Reporting Inconsistencies?

[SamG]

Speaking of wind…was that a yes, or a no?

I did learn a new word and did learn about a children's television show, so already I'm a beneficiary. And I can't remember the last time I was disinclined to humor you, so perhaps somewhere in Chit Chat we can carry on for a bit.

Maybe some kind moderator will split this detour off into Chit Chat?

[Daz]

Hi Sam,

It's a conditional yes - I wanna pi**, but not in the wind - there's no point wasting time in pursuing a subject there is no interest in.

As I have covered in private, my only regret in shutting FI was I should have handled it better with such as you - I place high value upon your skills and balanced contributions.

Daz

[SamG]

Thank you for your kind words, Daz. For my part, not only do I appreciate you personally, but I also have great respect for your talent and for your willingness in the past to share it.

Which brings me to one aspect of the "so, Daz..." stuff. I, of course, have no influence over any official interest in whatever you're interested in bringing to the table. So, Daz, are you primarily interested in hashing this and that out with the developers? Or would interested members of the community be interest enough?

There are questions behind the questions, but no need to ask those yet.

[Techie-Micheal]

Hi,

My reply was based on reflection upon my past 'life' in that there aren't many that are used to the nature* of a proper citizen of God's Own County, so as a 'non-contributor' to the cause I wasn't expecting red carpets to be rolled out - in short, I don't feel the love .

And so to partly answer your question: I couldn't form any realistic opinion upon phpBB3 without having a play, and although the (lack of) changes to the basic styling method meant that I could have simply reused what I made for 2.2, I felt the need to (re)create something. I could tease the numpties over there with the results, but that would be either masochistic or sadistic depending on your POV. But if anyone over here is interested in the results/my opinions and is going to humour me with answers to my questions, then bring it on with the '"So, Daz..." topic somewhere' - I am not relishing the thought of wading my way through 3+ years of noise to answer why things aren't as I either perceive them to be or am mislead into thinking so - I can play Bob the Builder if it's just for my own consumption.

Please feel free to split this detour off, I would like the option to add a little to the topic.

Daz

---
* In short: Regardless of consequence won't, and will never be, afraid to express an opinion and won't 'pi** in the wind'.

Without meaning to devalue your concerns, I'm not too worried with what happened in the past. It is just nice to see you around again. You were, are, very talented, particularly when it comes to graphic/style/templating, it would be a shame to not get to see that again.

[Daz]

Hi,

I am very much a one-off and so in order to establish whether the problems are perceived my me alone there needs to be interaction from any interested party. Ultimately (obviously) the developers need to make any changes happen. Even if the theme fraternity exists purely of those who simply recolour the existing themes, at least one of the limitations would seem to stop the MOD writers from doing things the right and proper way.

I've been through a lot of stuff over there, but need to look at the stuff over here.

@Techie-Micheal - thanks.

Daz

[SamG]

I think the developers' attention to styling issues, given the size of the team, must pretty much center on Tom. Outside the fact that right now I'm hoping the developers are taking a substantial break, I can only guess at where enhancements and adjustments to the styling system fit into the development priorities short and long term.

My guess is that the bug tracker would best be used to summarize styling system problems and solutions if there are larger scale problems. Relatively minor issues, of course, can go directly to the tracker.

All that to get to the point where I can ask, would you like and benefit from a public place outside phpBB.com to work and play and gather feedback? I think area51 a pretty good place to interact, but it may not be ideal for detailed disassembly of the styling system. If for no other reason than the spirit of open source software I'd like the opportunity to see what you're thinking and so would like the opportunity to help make that happpen, if my help would be helpful.

[Daz]

Hi Sam,

Anything I add to the bug tracker is simply going to be set to Review Later.

Yes, the developers may be taking a break, but as this particular detour has generated zero interaction from them, moving my 'dissection' to an external site* isn't going to improve the matter and outsiders are simply that.

I have been through the styles stuff here and the relevant bit can be summarised in that the designer shouldn't mess with the php files - which is common sense, but if the flexibility isn't provided in the styles interface you don't have any other choice. To me it seems as though the styles bit has remained at the same basic working level since I last played with it three years ago and the only (inconsistent) bit(s) that have been added are to make prosilver work. If I was expecting huge changes then I would expect reluctance, but I aren't.

Later...

Daz

* I have a couple of sites to play with, but thanks for the offer.

[code reader]

Maybe some kind moderator will split this detour off into Chit Chat?

you got me confused here.
how many kinds of moderators are there, anyway?

@Daz:
out of curiosity: would you care to list what functionality (not implementation details, just functionality) would you add to the templating infrastructure?
in other words: what is missing? i thought all the required stuff is already there...

[SamG]

you got me confused here.

Which is something I am, by nature, for good or ill, apt to do.

how many kinds of moderators are there, anyway?

There is at least one kind. I don't know if it follows that since the topic has not been split there are no moderators of the kind kind, though. It's as likely that even a kind moderator would find it easier just to ignore me.

[Daz]

Hi,

@code reader:

1. How does template designer make an additional image available to the theme using the proper methods? And I don't mean using {T_IMAGESET_PATH}.
2. Why is there no ACP option to specify theme dependant post icons/ranks/smilies? There is some possibility for a workaround, but there are inconsistencies between them. Amusingly I did read a nonsensical justification to not having this sort of thing, but to quote the great man, hum ho!

I do realise that this sort of thing can get terribly complicated, but (and I have probably said this before) there seems to have been little or no consideration for the display side of things. Yes, the whole thing is done by the 'programmers', but the display side is what people see/use, so it is more important than anything else. Obviously I had help, but straightforward changes I made to 2.x made all of this possible (and more) with little or no overhead.

I have fixed (simply) what I need for this point in time, but it is patently obvious that posting links or screenshots is pointless.

Daz