ThemeShaper Forums

Help In Shaping WordPress Themes

Register or log in:

Username:
Password:

Remember me

ThemeShaper Forums » Development Talk

1. 

   Jagst3r15
   Member

   We accept community donations and hire a freelance developer to bust out some modifications so we can revamp Thematic and make it dominant once again (I see that it used to be downloaded thousands of times a month, etc.). I would be willing to donate and I have seen this work for open source projects before. I think we would need the developer to add a few page templates, update it to HTML 5 and make general improvements so it is up to WordPress standards.

   Any thoughts on this? I would rather devote my energies to Thematic then move to a paid framework (YUCK!).

   Posted 11 years ago #
2. 

   middlesister
   Member

   Have you seen what's going on on google code? https://code.google.com/p/thematic/
   That's where all development happens, and the recent weeks have shown quite some movement forward.

   The upcoming version of thematic includes a revamp to make it adhere to the latest theme review requirements, an extendable options page using the Settings API, general code cleanup and other things. It is getting close to being submitted to the wordpress repo for review and subsequent release. Testers are always needed, so download the latest version if you can and help to squash out any bugs. That means, report any you find so that the developers can squash them. :)

   Regarding HTML5, that is a discussion for a future version (since the upcoming is so close to ready I don't think HTML5 will get into that one). What to do and how to handle it. Thematic cannot just switch to HTML5 straight away since that would break existing sites. So the question is how to handle backwards compatibility, make a clean fork and create a separate HTML5 version, use some kind of switch with double code in the framework, or some other brilliant idea. Your input is welcome.

   I started working on a plugin that will switch the markup to HTML5 elements, but it is so far just a start. Meaning, it works, but lacks polish and is somewhat untested. Feel free to comment and report bugs/request features there as well. https://github.com/middlesister/thematic-html5

   Regarding hiring a developer, well that requires knowing what that developer would do! Since things are moving forward at the moment I don't know if that would be necessary. If you would like to add some page templates, add feature requests for what you miss and see if other people also need them. If and when we know specific features that we want and nobody has the time or ability to make it happen, well then maybe the topic can be raised again. In the meantime: Welcome to Thematic and join in the discussion of the future!

   Posted 11 years ago #
3. 

   Jagst3r15
   Member

   Well, this one project I was following for an open source video game pooled the community donations so that a member of the current team could work on the game engine full time (for a month or so)....but then again that was different because they needed a guy with a masters in comp sci to work on it..just an idea. But I would be more than happy to hunt bugs even if I only squash a few :)

   Posted 11 years ago #
4. 

   fwunder
   Member

   I know I shouldn't do this, but age, retirement and a <strike>small</strike> glass of a 1985 Bordeaux (OMG) offers some privilege.

   @Jagst3r15, I have hired and fired folks with a lot more paper than a CS, MS. Means nothing, IMHO. What you will find here is enthusiasm, dedication and incredible perseverance. That is what defines success. Hook your horse to this wagon and learn while helping to pull. You might be surprised by what you don't know and the rewards it might bring.

   P.S ME majors were hot!

   Posted 11 years ago #
5. 

   helgatheviking
   Moderator

   if i understand correctly jagst3r15 (wow i find that tough to type and i have not had the luxury of un verre de bon vin) is not suggesting the community hire some random computer science person to tool around w/ thematic while those of us who're so personally invested just sit around.

   however, those of us who work w/ thematic and on its development usually do so a side project. it is a labor of love mostly. our day jobs and lives get in the way, it happens.

   so, it sounds like he (apologies if the pronoun is incorrect) is wondering what type of progress we could make if we could hire, say Gene, to work on this exclusively for a while.

   i am really, really, really hoping we can get the new site up and the updated code to theme review ASAP. i feel that will put us on good footing for discussing the 'road map'. there is zero sense in hiring anybody to do anything if we don't know where we're going. as middlesister mentioned, we can't just willynilly change to html5 w/o breaking all the child themes out there that are currently using thematic. personally, i think i'm leaning towards making this update the End of Life update and maybe forking thematic to Thematic5.

   Posted 11 years ago #
6. 

   Jagst3r15
   Member

   @fwunder, well this dude has a PhD in CS (just went back and looked at his profile)and he has been part of the games development for some time. He is getting paid crap considering he could work anywhere, but is dedicated to the game and is moving it forward a great deal.

   @helga, so in the best of worlds the current version of thematic would be "Thematic Classic" and a new html5 version would be "Thematic 5"?

   Posted 11 years ago #
7. 

   helgatheviking
   Moderator

   that's what i am thinking at least. others might have other ideas. i think trying to convert this version to html5 will be a major pain for existing users: all the folks who don't know any better and just click update theme and then suddenly, wtf, their sites look weird. cue sad trombones and a flood of "its broken" support threads. better to leave them the option of staying with an older, but still functioning version than force such a radical update.

   html5, responsiveness and a style update are my big three wishes. maybe a couple really basic theme options. logo, favicon and layout maybe.

   Posted 11 years ago #
8. 

   middlesister
   Member

   Yes the more I think about it the more I start to gravitate towards the idea of a fork too. There is too much to change overboard, and to keep two versions side by side might lead to spagetti code in the end I think. It's not the change that is hard, it's how to handle backwards compatibility. Don't know what Gene thinks about it, but a new clean slate would be nice. Get rid of some legacy and backwards compatibility code (legacy comment form I'm looking at you), declare a minimum wp version of, say 3.2, and go ahead and polish it up.

   One could also do a similar thing with the forums. Like keep what we have now for the "Thematic Classic" and start a new section for the "Thematic 5". Everything still needs to be moved to the new domain though. I am really looking forward to the move too. Feels like a lot of things are waiting for that to happen before progress can be made.

   OT: Favicon support looks like it's coming to wp core in 3.4: http://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/16434 The argument being that favicon is site-wide territory and should not have to depend on themes.

   Posted 11 years ago #
9. 

   Jagst3r15
   Member

   Is it possible to add my own page templates to a child theme just so I can experiment and possible submit some for an official Thematic release? So, if I make a page like "Biography" do I need to set it up a certain way if I have it in the child theme file (i.e. do I need an @import stuff or certain hooks, actions, etc.)?

   Posted 11 years ago #
10. 

    ScottNix
    Member

    It is possible to add your own page templates. They are actually super easy, just copy the template-page-fullwidth.php, paste it in your child theme, rename the file name and modify the "Template Name" to like "Template Name: Biography" in the actual file.

    /**
     * Template Name: Full Width
     *
     * This Full Width template removes the primary and secondary asides so that content
     * can be displayed the entire width of the #content area.
     *
     */

    Posted 11 years ago #
11. 

    Jagst3r15
    Member

    Cool thanks.

    Posted 11 years ago #
12. 

    helgatheviking
    Moderator

    though if you want the sidebar in your templates you'll need to add get_sidebar() back in it.... just before get_footer() i think, but you should check in one of the other files

    Posted 11 years ago #

RSS feed for this topic

Topic Closed

This topic has been closed to new replies.