[concept] BlogLife

[Bloc]

This is something I am working on these slow christmas days. Its actually work which already exists partly as a theme, but which I like to explore further as a concept.

So far its Login,Display and Messageindex(half-finished) shown here + an alternative "blog" Display look + alternative Messageindex "blog" look. This one is *very* mobile-friendly.

Comments are welcome.

[Antechinus]

Is interesting and kinda cool. Is this mock-ups or functional code?

[Bloc]

Both, actually. The working version is currently at http://bhkblogg.bjornhkristiansen.com/index.php ..but this graphical-based concept takes that and changes stuff further.

I tried at few things like for example, in display, you see the users details only once - until someone replies. Could even limit to showing a users details only once per page, but I think thats harder to read then. The user detail area is big(ish) but of course shrinks down for smaller widths.

Another thingie is merging several things into submenus in each post. Making it clear to read, again with mobiles in mind. On my LG G2 it looks really nice, not the busy and small(ish) look a normal theme would give.

[Antechinus]

Both, actually. The working version is currently at http://bhkblogg.bjornhkristiansen.com/index.php ..but this graphical-based concept takes that and changes stuff further.

I tried at few things like for example, in display, you see the users details only once - until someone replies.

Is that worth the extra conditional? I'm thinking the usual point of threads is to get replies.

[Bloc]

Yes, but here I wanted to not show that area too often. Then again..how many times does people post after each other...usually they wait for replies and then the area is shown again since its a new poster. Maybe not that important after all.

TBH its actually hard to imagine new stuff nowadays, designs elsewhere tend to work towards simple, simple, simple..to the point where all is one background color/flat icons. Boring as h***. Maybe I should just throw it overboard and go outrageously graphic, sprinkled with lots of moving animated parts lol. You know, like the game apps that everyone has on their phones.(except me, I don't have any. That is, unless my sons "borrow" my phone for more than 10 minutes haha)

[Antechinus]

Yeah I was thinking in core dev mode: exterminate unnecessary conditionals. Probably doesn't matter so much for a try-stuff-out project.

And tell me about it with the flat design bollox. I once said that it was for people who CBF'd coming up with a theme. That's a bit harsh, but it does seem that way sometimes. Then again, I was always more of an Art Nouveau or Art Deco bloke rather than a Bauhaus type. IF I do any more theming, it's likely to be on the lush side.

Of course, the mobile browsing thing is likely one reason for everyone going bog simple. If you want to fit stuff on a postage stamp, there's not much space for frills.

[Antechinus]

BTW, are you writing the phone css as the primary, and then using media queries to sort out desktop? Or the other way around?

[Bloc]

Other way around. Still favor desktop foremost...though it probably would make better use of resources to write a minimal css for mobile, then add in extra css file for desktop.

I guess one can do wonders with design even on postage stamps lol, but its really challenging to have to think in totally 2 different directions. I mean..one can be good at complex layouts or simple one-column layouts..but its rare to master both. And theres that transition in between, cuz there are all sorts of fun devices now. Touch-based desktop hybrids, pads, Smart TV's..even smart watches will prob. show webpages for crying out loud. One-style-fits-all is very limiting as a design direction ...one-size-fits-all is actually rather straight-forward with multiple columns reducing themselves to 1 etc...but the design itself is harder to make interesting on both ends - and transition points. No wonder why flat design is popular, it simplifies that process.

[Antechinus]

Other way around. Still favor desktop foremost...though it probably would make better use of resources to write a minimal css for mobile, then add in extra css file for desktop.

Yeah that's what I've been thinking I should be doing, but I just never use a phone for browsing so don't have any incentive to do it that way. TBH I find responsive design to be about as exciting as the old IE6 days. It's just a lot more effing around to deal with things that I'll never want to use anyway, and that don't behave as well as things I do want to use. It also leads to insane amounts of code bloat.

I guess one can do wonders with design even on postage stamps lol, but its really challenging to have to think in totally 2 different directions. I mean..one can be good at complex layouts or simple one-column layouts..but its rare to master both. And theres that transition in between, cuz there are all sorts of fun devices now. Touch-based desktop hybrids, pads, Smart TV's..even smart watches will prob. show webpages for crying out loud. One-style-fits-all is very limiting as a design direction ...one-size-fits-all is actually rather straight-forward with multiple columns reducing themselves to 1 etc...but the design itself is harder to make interesting on both ends - and transition points. No wonder why flat design is popular, it simplifies that process.

Yup, to all that. It gets all ends up getting a bit too M.C. Escher sometimes.

[Antes]

Damn I may take some ideas from those pictures looking very nice for people like me who uses one board as blog.

[Bloc]

Escher is awesome. I'v always liked this one below - its the perfect illusion.

Damn I may take some ideas from those pictures looking very nice for people like me who uses one board as blog.

You welcome. Will be throwing some more ideas around this, see where it lands.

[Antechinus]

Oh hey here's a thought. It occurred to me that the idea of keeping the sidebar/droppy menu switching, but doing it via basic css instead of markup changes (which we talked about briefly in some 2.1 thread) would be a good one to do in a custom theme.

As far as I've thought about it so far, it should be a piece of cake. Basically just floats on the menu and the main content for sidebar, and not much else. This could dramatically simplify GenericMenu.template.php as well as removing the (admittedly very minor) possibly of exploits with the default 2.0.x system. Switch via profile option instead of the current toggle thingy.

[Antechinus]

Escher is awesome. I'v always liked this one below - its the perfect illusion.

Yeah but not so good when your CSS ends up like that edifice.

[Bloc]

Oh hey here's a thought. It occurred to me that the idea of keeping the sidebar/droppy menu switching, but doing it via basic css instead of markup changes (which we talked about briefly in some 2.1 thread) would be a good one to do in a custom theme.

As far as I've thought about it so far, it should be a piece of cake. Basically just floats on the menu and the main content for sidebar, and not much else. This could dramatically simplify GenericMenu.template.php as well as removing the (admittedly very minor) possibly of exploits with the default 2.0.x system. Switch via profile option instead of the current toggle thingy.

Yes. GenericMenu could do well without that whole on-the-spot switching. I tried the checkbox hack for it, but I see sidebars on phones don't always stay open.So having the sidebar/menu go back when not in focus isn't all that bad I think.

Escher is awesome. I'v always liked this one below - its the perfect illusion.

Yeah but not so good when your CSS ends up like that edifice.

True. Giving the illusion of working but really being impossible in practice. Not a good choice.

[Antechinus]

Checkbox hack?

[Bloc]

http://css-tricks.com/the-checkbox-hack/

[Antechinus]

Ah. Tricksy. Horrible semantix, but tricksy anyway. I suspect it'd be terrible for a11y.

[Antechinus]

Offhand I can't see why the checkbox hack would be any better than a basic js toggle.

[Bloc]

Exactly. I don't use it anymore, but its one way to toggle stuff through css. Though using targets might also have merit, I haven't really looked into that yet.

[Biology Forums]

Very nice theme...