**Edited out**

I'm gonna take this over there to :)

great bluehue theme
i love it !

One thing I noticed vsiting the demo site is that header of new default theme does not render properly - it ends up somwere in the midle of center block right...

RE: Default theme demo...

There were a couple minor CSS bugs that needed to be worked out, but the design is looking better now.

RE: 30 themes in 30 days...

My original plan was to release the “Generic” framework theme today for the 30 themes in 30 days challenge; however a change in plans occurred and I had to adjust my release schedule a bit. Instead of releasing the “Generic” framework theme today, I’m releasing an example of the “old school” of XOOPS theme design, the bluehue theme.

Please see the following news announcement for more information on the bluehue theme.

I do plan to continue with the 30 themes in 30 days challenge, but due to some new discoveries regarding the next generation default theme and the overall development goals of XOOPS, I’ve had to adjust my plans a little bit. Essentially, I won’t be using the “old default theme” as my basis for this challenge, but will instead use the “new default theme” as my canvas. However, there will be some significant changes to the CSS of the “new default theme” for the “Generic” framework design.

I’ve spent the last couple days going over the “new default theme” and the conclusion that I came to is that, while the new theme still looks familiar (still a bit like your traditional portal), it employs CSS and SMARTY coding that is much more advanced than anything I’ve seen come from XOOPS. The benefit of this new theme is that the built-in flexibility is enormous. The downside is that this new theme is a huge leap from the previous default theme.

After talking with Skalpa extensively about this subject, we came to the conclusion that it might be best to produce a “bridge” theme that helps users transition from the old theme terminology and simplicity, to the new theme’s flexibility and complexity. The general idea is that I’m going to produce a “lite” version of the new theme that will retain the basic structure and semantics, but will be a much more simplified version that is easier to learn and customize. This will be the basis for the 30 themes in 30 days project.

At present, I’ve managed to simplify the XHTML, but am still working on the CSS. My current progress indicates that I should be able to release the “Generic” framework theme by the end of the week. Once the basic theme has been defined, producing the remaining 29 themes, one each day, should be much simpler. However, at this point, I’m working on the most difficult part… Understanding and simplifying a theme concept that is much more flexible and complex than any other CMS theme system I’ve seen so far. Once that is mastered, progress will be swift.

I’m doing everything possible to produce the first “Generic” framework theme as quickly as possible; however, there is a learning curve involved in this transition. Give me a couple days to learn this new theme system, and I promise that I will make up for the lost time in 30 new themes that will be compatible with today’s XOOPS as well as future versions of XOOPS.

Again, I apologize for the delay and I appreciate your patience.

Hello,

The morphogenesis template theme is based on this new theme “default”, the code was simplified and corrected for a validation W3 C. It makes it possible to create quickly and simply new themes (see exemples).
The file “js” was removed to become “jseffects”. The file pngbehavior.htc was modified to take the transparency of the png on the totality of images png of the site.
The content-xxx.css were gathered in content.css
If you need a little assistance, not problem, you can contact me by email or mp on xoops.org or frxoops.org


Kris

morphogenesis would be a good idea to work from James...

I have downloaded the morphogenesis theme and will compare it with what I've already done. If the code is similar enough to the original theme (but just simplified), then there is a very good posibility I will use it as the base.

Thanks for the suggestion!

James

Sorry I haven't provided an update over the last few days regarding this project. I was a bit tied up doing server work for a client.

RE: morphogenesis theme...

I've take some time to review the morphogenesis theme and I agree that it is a nice modified version of the new default theme, but it isn't quite what I'm looking for. Let me clarify a bit.

What I've been doing with the new default theme is reverse engineering it. Essentially, I've been studying every line of XHTML and CSS to understand what each element, class and id do. My objective is to break the new default theme down to its most basic elements (a "bare bones" default theme), and build from that canvas. There are two main reasons I'm doing this.

1. The new default theme is provided as an example of what can be done, but it is not necessarily targeted towards beginning and average theme designers. It uses advanced CSS techniques and browser hacks that many designers don't learn about until they've been in the field for some time. By breaking this theme down to its most basic elements, I'll be able to produce a simplified "Generic" theme that can be customized by a wider user base.

2. This isn't official yet, but there is a very good chance that I may be contributing to the documentation of the new default theme. Since I'm taking the time to reverse engineer the theme, I'm gaining a very detailed understanding of the structure of the design and will be able to provide information that can help users bridge the gap between the basic "Generic" version of this design and the more advanced version.

So, at this point, I'm working on reverse engineering the new default theme and will release a "Generic" version of this theme as soon as possible. If all goes well, my first release should be by the end of the week, possibly over the weekend. I'm working quite diligently on this, so stay tuned!

Hello

Will 30 different headers and parts of theme.html and style.css be considered as is described in original post of this thread to "very little XHTML/SMARTY will change" ?

It's not quite that simple. Essentially, very little of the XHTML/SMARTY will change; however, the CSS will change quite a bit. All of the themes will carry the basic XHTML/SMARTY structure, but CSS will be used to change the overall appearance. On some themes, the change may be subtle. On other themes, the change could be drastic. It just depends on the goal of the theme.

Given that the new default theme still uses some tables, you can reasonably expect the same basic 3 column layout with a header and a footer. After that, the themes will be as unique as CSS will allow me to make them given the XHTML/SMARTY structure.

I'd like to apologize for this project running behind schedule. It seems my timing could not have been worse. I should have held off for a few weeks as I have been extremely busy ever since announcing this project.

Don't worry, I will do this project! I'm quite determined to see this through. I just need to get a little more caught up before I can begin. Thanks for your patience!!!