aspect of it was coded, just go ahead and ask. It was always intended to be used as a sort of tutorial anyway, to show what was possible.

[ARG01]

...and after spending several years heavily immersed in SMF coding I am currently rather over it, and have rediscovered another interest that does not involve sitting on my arse in front of a computer...

I think we are related.