Serendipity Forums

Don Chambers wrote:BTW - I wanted to see what some of these links look like in other languages, but I cannot seem to change the language of my development area to anything other than english. Some secret I am not aware of?

Hmmm. How did you change it? If I change it under "Personal Settings", I have to reload the admin backend once after changing it. Another way would be to change it under "Configuration" -> "General Settings", but that's global. After that, I'm out.

YL

I'm trying to change it under configuration -> general ->language (ie, system wide) and it will not change it!! Might have to post something out on the the general forum.

Hi Don!

That's wrong, as yellowled already properly indicated. You need to change it in personal perferences.

Regards,
Garvin

garvinhicking wrote:Hi Don!

That's wrong, as yellowled already properly indicated. You need to change it in personal perferences.

Regards,
Garvin

I can change it in personal preferences.... I cannot change it system wide. While this is merely for development, and is not publically viewable, I presume the general settings for language is what would be changed if this WAS a public site, and I wanted the general public (not logged in) to view it in, say, spanish. No matter what I try to set it to in the general settings, the blog remains in English (no, I am not referring to entries, which are all lorem ipsum anyway).

Here is the latest version of an admin template I am working on for BP. I could easily make all the colors uniform, but this template is "growing on me", and I like that it demonstrates what CAN be done, not what the ultimate solution is. Anyway, as of this moment in time, here it is:

http://chicagoloopcruise.com/library/ad ... peak-2.png

yellowled wrote:My ToDo list says we still need to check off the following points:

- admin backend styling
- check .tpl files for unnecessary <br />s
- revamped png bp button
- possibly change all font-sizes to % in the colorset stylesheets
- maybe add the purple_body.png Don provided

Second, fourth and fifth are done, zipfile updated.

I have tried to stick close to Dave's orginal font-sizes, but also to adapt them a little to what Don suggested (via Email). I'm aware they're not 100% of the original, but close enough for me and now consistent in unit of measurement.

Unfortunately I don't have anything left to do while Don's styling the admin backend and redoing the button, so I might consider adding some more .tpl files for the popular plugins which actually provide .tpl files. Strip some <br />s and stuff. We'll see, but basically, we're one button away from finally releasing this thing in my opinion ...

YL

Hi!

Don't provide too many customized .tpl files for plugins, because when you do so, you'll bypass any new feature and additions to existing plugins.

The guestbook plugin is a perfect example, the template files are undergoing constant change and the PHP code might not work with older versions.

I suggest to maybe provide 2 packages of the BP theme in that case. A default one, without plugin customizations. And a 'full featured' one with maybe plugin templating for files you think that are required.

If it's only about XHTML compliance etc, those should maybe better be fixed in the central .tpl file of which the plugin bundles.

Best regards,
Garvin

I have modified dozens of the plugin files with Garvin's approval.... this was done primarily for admin styling, although, along the way, I tripped across an improvement/fix here and there. If your revisions are justified, and do not pose a problem to any past template, I think Garvin would consider committing the changes to the actual plugin. However, let me warn you, there are a TON of plugins!!!!! Many more than I ever realized!! Plus - stripping out <br />'s will likely require that element be styled with padding or margins, something older templates are not likely going to have.

Anyway, I have one more key component of the admin stylesheet to consider. It involves the admin messages. I have to weigh the effort to implement against the benefit of doing so. If I decide to go for it, I might be able to wrap that up today. Given the time difference though, I do not know when Garvin could commit those modifications.

garvinhicking wrote:I suggest to maybe provide 2 packages of the BP theme in that case. A default one, without plugin customizations. And a 'full featured' one with maybe plugin templating for files you think that are required.

If it's only about XHTML compliance etc, those should maybe better be fixed in the central .tpl file of which the plugin bundles.

I hadn't thought about that. I'll have to revise our .tpl files first, but I think some of them might in fact only be different in terms of XHTML compliance, removing unnecessary <br />s and stuff like that. Some of them might include changes which simply make styling the output a tad easier. I'll report back after the weekend.

YL

Don Chambers wrote:However, let me warn you, there are a TON of plugins!!!!! Many more than I ever realized!!

I know. I mirrored spartacus's plugin section this morning I think we have about 160 plugins or something at the moment, but not all of them provide .tpl files.

Don Chambers wrote:Plus - stripping out <br />'s will likely require that element be styled with padding or margins, something older templates are not likely going to have.

Well, in my humble opinion, this shouldn't be important. Older templates can be updated.

YL

yellowled wrote:

Don Chambers wrote:Plus - stripping out <br />'s will likely require that element be styled with padding or margins, something older templates are not likely going to have.

Well, in my humble opinion, this shouldn't be important. Older templates can be updated.

