Hi all,

We have developed a different approch to customising the appearance of
blogs in CoreBlog.

We wrote a new CoreBlog skin which completely converts the rendering
architecture of CoreBlog

a - replaces all those dtml files which co-opt the request variable with a
few ZPT macros and files with clearly readable logic
b - creates much cleaner markup, without tables, and conforming to the
default markup generated by Movable Type (MT)
c - uses MT-compatible css stylesheets to control blog layout, look and
feel

Once this new zpt_css_thin skin is installed, all further control of
layout, look and feel can be done with stylesheets.  For those not
familiar with the power of modern, standards-based html markup + css, note
that the arrangement of elements on the page can be controlled purely with
css ( for example, see the 'clean' alternative styling in example blog ).

( by the way, it was a *lot* of work converting the coreblog rendering
architecture to a more  rational zpt approach :O(

We would have posted this a few weeks ago, but unfortunately we've been
under time pressure to further develop the blogs in a CMF/Plone
environment, and have not had time to clean out any CMF dependencies which
may have crept into the rendering skin.  We'll post the zpt_css_thin skin
[ minus CMF leveraging ] in about 10 days, maybe sooner if there is demand.

We're eager to know how much demand there is for further work that is
*not* CMF-dependent.  Our current development plan is to completely
rewrite a blog-publishing solution much like coreblog, but with filesystem
storage, and leveraging CMF to improve maintainability and to allow rapid
addition of features.  We've already made quite a lot of progress towards
this end ( for instance user control of blogroll and other links, a
blogThisPage bookmarklet...), but will try hard not to make the new
product CMF dependent if there is a lot of demand for a pure-zope
solution.  In-house, we will be developing extra features which *do* make
use of the cmf/plone environment.

If you want to see examples of the use of pure css for coreblog look and
feel, go to one of our test blogs and try out the alternative stylesheets
( select-box in upper-left corner of page )

NB - these are test blogs; we are currently including a range of MT
stylesheets for test purposes without credit or adaptation... this will be
included in any 'real' release

also, please be gentle with comments and trackbacks, since there are real
users testing these blogs in practice...

example css-controlled blog:

http://www.knotes.net/Members/ClaireM/weblog

regards

Mike Malloch

[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
>Hi!
>
>I'm currently trying to customize the look of my blog. I've been fiddling
>around a bit, and also looked at the how-to hints:
>
>http://coreblog.org/howtos/skin_customization_howto_html
>
>Still I have some questions. The major one right now is what css to
>change.
>at my server space I've got a style_css in the contents folder, and also
>another one in the /skin/TrondSkin folder.
>
>I first tried to change the /skin/TrondSkin/style_css, but nothing happens
>to the look of the blog. Instead I had to alter the contents folder
>style_css.
>
>From the how to I get the impression that I should have done my changes
>inside the /skin/TrondSkin/ folder. Am I missing something obvious?
>
>In the Properties tab the Skin name string is set to "TrondSkin" and in
>the
>Skins stab, I've selected TrondSkin from the pop up menu. As far as I can
>see, I've got these settings right.
>
>Thanks!
>
>Trond

--------------

Mike Malloch,
Software Architect,
KnowNet Ltd

post:   6 Menai View Terrace, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2HF, WALES
web:    http://www.theknownet.com
email:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]

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