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New defaults
I mentioned it elsewhere but I haven’t seen it discussed yet so here we go:
The default page templates need some slight rearrangements, imho.- Main content should come before sidebar content in the source
- The HTML comments could be made more meaningful and uppercase for usability
- Doctype could be made strict
- Search is hard to style (impossible to be the same across browsers) so put it last in the sidebar-1 list so it looks better
- Accessibility div links should be more exact. An id on the search form is required for this, imho.
New default page templates would also require the default style updating too so I’ve gone ahead and put my new versions here. There’s an article for each new template. I’ve also included a new comment_form using paragraphs instead of tables. I haven’t looked at the other forms yet.
The demo includes a styleswitcher to demonstrate some styles too.- No 1 is pretty much like the current 4.0.6 default style
- 1 to 5 are pixel-based like the current 4.0.6 default style
- 6 to 10 are em-based, have been widened for 1024 screen, line-heights and other small changes added mainly for better alignment
No changes have been made to the look and these are all basic minimal stylesheets. I think one of them should become the new default style, that is after all you style experts are agreed of course.
There’s also a print stylesheet which could be added to the install, imho. It goes like this:
#accessibility, #sidebar-1, #sidebar-2, #foot, .comments-wrapper {display: none;}
As you may know, I think Textpattern should be friendly to new web designers trying to find their feet, as well as professionals. Perhaps including a few styles in the install is going too far, but it would help beginners, so perhaps a demo site like a souped-up version of my demo site would be a good way to introduce TXP’s flexibility and easy styling.
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Re: New defaults
good job!
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Re: New defaults
I think it’s a good idea, too. Just a couple of things:
- some of the alternative layouts could potentially be made available as alternative stylesheets (3-col, 2-col, left, right). I think where two sidebars are next to each other more visual separation is required so that it doesn’t look like a layout glitch. People do use the default style, so if there’s an alternate style, it should be presentable and usable out of the box.
- I’d avoid showing a txp tag that doesn’t exist, however obvious one might think that might be. Sooner or later someone will ask why
txp:print_a_thingyreturns an error ;-) - Comment form: could one not do without the
ptags altogether? Similarly, is there a particular reason whylabelis contained by theh3. How about usingfieldsetandlegend?
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Re: New defaults
Yes, sorry, forgot to reply yesterday. Nice work on the style switcher and a good set of recommendations.
FWIW, number 7 appeals to me.
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Re: New defaults
Thanks! Jakob, the pixel-based styles were using the same settings as the original. The em-based have wider gaps. Are the gaps of #7 too narrow? I’ve altered #2 and #3 to be similar to #7 re column gaps. Is that better? Or should 1em become 1.5em do you think?
In case anyone doesn’t yet know, the welcome text you see is the new First Post, and afaik is already coded for 4.0.7. So it’s Robert or Ruud who will decide on the <txp:print_a_thingy>.
And the comment form is one I’ve been using for a long time. Personally, I feel a bit restricted by fieldset and legend, but that’s just me. Would you like to post your version here, or send it me, Jakob, and I’ll use it to replace mine.
And by the way, it is easy for me to add someone’s style to the others, so if you want me to show yours, just send it. For the moment I want them to be all basic without any extras.
The main reason for this post is the page templates, however. Is all the code and layout etc OK? Have you a good suggestion? Perhaps with the new tag parser there will be different tags but what should be in the sidebars or footer, for example? Anything better?
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Re: New defaults
I had a closer look at the comment_form, Jakob, and I’ve removed the paragraphs which were unnecessary. I haven’t added a fieldset or legend, which I think are unnecessary, but opinions may differ on that no doubt :-)
comment_form – what do you think?
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