Open cellear opened 4 years ago
cellear
commented
4 years ago I desperately want a shorter way to refer to this than "Initiative: Theme development should not be necessary to use Backdrop CMS"
Something like...
docwilmot
commented
4 years ago I think what this is about is just have more good themes in Backdrop contrib right? How about a title that says just that? The original post title and the suggestions above obscure that purpose to me. Lets just say "Better contrib themes", or "Contrib theme quality improvement initiative" or such.
olafgrabienski
commented
4 years ago I think what this is about is just have more good themes in Backdrop contrib right? How about a title that says just that?
Good idea, sounds good to me (apart from "in contrib", could also be core). From https://forum.backdropcms.org/forum/official-initiative-theme-development-should-not-be-necessary-use-backdrop-cms:
For an initial MVP, I propose that we find or construct three or four ready-to-go themes, and either include them with the basic download, or make them a one-click install.
oadaeh
commented
4 years ago Based on my understanding of this initiative, I think @docwilmot's comment is more correct than the stated goal.
Goal: People should be able to use backdrop without needing to know how to create or modify a theme.
Technically, that is possible now. One can install Backdrop and use Basis, along with the ability to do some minor customizations in the UI, and go about their day without needing to know anything about themeing.
However, I think doc's suggested alternatives are too broad and do not lend themselves to a SMART goal.
I have wanted to help with this initiative, but I have been waiting until I felt it was fleshed out and there were some clearly defined tasks to achieve the stated goal. I'm not sure if it has been fleshed out enough yet or not, but I think I can still help a little by using the Proposed MVP as a basis for activity:
Find or construct three or four ready-to-go themes, and either include them with the basic download, or make them a one-click install.
Along with the 4 bullet points on what a theme should be to be considered for this.
@stpaultim created a spreadsheet some time ago with a list of the available themes at that time with some details and information about each theme: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15Cmp7jRsA_rpNXYPKsE1fNRGwjlu-m7rlKzIoirRJJI/edit?pli=1#gid=0
I'm going to update it and add some additional R2W-related data so that what is there could be used in consideration for this initiative.
oadaeh
commented
4 years ago Something I think would be good to help with selecting and installing relevant themes is to add some attribute to all themes that indicates their type or primary purpose, i.e., a base theme to build other themes from, an admin theme, etc., and maybe also a filter on that attribute. That way, people could easily hide options that are inappropriate for what they are looking for.
This issue might be necessary for that idea to come to fruition: https://github.com/backdrop-ops/backdropcms.org/issues/487
stpaultim
commented
4 years ago Find or construct three or four ready-to-go themes, and either include them with the basic download, or make them a one-click install.
This is the currently stated MVP goal. It seems to me that we already have an easy way of installing themes through the UI of a Backdrop site. We also have a number of good contrib themes. What we don't have is any standard or criteria for telling whether or not a specific theme is "Ready to Wear."
At one point, our goal was to create a demo site with demo content that could be used to both TEST and SHOWCASE approved themes.
To that end, we created a special issue queue for this demo site: https://github.com/backdrop-ops/demo/issues and have a demo site to experiment with: http://ready2wear.simplo.site/
It seems to me, that the next step is configuring the demo site with the kind of content and layouts that we want to test and approve a theme.
ghost
commented
2 years ago What's the status of this initiative?
cellear
commented
2 years ago well, I recently released a site for which I didn’t technically create a custom theme — though I did inject a good chunk of custom CSS into it, so I’m not sure if that counts.
ghost
commented
1 year ago So do we close this issue as complete now? It's been another 12 months with no further discussion...
Copied from: https://forum.backdropcms.org/forum/official-initiative-theme-development-should-not-be-necessary-use-backdrop-cms
Goal: People should be able to use backdrop without needing to know how to create or modify a theme.
Problem we're trying to solve: Many potential users of Backdrop are not themselves skilled visual designers, and don’t have access to (or the resources to afford) a suitable designer. We should offer site builders the capability to create usable sites even if they lack either the technical ability to edit the HTML, PHP, CSS, JavaScript, and media elements that comprise most themes, or the design skills necessary to select visually-pleasing options. Or both! Backdrop is a content management system, we shouldn't require our users to bring to the table anything besides the content they are looking to manage.
Proposed MVP: Find or construct three or four ready-to-go themes, and either include them with the basic download, or make them a one-click install.
In order to be usable by the most inexperienced user, the themes should be:
References:
Here is a strawman task list:
Related links: