Styling - CSS classes - your opinion

[psoTFX]

Given the feedback received I've decided that the way to proceed (for now at least) is to implement a set of "default" classes. These classes can then be edited online via an interface of the form shown in the attachment.

What I'm looking for are your opinions on what basic classes are needed. They must cover all forseeable eventualities while not overlapping and being easily "describable" to the admin. A good basis IMO is this current subSilver ... however I'm sure this too can be simplified while retaining all of its current look and feel.

So please feel free to list out your ideas for classes, preferably grouped together (e.g. post classes, topic classes, general classes, etc.). Please do not fill out the classses with CSS, just note their description, e.g. "post details", "topic title", etc.

[Bertg]

I don't see the point in a lot of classes...
Keep it fairly simple...
cause the more classes you have the more size you use, the longer loadintimes will be.

so I say minimize classes

post(edit) - vieuwpost(post, stiky,poll,announcement) - vieuwtopic - vieuw forums - Vieuw user profile (maby a seperate class per type of users (like a nice white background for a newbie and a cool blue for admins) - Groups -Memberlist - FAQ - Search (user and post) - Login/out

-bert-

[dhn]

I like it. A LOT. The important thing will be to put a lot of work into the style sheet and the HTML structure. Will think about this further tonight.

Bertg, a user will download the style only once (if it is chached correctly) so size isn't really a matter.

[Graham]

Looking at say the viewtopic page, the main classes I see are:

• Title
• Table headers
• Post Text
• Poster Info (x)
• Post Info (x)
• Quotes
• Code
• Navigation and info text

(The two marked x could possible be combined)

Or have I misunderstood the question here?

[psoTFX]

No, that's the idea ... I should add that I see BBCode as being seperate with each basic tag being stylable.

[Lugie]

Looking good thus far. However - is there a way for those of us who enjoy developing styles to define our own classes so that admins who choose to use our styles may customize a little bit more than what is offered on the default template?

[dhn]

Ok, thought about it for a little longer. I'd try to keep this as basic as possible.

Basic css rules should be availble in the panel for:

header stuff:

• h1 (the header of course, semantics )
• h2 (the subheader of course, semantics )
• div#header (to define background, color, etc.)

3 basic text rules:

• .textSmall
• .textNormal
• .textLarge
• a

For bold text, <strong> should be used semantically in the template

body table stuff:

• div#main table
• th (the blue overall header)
• th.cat (or td.cat for the category header)
• td.cell1
• td.cell2

It could however prove problematic to enable the ability to change text options for cells

else:

• Input fields
• Input buttons
• viewtopic
  • userName
  • userData
  • postText
  • postTitle

...

hmm, my brain just turned itself on standby, I'll continue the list tomorrow.

[libertate]

Are these classes for color, font, size, i.e. look and feel, or will this set also include containers (DIV, SPAN, etc.) and their attribs like borders, width, height, position?

If you make them container classes, then this would allow the complete repositioning of every part within. For example, in a post while reading you have

Code: Select all

message_block
message_block.menu_panel
message_block.menu_panel.menu_item

message_block.author_panel
message_block.author_panel.title
message_block.author_panel.author_name
message_block.author_panel.author_karma
message_block.author_panel.author_avatar
message_block.author_panel.author_info

message_block.subject_panel
message_block.subject_panel.subject
message_block.subject_panel.menu_item

message_block.message_panel
message_block.message_panel.message
message_block.signature_panel
message_block.mod_panel
message_block.mod_panel.edit_change

And so on... Of course my naming isn't up to par, but you get the gist, right? This would allow someone to rearrange pretty much any part of the system, and still be completely transparent when it comes to style templates.