I agree with you, re: "habaricon" (though I probably won't be
attending any given age and location).
In terms of bug hunts, I think it would definitely be cool to organize
around regional teams.
Essentially, I think the crux of new organization should introduce/
reaffirm two structures which complement each-other:
- Regional teams (for competitions and regional promotion/evangelism)
- Project teams (working groups)
I agree with you that we should focus on theming for 0.7 – both in
terms of coding and support/community development.
I think we need to do 4 fundamental things:
1) Introduce more theme engines, with varying levels of "helper"
functions and extensibility
2) Provide more robust documentation and support for themers
3) Introduce features to ease extensibility of themes ("widgets", et al)
4) Encourage development and promotion of theming. This includes 3 key
elements
- Reach-out to themers individually and encourage them to try out
Habari
- Build a (better) theme directory
- Sponsor a theme-design contest
In terms of the flow of development, I'm not sure where this fits.
Probably to coincide with the launch of 0.7.
Thanks for bringing this up and encouraging theme development.
Specific thoughts below.
On Oct 13, 2008, at 7:17 PM, Owen Winkler wrote:
> [snip]
>
> There are a lot of good ideas floating around on how to make a
> superior
> theme system to other tools that are available, but I don't think
> we're
> done coming up with them. We need to organize these thoughts so
> that we
> can implement something cohesive and streamlined when we begin to ramp
> up 0.7 development.
>
> A few issues to consider:
>
> * How do we best educate a WordPress themer (essentially the people
> we're trying to woo) to produce a Habari theme?
I think we should build a robust guide, walking through all the
differences as well as common actions.
This guide should include both textual and video content.
>
>
> * How can we make the theme system more easily handle common theming
> tasks?
I think we should actually create another theme engine which includes
a variety of "helpers" to ease common tasks (such as the loop or
comments).
> * Is there a way to provide both WordPress and Drupal-style theme
> systems?
Is there any reason we couldn't do this with new theme engines? I
realize there might be some license issues, but hopefully we can make
it even easier to port themes to Habari.
> * How can we simplify the configuration of themes and provide a user
> interface that common users can use to drive more complicated theme
> configurations?
I was thinking about this a while ago (even created a branch for it).
Though time ran out, I still would like to introduce some features to
ease configuration:
1) Create a standardized configuration format, similar to but easier
than FormUI.
This configuration would automatically be handled by the system,
instead of being manually built (though it could be). It would include
controls for common theme functions. ( See http://pastoid.com/bb5 )
2) Construct a system for themes to have dynamic CSS embedded,
leveraging the options from step (1). This would allow for some great
flexibility.
3) Eventually, design and improve upon the system so configuration is
as easy and good-looking as possible. Maybe eventually have live
configure.
For some inspiration on this front, I highly recommend looking at
SquareSpace ( http://www.squarespace.com/ ).
> * How can we do all of this and keep the system flexible?
To put it simply, make sure everything is optional. Themes can choose
to leverage these new engines, helpers, or configurations – but it's
optional. We just build the API, giving them the option to tap in or
not.
> Obviously, I have a few answers for my own questions, but I'd love to
> hear other people's ideas. This area is where I intend to spend a
> good
> bit of my time when 0.6 is out the door, and I hope others will join
> me.
I look forward to hearing them! :)
> A final thought:
>
> One of the more significant take-aways from Jono's presentation was
> that
> in a community like ours, we need to spend our time turning sentiments
> of "This sucks. And you suck, too." into "I'm gonna kick some ass."
> and
> actually accomplishing something.
>
>
> I think there's still great cause to be excited about Habari,
> especially
> as we close in on our 1.0 release. There's still significant ground
> to
> cover, but as long as people are willing to kick ass and contribute in
> any way they can, we can produce the kick ass product we know Habari
> can be.
>
> Thanks to everybody for being part of this. I'm anxious to hear what
> you think of any of the ideas above, or even any new ideas of your
> own.
>
> Owen
Let's kick some ass.
~arthus (Morgante Pell)
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