Seeking help and advice

• Idea: Showcase ocPortal Sites, Designs, Themes - (subsequently raised in these forums by Duck and others)
• What?: 'Themes' spring to mind (no point in banging my head against the 'code-wall')
• Who?: Staff (too busy), Jean (too busy), BobS (too busy) - Best do it myself
• How?: The 64 million dollar question (inflation)

I need eyeballs and observations on this Demo Site

Answers to the following, please:

• Is it worth pursuing?
• Can it be done better elsewhere?
• Will others wish to contribute their own creations to add to the repository?

 

Is it worth pursuing?

Definitely

Can it be done better elsewhere?

Probably, but does it need to be?

The only think I suggest is that you actually enable as many feature as possible to give people a proper feel for how complete a theme is. Showing the front page is nice and all, but people need to see how forums, galleries chat rooms etc. look

Will others wish to contribute their own creations to add to the repository?

I'm sure they will, or at least they would not mind at all if you demo the themes that they have already uploaded to the ocPortal site.

Fletch-

I think this is a very useful endeavor. It gives people an idea of how different an ocPortal site might be with different themes at the click of a button.

I do concur with temp1024 that it would be best if the experience is deeper than the home page.

Bob

Go for it Fletch!

You have my permission to use any of my previously submitted themes on it, and I'll do the same if/when/should I release another theme.

I think its a very good idea.

Thanks for the positive feedback so far, peeps!

I had considered holding off showing the idea until I had a few more themes to display - not just the variations on the default. However, it is a mammoth task and I wanted to see if it was worth pursuing. I mean, what else does one do in retirement? I really don't want to become a 'couch-potato' or 'tele-veggie'!

@temp & Bob
Reluctant to 'open-up' the site by allowing the various zones to be accessible. But, I hadn't overlooked the fact that prospective users of a theme would like to see the other zones, too. So, there will be a series of screen shots of the various zones for EACH theme - another mammoth undertaking!

My fundamental idea is that ALL the themes encompass ALL the core functionality of ocPortal. Only the colours and layout will change, and perhaps the 'boxes' will not be so apparent in some builds (although they will still be there), because my intent is to allow a prospective new user of ocPortal to snatch a theme, activate it on their site, expect it to work from the get-go, and that they should not feel 'screwed' by missing CSS, Templates, or adapted code that will conflict with the original.

Hey, ho! Hey, ho! It's back to work we go …

Which reminds me, the winner of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival's best joke was by comedian Nick Helm. His joke:

Nick Helm said

I needed a password eight characters long so I picked Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

 

This is a great initiative Fletch and kudos to you!

Sorry, if I've been too busy

This is a huge endeavor and I would suggest that at the beginning it remains as simple as the layout you've suggested in your Demo, with a minimum of functionality enabled. This will make it easier to illustrate themes which may have complex layouts. I guess that the idea is to show to the visitors what has been accomplished from an "out of the box" default theme. If someone would like to see each theme in full, he can always get the addon. Give it the "kiss" treatment, I'd say!

I am all for it and you can count on my full cooperation to make this work.

Well Done!

Jean

Fletch, my main reasoning is I don't think that visitors would get a good enough feel for what their 'site' would look like.

For example, when I was looking at themes, the look of the forum was the most import part to me because that's where my members would spend most of their time. The front page was the draw, but as I looked deeper into the site I found that either forum style/colouring didn't quite work, or elements were not themed properly.

temp1024 said

… my main reasoning is I don't think that visitors would get a good enough feel for what their 'site' would look like.

I'll look into it.

I think ocPortal is strong enough to filter stuff sufficiently to get the "Look, but don't touch" display. If it is achievable through settings it will make the necessity for screen shots redundant, except for the sensitive areas.

Been neglecting my own site, so it's back to work on there, or the few submissions I get will start to dry up!

 

Fletch I love the idea and effort! One suggestion I have (besides agrreeing with others about needing to see many areas such as forums displayed) is that your choices preferably have a small (but expandable) pic of the theme. That would be nice but not necessary I guess.