Just so you know....

[Greg Robson]

Just thought I'd better let you know now I've finished the template parser...

YaBB SE 2 will have a full templating system that's like phpBB (but simpler and easier to use).

This means you could completely rewrite the interface should you want to

You might like to start thinking about designs you would like to try - I'm counting on you guys to produce a few decent layouts so version 2 has a bit of variety

Disclaimer:
This message does not in any way state that v2 is coming out soon - there is still a long way to go - but we're getting there

[Ben_S]

Nice to know  

Presume you will be able to have multipul templates and have the user select their prefaired one?

And if so can you have seperate images for each template?

[Greg Robson]

Good question - was working on this yesterday, it's a four stage process - imagine we we looking for the profile image...

1. Check the chosen language, chosen template
/themes/"chosen theme"/"chosen language"/home.gif

2. if it doesn't exist - perhaps it didn't need translating...
/themes/"chosen theme"/english/home.gif

3. okay then at least give it them in their language if poss.
/themes/default/"chosen language"/home.gif

4. can't find anything - so default to the image that's installed.
/themes/default/english/home.gif

Hmm, it should be poss. but I don't know how it will be implemented - if anyone knows the answer...

[Mach8]

I've got a system like that at the minute on my board, except I wrote it for skins.

Index.php : check if guest, if so then set skin to default
Index.php : get skin value from member's record
Index.php : check variable returned - if blank then set skin to default
Index.php : load style.css from /skins/$skin/style.css

Then the images are loaded from /skins/$skin/images/<image>

[Greg Robson]

Trying to get the system sorted out in my head and on paper and in code is a bit of a nightmare, but I'm slowly getting my head around it

[groundup]

* groundup slams Greg's head down on the table, then spins him around in circles and slams his head again.

Did that help?

ummm.. is there any difference between themes and skins?

[Mach8]

Technically, no.

I mean Windows themes - they change titlebar colours, replace icons, change colour schemes.

Winamp skins (think Winamp3, not Winamp 2.xx) do the same... and can change shapes, etc.

So in my eyes there's nothing different between the two.

[groundup]

ok ty

[Hypocrite]

I think skins don't usually change the buttons and icons. They just change the outlook colours... Like changing a skin on human Doesn't change anything than the skin colour

Where as a theme can change everything from buttons and icons to colours and graphics.

[Mach8]

Then why does the new version of Windows Media Player have skins? Which change buttons? Winamp changes buttons.

I think the terms are interchangeable, and the reason groundup brought the question up is because I said:

...except I wrote it for skins...

I wasn't saying skins as opposed to themes, I was saying skins because I thought Greg was only using language pack buttons. However I just read over and realised it's a combo of a skin and language.

[Hypocrite]

I think skins have started to change towards themes. But if you go to sites like http://www.skinz.org they usually only have different colours etc. Not different buttons. With WinAmp I think they just now have the possibility to use different buttons etc and they want to keep the WinAmp skin thing they have had. People are used to talk about WinAmp skins.

[Greg Robson]

I think the problem is this:

Themes determine what everything looks like (expanded navigation, number of messages for the message index etc.)
These themes have the images stored in a sub-folder.

Templates control appearance and positioning (colors, images etc)

The problem is that currently images are stored in the themes folder - so should they be moved into the templates area or another separate area?

My thinking is this - if people use a different template, they expect different images (or we just use the default). So images should be stored with the template.

So a template comprises:
a set of template files and images.

And a theme:
a set of rules for displaying the template.

and that both of these are separate from each other - i.e. you can chose whatever theme (default / compact / no images etc) and then choose a way to display it (YaBB SE blue, green, combat, black and white etc).

Is this right? If so I need to make some alterations...

[Greg Robson]

Would this be okay by you guys?:

Themes - control display settings like number of messages per page, inline links, images or text links etc (like Windows and the arrangement of the Start Menu).

Skins - consist of template files that determine colors, layout of components etc. If you specify colors with a skin they will be used - if not then it will default back to the default YaBB SE graphics.

btw - your feedback is much appreciated

[Mach8]

This is how I have it...
Let's say the skin is called "silver".

/skins
/skins/silver

style.css (colour application to different CSS elements)
template.php (controls layout of components)

/skins/silver/images

<images>

So basically on my forum I have the two together, but I feel you should have them separate as an admin might want to use a certain layout, but have different schemes for it. I might implement this on my system at a later date.

[Greg Robson]

Yeah - that's what I think - the important thing is that the theme outputs different parts of a template (i.e. inline links or not), and that the template controls how that item appears to the user.