YL

I'm not going to put words into his mouth, but I am not so sure Garvin will agree with you on that point I have had to live with a bunch of comprimises just to make sure I didn't introduce a problem (unless it was really insignificant) in old templates. And this is just in the backend. I would think throwing off the formatting on the frontend would be even worse.

Anyway, I'm about halfway done with the admin message modifications.... the core files are complete (except for one that is pushing my non-existent php skills to the limit). Next I have to re-download the latest snapshot of all the additional plugins myself and modify those that affect the backend.

Don Chambers wrote:I'm not going to put words into his mouth, but I am not so sure Garvin will agree with you on that point I have had to live with a bunch of comprimises just to make sure I didn't introduce a problem (unless it was really insignificant) in old templates. And this is just in the backend. I would think throwing off the formatting on the frontend would be even worse.

Yeah, well ... I have put the idea aside for the time being, but I'll keep it in mind simply because I think some of the plugin .tpl files could use a makeover. I don't blame anybody, it's just that coders usually don't think like webauthors There are a lot of cases in my humble opinion in which revamping the .tpl file(s) could do some good. We'll see.

However, I have taken this as an impulse to clean out bp's .tpl files just a little, so there's another updated zipfile. From my point of view, the only thing that's missing is a decent bp button. Other than that (and the admin frontend), we're ready for release.

YL

BP admin is getting close. I am waiting for Garvin to commit some admin modifications for everything to work correctly. I also need to consider changing my font size methodology to that of BP. I cannot tell you how much I hate relative font sizing!!!! I realize it is the proper way to go, but it is a real PITA as each successive container keeps compounding both em's and percentages. Are we really sure switching from 0.9em to 90%, 0.8em to 80%, etc is all that worthwhile? There is no significant difference is there? Also - I think 0.6em for the credit line in the colorsets is VERY small in both IE6 and FF using default browser text size. I suggest 0.75em, or certainly no smaller than 0.7 (which I can still barely read).

Before this thing is fully released, I suggest we go through absolutely everything.... every page, push every button, try every link, etc. I keep coming up with stuff, especially when I start looking at things I do not normally use. This has been more true of the backend than frontend, but it is still a good idea.

Another suggestion I have is comparing our colorsheet, base and style.css files to the default style.css and/or any of the most comprehensive stylesheets we can think of. We are really lean in our defined styles and might want to beef them up a bit more, if for no other reason to better demonstrate what CAN be styled.

Did anyone ever go through the colorsheets and make sure the declarations were in the same order as style & base.css??

I did trip across another issue in the backend.... it is s9y-wide, but BP really reveals it more than the default admin template. So, once again, I'm going to dig into the core code and see if I can propose a solution to Garvin. I also want to examine that iframe entry preview thing a bit closer as this new issue may become somewhat similar.

Don Chambers wrote:I also need to consider changing my font size methodology to that of BP. I cannot tell you how much I hate relative font sizing!!!! I realize it is the proper way to go, but it is a real PITA as each successive container keeps compounding both em's and percentages.

Erm, what kind of font-sizing do you use? You're not seriously still using px or pt, are you?

Don Chambers wrote:Are we really sure switching from 0.9em to 90%, 0.8em to 80%, etc is all that worthwhile? There is no significant difference is there? Also - I think 0.6em for the credit line in the colorsets is VERY small in both IE6 and FF using default browser text size. I suggest 0.75em, or certainly no smaller than 0.7 (which I can still barely read).

Don, are you still using an old snapshot? The latest snapshot has a font-size of 90% for #footer, which should be the font-size for the credit line.

Don Chambers wrote:Before this thing is fully released, I suggest we go through absolutely everything.... every page, push every button, try every link, etc.

Yes, that's probably a good idea. However, I don't have time to do this today or tomorrow - two people have reported issues with my older templates, I have to take care of that first.

Don Chambers wrote:Another suggestion I have is comparing our colorsheet, base and style.css files to the default style.css and/or any of the most comprehensive stylesheets we can think of. We are really lean in our defined styles and might want to beef them up a bit more, if for no other reason to better demonstrate what CAN be styled.

I'll see what I can do once I get the time.

Don Chambers wrote:Did anyone ever go through the colorsheets and make sure the declarations were in the same order as style & base.css??

Shoot, I keep forgetting about that This is a task I really hate, which is probably why I keep forgetting about it

YL

Quoting takes too much effort!! hehehe

No, I am not using px or pt. Definitely percentages and em's. Just don't like the compounding nature, and the admin still follows the old BP method (body font: 100.01% and em's & % after that).

I downloaded your latest link this moring from http://www.yellowled.de/tmp/bulletproof.zip. From the purple colorset:
I'll double check the order of styles in the colorsheets against style & base.css. Not a big deal if it never happens though.

Tightened down the backend a bit more today. At this point, these issues are relatively minor, but still worthwhile if BP ever becomes an example to others.