[webdev] Re: New Aclug Theme

["Dale W Hodge" <dwh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: webdev-bounce@xxxxxxxxx [mailto:webdev-bounce@xxxxxxxxx]On Behalf
> Of Tom Hull

Let me preface this by saying that I initially picked approximately 25
themes, but the polling system only allows 12 choices so I dropped back to
12.  Some of the choices are examples of what can be done, not what we
should do. The themes with simple colors and no graphics are the easiest to
customize. Also keep in mind that the whole themeing system will be
overhauled in the next major revision - 0.725.  While this version is slated
for release at the end of December, the time that .0722 has spent in QA
leads me to believe that it will be at least mid January before we see
0.725.


> BEST: medium gray on black, illegible.

I like the overall look, but would change the font colors to something
lighter. The current font colors keep the calendar from rendering correctly,
making font color change a must.

> BlackMagic: white/yellow on gray; minimal lines for boxing; might
> be better
> with colors flipped, but not very attractive in any case.

A simple theme, easy to modify colors as desired.

> Easino: ignoring the banner which would have to be replaced, the
> left-column
> fade into light center column is fairly handsome, and the darker
> right column
> is clearly differentiated w/o a lot of ornamentation. the fixed width is
> presumably an artifact of the banner.

Originally my first choice. There are some rendering issues that will need
to be addressed.

> ffx69 phpbb2: simple/attractive boxing, lightblue-on-lightgray doesn't
> provide much contrast; blue-on-blue would have to be changed, probably
> to lightgray-on-blue; same for orange-on-blue; not bad

This is the theme that the phpbb2 bulletin board runs as default.

> LocalFoo: best thing about look is that it gives a wider middle column,
> but this is only achieved by using illegibly small type; needs bigger
> fonts; better contrast in right column; can kill the orange trim on
> the right column. i like the center column with larger type, but
> everything else needs work.

Since it uses almost no graphics it should be easy to change colors.

> MTmodular: raised white slabs on gray background; looks stereotypically
> postnuke.

Sterotypically?  Really?  I thought it was a very nice, clean design that
shouldn't be too difficult to modify colors.  It also has some rendering
quirks.

> myphpnuke: like, who would want to read from a website anyway?

Huh??  I thought it was a rather sharp design.  I would probably change some
of the colors, though.

> nardoniki-coma: why does this have a fixed width?

What fixed witdth??  What browser are you using?  It renders correctly on
both IE and Mozilla. It's another fairly clean design. I would probably
change colors a bit, though.

> nucleus: another light pastel scheme, with simple boxing; wonder why
> the middle column sinks down; not terrible.

Another easy to modify theme. The middle column problem is that it leaves
space for an admin message even when that message doesn't exist.  I
dismissed several themes because they wouldn't display admin messages at
all. We can probably figure out the problem if we select this theme.

> Somora-Agua: another panel-look thing; i find the inability to fit the
> text into the trim to be distracting and a bit alarming.

This theme tends to occasionally hiccup in rendering. It's another pastel
one that I would bolden the colors a bit.

> Somara-Platinum-780: another wide one; the shading on the trim bars makes
> them look unaligned; pretty ugly, really.

Huh?? This is one of the few fixed witdth themes.  It's rather bland, but
some people like bland.

> Sowelu Blue: too wide, needs work on top, but simple colors and block
> breaks are reasonable; don't really think that the background and
> attendant
> margin loss are worthwhile.

What do you mean wide?  It's a fixed width theme.  It's very simple. You are
right that it wastes space on wider monitors, but it always render the
content the same, you don't have to be concerned about what it will look
like at various widths.

> Sowelu Red: same thing in red; i'd go for a darker red, this really
> bright orangish shade is hard on eyes.

I agree, a darker red would be more pleasant.

> None of these do much for me; maybe Easino and ffx69 phpbb2 seem the
> most promising, although they differ in one important design concept,
> which is that Easino doesn't demarcate between blocks, whereas ffx69
> and most of the other samples do. Anything we pick needs work on top,
> and probably some tuning on colors. If the thing's so themable, why
> doesn't someone else take a shot at it?

Yes, they all will require work. The new templating engine in 0.725 will
make this a lot easier, but in the mean time we need to pick out something
we can live with in the short term. What we have now is a long way from
optimum.

--dwh

---
Dale W Hodge - dwh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Vice Chairman & Secretary - info@xxxxxxxxx
Air Capital Linux User's Group  (ACLUG)
---