Site Design

[Lex]

We (understandably) let this fall on the backburner over the festive period, but I think it's time to put our full attention here.

I have a few TLS related things to deal with in the coming weeks but this needs to become our number one priority fairly soon. I think Claymore's suggestion of mockups is a good one, but the trouble with that is that we're going to hack the fuck out of whatever one we pick anyway, so it's difficult to gauge how it's going to look using a pre-set theme like we'll be doing.

 

[Claymore]

I was going to mention this today but thought, Lance, just shut up and don't spoil the festive mood, lol.

That's true about the mock ups. Hhm. If you've got things on for the next few weeks, maybe now is a good time to announce the heck out of this and put up the options in a poll and gives people those few weeks to discuss and pick choices. Hopefully there will be a clear winner by the time it comes to then step things up a gear.

 

[Fangu]

Soooo pick yer Final Five and post them; I haven't checked out any of the themes yet but I'd love to pick them apart have a look

 

[Lex]

We'd narrowed it down to a definite 3: Newspaper, Smart Mag and Fraction. Fraction was everyone's number one choice tbh though, they're all linked to on the previous page IIRC. Would post links for you right now but I'm posting while gaming (who says I can't multitask )

 

[Fangu]

Well Fraction looks fancy enough with all the dingle dangle scripting going on - but is there a way to preview the Admin panel? (Probably not; I guess it's fine enough for that price though. Looks a bit overpriced to me but idk. I work with a CMS (EPiServer) on a daily basis so I tend to forget people actually charge for this )

 

[Lex]

Claymore apparently has it already and is giving it to us for free though

(Unless I misinterpreted that, in which case I apologise).

 

[Lex]

OK it's really time to make a decision between SmartMag and Fractal. Since I am literally on the verge of flipping a coin to decide between the two, I think we should ask someone like Fangu to give an opinion (being a dev and all) on which one she thinks would suit us most, because while Claymore's poll has been helpful in at least knocking the third competitor out of my mind, it also made me appreciate SmartMag more than I did originally.

We need:

- Malleability
- Presentation of content/ featuring content that isn't just news
- Neat/ visual representation of a bunch of content without feeling too busy
- Readability

And IMO, both fit the bill.

 

[Pixel]

Fraction seems more suited for the purpse tbh. Has more of a visual layout, and you can do more with it. Smartmag just feels a bit meh.

 

[Claymore]

I know this next suggestion could possibly be extremely time-consuming, but if it is too close to call, there is the option of experimenting with both themes within the text environment you guys have set up.

 

[Cthulhu]

I'd have that set up by now if it wasn't for the fact both of them are paid themes, which I'm sure don't have a demo version to apply to one's own site,

 

[Claymore]

I've got all the suggested themes already paid for and ready to go. You can do with them what you like.

 

[Cthulhu]

Oh, well in that case, . Would we get into any legal problems for those? If need be I can chuck the test site behind a simple password thing so it's not technically publicly accessible.

 

[Lex]

I give my go ahead for this idea for whatever that's worth XD

 

[Claymore]

Shouldn't be any legal issues. They're the usual single site licence for personal or commercial use. Just tell me where and how to upload them to you guys.

 

[Flintlock]

I've got all the suggested themes already paid for and ready to go. You can do with them what you like.

Lol, how many times have you had to say this?

I'd be happy to help set up one of the test themes, maybe some else wants to do the other and then we'll compare them?

 

[Lex]

For sure, I'll do another. I'll probably need technical help at certain points but it should be a good learning experience anyway.

 

[Cthulhu]

@Claymore, if you could put it up on Dropbox or some other file sharing site, that should be fine; else send it to me or someone else via skype.

@Lex / Flint, did you have FTP accounts? If not I can set them up; if you prefer I can limit them to just the test environment. Should be a matter of dropping the files in the wp-content/themes folder though, then they should pop up in WP.

 

[Flintlock]

I have an FTP account and I've installed themes before (on my own blog) but it was quite a while ago. Like you say, it should be pretty simple.

Lex, which one do you want to take, Smartmag or Fraction?

 

[Claymore]

Cool. Have sent a dropbox link your way.

 

[Cthulhu]

All right, I've got the files and uploaded them; you can log in with your usual accounts at http://test.thelifestream.net/wp-admin. I've made sure you're both admins and that file permissions match the rest of the files in there (editing the themes and files should work, I've just tested it). You should probably work in the -child themes though, that way we can edit / update the 'root' theme without having to manually merge any changes we've made. In theory.

 

[Lex]

FWIW my WP username was changed to just "Lex" about two years ago so logging in took a few attempts

Flint I don't mind which one, your choice.

And I do not have an FTP account, do I need one though?

(watch flint create a glorious looking new tls on whichever theme he chooses in like 3 seconds because he's css literate while I struggle to even get the thing to not look like a 90's geocities page)

 

[Cthulhu]

Hey, there's nothing wrong with 90's geocities style


YOU HEAR ME, NOTHING WRONG

For just CSS and config edits, you should be fine; if you want to upload (style) images you may need ftp access, but I wouldn't worry too much about it. Just yell at me if you need it.

Also I like to think I'm CSS literate and have been doing front-end work for most of my working career, have I ever managed anything glorious-looking?

 

[Lex]

Yeah but Flint can make things pretty and he's not even a developer, it's like he's some sort of houdini monster. WITCHCRAFT

So how is this two-pronged approach working? Have you accessed the themes and uploaded them to test, are you wanting to do both on the same test environment (style-switching) or have you set up two test environments so Flint and I can mess with them both at the same time?

As usual ILU Yop <3 (with every frustrating set of questions you must add a soothing comment of adoration to smooth things over. note: does not work on some forum members)

 

[Cthulhu]

Well I'm a developer and I can't make things pretty either, except code maybe but it takes a trained eye to appreciate prettiness in there, (what I'm saying is the two are IMHO separate specializations).

I've gotten the files from Claymore and uploaded them to the WP installation at http://test.thelifestream.net yesterday night; if you go to Themes, they should both be there and you can set them to active (your and Flint's accounts are administrator accounts on there), or use the editor and configuration UI in there. You should actually be able to mess with them both at the same time, but only one can be active / visible on the front page of the test site at the same time. Actually, you should just fiddle with it / experiment, see for yourself; I'm not actually that experienced with WP's theme system, or not since version 2.x or so.

Also oh stahp it you, flatterer

 

[Flintlock]

It's gonna be a few days before I start looking at it, so mess away, Lex. I voted for Smartmag in the poll (though it's really atoss-up) so I guess I'll take that one.