Posted by derekwebb1 on April 29, 2009 at 12:13pm
Yes: More POV is good for development
44% (4 votes)
No: Let em wait to see the results
11% (1 vote)
You must be crazy
44% (4 votes)
Not sure
0% (0 votes)
Total votes: 9
Comments
Opinions?
Why do you think it is a bad idea if you do?
Is openness good for module development but bad for themes? I appreciate your feedback.
Thanks.
https://coraltechgroup.com
I am one of the brave few
I am one of the brave few who voted "you gotta be crazy, man".
Two words. Mediocrity and Productivity.
Let me get it done without compromise ;)
Thats a good POV itself.
In some ways I agree with you. I think that productivity could indeed be harmed... a lot too. But I have to disagree about the mediocrity bit. To suggest that community development leads to mediocrity is absurd. My favorite CMS, browser, email client, etc... are all open source and community developed.
I would agree with you had you said mediocrity would be the result if there were no end goal but if a goal is established beforehand (ex... an colorized antiques shop theme or chromium fluid gamer blog theme) , I think that is when community development REALLY shines. What I am suggesting is this:
1: designs are drafted by the lead designer of the theme (the one that proposes the theme)
2: commentary is given (regarding the mockups)
3: revisions are made (if they are needed - they usually are)
4: perhaps multiple variants of the theme are developed (using a core that is developed by the lead designer - or something of that sort).
I am not sold on this concept myself! I tend to be a bit stubborn so perhaps I would not be the one to put myself into the guinea pig chamber. But I am thinking that it might just be crazy enough to be "cool" to develop themes with others input.
I think a lot of the people here are really talented and I think it would be a good idea to mix it up with you all. Of course it is just a theory... You may be absolutely right. Themes may need to be designed in a vacuum... Who knows but I am interested in hearing if anyone would want to try something like this.
Thanks for your input!
https://coraltechgroup.com
Themes are small enough...
To where it may not be very feasible to get community involved. Organizing something like this would take planning and coordination and themes may not be worth it.
Of course, as long as we think that themes are not worth a big investment in design and brainpower, perhaps Drupal themes will tend to show a bit of a lack of both. And let's be honest about the themes at Drupal! There are a few Drupal themes out there that shine well but the standard lot, mine included, are rather blase because they are "Generic" and designed with no real purpose. Even the best are still generic looking...
A theme needs to solve a problem. I REALLY look forward to the new features in the Drupal site. I recently heard there will be tagging, voting, and featured themes (featured presumably on votes rather than which ones the Drupal maintainers like today)...
I may just be crazy though... Perhaps I should change my vote! Ha ha
https://coraltechgroup.com
funny
funny I just found this post, I'm setting up an experiment to create a free GPL theme in collaboration with the community, so I would vote YES, and hopefully I feel the same way after this project.
Running SooperThemes Premium Drupal Themes
I think its doable but a hell
I think its doable but a hell of a lot more work - Bartik proved we can do it, I think the hardest thing is getting people interested enough to participate for long enough. I think it depends on how its handled, if you get the community to simply pick a design from a group of pre-selected designs (say vote on them) and then code it yourself, maybe with one co-maintainer then its work-able and do-ble in a short enough time span to hold interest. Think that Bartik as a fully open community project has taken about 7 months.
Thanks for your reply. This
Thanks for your reply. This is my planning:
June/July 2010: Collecting information
July 2010: Being on vacation resisting the urge to make design mock-ups
August 2010: Providing some design mock-ups for the community to choose from
September-??? 2010: Production. The theme will be full featured like the premium themes and these usually take around 8-10 weeks to go through the design/development/testing/QA loops before they are ready for release.
This month I will be making regular posts on my blog and Drupal planet.
-First I'm planning to ask about the desired purpose of the design (what type of website etc.) and discuss it in the comments.
-When discussion is over (maybe after a week) a poll about the design purpose
-A week later, a discussion about the style, atmosphere and design stream, hopefully I will get some references to websites and showcases.
-A week later a discussions about modules and content types that need to be accounted for in the design
-And in the end of the month, a big poll that summarizes the options and will server to determine the style and modules in the design
What do you think about this format? I'm still open to changes but I plan to start monday.
Running SooperThemes Premium Drupal Themes