Yes, I very much like the example of KuraFire.net for its dynamics. Perhaps it has a little too much diffence in use of colors, but its variety on layout (of the content) is exactly what I mean

>I think it would be better to hold a theme contest, let the community come up with inovative solutions then the core team can select the top 3 or 5 and have those submitted to a vote

I disagree, a theme contest will evolve into a challange (my theme is better than yours etc).
Why don't we try to be constructive at all? Explain you ideas about a new design here, don't think about a final product right now.
After you got a nice idea is the minor work to elaborate it in a new fancy theme (imho)

banned,

Quote:
Why not give this a chance? I don't get it. I've explained the reasons for doing it as an open collaboration project, where the community can take it where they feel it should go. What makes having several people creating designs on their own and when it is finished showing it to the community (do I hear a resemblance with another project that got a LOT of critisism because of this method??) more open that working together on a big project where everyone can join in?

Quote:No, it doesn't involve the community, each person designs it on his or her own. No involvement whatsoever, not evenn in the selection, as you put it.
Quote:These are emerging in this method too, but in stead of competing for the 'best', they are collaborating to become one.
Quote:No it isn't more open, it's diffused closed mini projects, that requires a lot more energy (multiple talented designers doing the same thing more then once at the same time) where a collaboration project means these taletts are pooled and more efficiently used. This principle is called comon pool resources, and is used in many open source projects with a lot of success too. In fact, a lot of open source development projects are based on this principle.

Please please please focus on the huge task at hand, and lets work together as opposed to compete with eachother.

I'm sorry if this post sounds negative to you, I honestly mean no offense. I'm very tired (having spent a long time with the police today explaining what happened in october on this website with the hack attack).

Herko

....my 2 cents....[/quote]

Ok ... how about meeting in between?

No one is stopping anyone from presenting anything here. If you want to bring a full theme into discussion just do it. If someone prefers to do a theme alone ... do it. Then bring it over here and it will be put into this discussion.

I however agree that turning this into a full fledged competition only should (imho) not be the purpose. I would also like to see more different people commenting on how things should look.

Back to topic:

Not sure if its a good idea but depending on which part of the sites (entrance, community, development) you visit a different width would make sense.

Example: For the frontpage (or showcase) many would prefer a slim theme i guess since well they are looking better (if the don´t have to show too much content) and in a way have this more professional, business ... feel.

But for other parts for example the community with the forums and tutorials i would much more want to see much width used since it allows much better presentation and readability of content.

Not sure if thats feasable ... just my 0.02 cents.

i know that the 3 column approach is not genrally popular with those with an eye for a good website design but it is equally important to remember that site navigation should feel comfortable with the new user who logs on for the first time and there should be sense of familiarty to it.

imho most users will log onto a CMS site thinking how is this going to work with the idea/concept that i am trying to create and the initial impression is the site own pages, a lot of users bulding community sites will still be looking for the 3 column approach.

just my thoughts ... be gentle im new

Why spend a day with the police discussing about that hack? You could easily resume it in a simple sentence explaining that was - a question of legitimity and credibility of the leaders. There was no problemo as long as the project belonged to the founder and community before we put our hands over it and make it our business!

Give designers a place, freedom of imagination and action, if you want the best to Xoops.

At least, to be honest, tell clearly to designers what you really want, as most of us don't speak english well, it could be something like this:
- I want you to do my theme, and here is the way i want it to be done!

Then, while waiting, take a deep breath and rest in peace!

(The criminal damage issue is irrelevent to this thread - please keep on topic everyone)

Very good point about using the width Bender - this is something I was thinking myself... perhaps being able to be a bit more flexible about the columns used in certain areas would be a good idea as well.

Magicfinger: very interesting point ... the 3 column styled design is more familiar to most people, but it could also be true that this is an opportunity to think outside the box a little more than others do.

Quote:

The default theme is often used as a starting point for others, so having a base that is standards compliant and easily adaptable would be great. It would be good if the theme could easily be adapted between full / dynamic width, if possible.

RE: 2/3 column layout...

Why not offer both? There is a theme selection block. If I'm not mistaken, there is the capability for users to save their theme preferences in 2.0.x (commented out in edituser.php); if not there use to be a module for this. Perhaps this would provide a happy medium. Worst case scenario, the designer has to do 2, maybe three versions. 2-column-left, 3-column, 2-column-right. What does that add to the design time? A few minutes? An hour at the most?

Let's not get caught up picking the fly poop out of the pepper here.

RE: Fixed/Varible width...

Again, there is a compromise here. IMHO, min-width should be set at 768px. Other than that, a stylesheet changer javascript could offer both options. The site Herko pointed out, http://kurafire.net/, uses something like this. Click on the Zoom button in the top right corner. Bam! Best of both worlds in one click!

Let's not get stuck in a rigid train of thought. There will be compromises with every approach. The trick is, being able to look at the situation in new ways so a solution that is a (reasonably) happy compromise for all can be reached.

I love the creative flow that is going here! Let's keep it up! But lets not look at this with the same eyes we've always used. Let's step outside the box and really put our immaginations to work!

Best Regards,

James

I've come up with an alternate layout, but it's quite rough at the moment. It's mainly just the logical block placement.

Click on the thumbnail for the full size image


Ok, a little explaination behind the layout:

To facilitate familiarity for less experienced users, and to retain compatibility with the current block placement model, the layout employs the traditional 5 option block layout.

What I'm envisioning for the xoops.org sites is that the right column would be enabled/disabled depending on the site and depending on the content.

The only alteration this layout would need to be a viable "Default" theme is the addition of banners either above or below the content/center-column blocks.

This layout would work well as fixed-width or variable width.

The purpose behind the redundant navigation is to enhance ease of use. Simply put, there is no current way that I know of to do this dynamically through a the Admin backend. A minimal amount of editing of the theme would be required for end-users. Perhaps not the best solution, but much more user-friendly for browsing and enhanced SEO.

You'll notice a slight rearrangement of blocks. This is a maatter of preference and should be coded so that it is easy to change.

As you can tell by the size and position of the right blocks loop, this column could easily be disabled for a wider main content area.

Anyways, it's just a thought. If it sparks a thought in someone's mind, great! If not, oh well, let's come up with something better.

Best Regards,

James