I guess it's because I don't see eCommerce as being that unique. In other words, we have a dozen or so back office applications that all share the same visual theme, so why can't eCommerce share it too?
What makes eCommerce so different? Nothing as far as I can tell. It has a masthead, footer, main navigation, main content area, columns, screenlets, etc - just like the back office applications. If we don't enforce theme compatibility, then what is the point in having them? There would be no guarantee (or even a reasonable expectation) that a particular theme will work with a particular application. I believe the visual theme framework has been set up in such a way that there is very little restriction in layout, but it has enough structure to ensure compatibility. If restrictions are found, we can address them at that time. -Adrian --- On Wed, 12/31/08, David E Jones <david.jo...@hotwaxmedia.com> wrote: > From: David E Jones <david.jo...@hotwaxmedia.com> > Subject: Re: [jira] Commented: (OFBIZ-2106) Visual Themes for Ecommerce > To: dev@ofbiz.apache.org > Date: Wednesday, December 31, 2008, 11:58 AM > We could certainly have some styles shared, but if we > introduced the restriction that all styles had to be shared > it would severely limit what can be done in both public > facing and internal sites. I don't think we'll ever > get around the simple fact that different designs require > different sets of styles. If you don't believe that to > be the case, just try doing so with the simple and > artificial scenario of the current OFBiz internal apps and > the ecommerce demo. > > If we accept that not all possible apps could be driven by > the same set of styles then we need to support multiple sets > of styles, with a different theme set/template for each set > of styles. > > Unless I'm misunderstanding something that's really > the only distinguishing, and therefore relevant, point. > > -David > > > On Dec 31, 2008, at 10:04 AM, Adrian Crum wrote: > > > Bruno and David, > > > > Your replies repeat the discussions we had during the > development of the Visual Themes implementation. I don't > believe there is any disagreement on their benefits, or how > they are to be used, or the future of theme galleries. > > > > The point I was trying to make is this: If I'm a > back office worker, and I really like the theme used for the > company's eCommerce site, I should be able to select > that theme for my back office applications. Bruno's > proposal would make that impossible because eCommerce themes > will work ONLY on eCommerce. I don't think we should > force that distinction. Plus, it places an additional burden > on theme developers who would have to create two versions of > each theme - one for back office applications and one for > eCommerce. > > > > -Adrian > > > > > > --- On Tue, 12/30/08, David E Jones > <david.jo...@hotwaxmedia.com> wrote: > > > >> From: David E Jones > <david.jo...@hotwaxmedia.com> > >> Subject: Re: [jira] Commented: (OFBIZ-2106) Visual > Themes for Ecommerce > >> To: dev@ofbiz.apache.org > >> Date: Tuesday, December 30, 2008, 2:01 PM > >> Personally I like having the internal and public > facing > >> sites different, and my guess is that most > organizations > >> with a public facing site (ecommerce or other) > will have it > >> quite different from the internal site(s). > >> > >> To take this further, I think we should even > support > >> multiple theme sets to the point where people can > create > >> their own theme sets to use with custom > applications whether > >> they be public facing or internal. For example > some crazy > >> company might want a custom SFA app with its own > theme > >> because their sales people have a very different > set of > >> tastes from other departments in the company, and > even > >> moreso because they want to design the application > totally > >> differently so the same set of styles won't > work. > >> > >> That last point is really the most important: we > really > >> should support the ability to have a themed > application with > >> a custom set of styles and not force people to use > the > >> styles OOTB. Whenever you dramatically change the > design of > >> an app you tend to need different styles than for > a very > >> different design and in those cases we either > don't > >> support themes or we support multiple theme sets > (I > >> don't like "theme type" BTW since it > means > >> nothing, but not sure "theme set" is a > lot better) > >> so people can introduce their own and have them > live with > >> the OOTB OFBiz theme sets. > >> > >> For OFBiz we'd probably maintain what we are > >> maintaining now: one for internal (back-end) apps, > and one > >> for public facing apps (mostly ecommerce). The > excuse that > >> these are being well maintained (or maintained to > your > >> liking) right now doesn't influence this > argument either > >> way, IMO, and is largely irrelevant. > >> > >> -David > >> > >> > >> On Dec 30, 2008, at 2:04 PM, Bruno Busco wrote: > >> > >>> Adrian, > >>> I cannot see the problem. > >>> > >>> Right now we have and maintain two themes, one > for > >> ecommerce and one > >>> for backoffice. Each theme is composed by an > header, a > >> footer, several > >>> stylesheets and other related files. > >>> > >>> These files are distributed into ofbiz folders > and > >> now, with the > >>> introduction of VisualThemes, each set of file > has > >> been grouped and > >>> labeled with a VisualTheme. > >>> > >>> I think that we will never add more themes > into the > >> SVN (my > >>> vt_multiflex.zip file is absolutely not > intended to be > >> commited). > >>> So we should always take care, into the SVN, > of only > >> two themes as is > >>> has been unitl now (no one more file). > >>> > >>> In the theme gallery in Confluence there will > be > >> hopefully more themes > >>> available to be downloaded and installed > locally. The > >> Theme manager > >>> into OFBiz will let the user to have many of > them to > >> choose from. > >>> > >>> In this case the new visualThemeTypeId field > could be > >> handy in a way > >>> that only applicable themes out of what has > been > >> installed are offered > >>> to the user to choose from. > >>> > >>> If OFBIZ-1119 will go further and we will have > both > >> ecommerce and > >>> backoffice to share the same stylesheets AND > header > >> AND footer (which > >>> I really do not think be possible) we could > then do > >> not use the > >>> visualTheme classification and use just one > class. > >>> > >>> -Bruno > >>> > >>> > >>> 2008/12/30 Adrian Crum (JIRA) > <j...@apache.org>: > >>>> > >>>> [ > >> > https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/OFBIZ-2106?page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.issuetabpanels:comment-tabpanel&focusedCommentId=12659910#action_12659910 > >> ] > >>>> > >>>> Adrian Crum commented on OFBIZ-2106: > >>>> ------------------------------------ > >>>> > >>>> Bruno, > >>>> > >>>> I'm trying to be realistic. Look at > OFBIZ-1119 > >> - it is 18 months old and no progress has been > made on it. > >> That issue represents only one stylesheet. What > you're > >> suggesting is that we have multiple versions of > stylesheets > >> and other files for each theme - multiplied by the > number of > >> themes in the project (if we agree to have more > than one) > >> which yields potentially dozens of theme files > that need to > >> be maintained. Yet currently we can't keep > only one > >> updated. > >>>> > >>>> > >>>>> Visual Themes for Ecommerce > >>>>> --------------------------- > >>>>> > >>>>> Key: OFBIZ-2106 > >>>>> URL: > >> https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/OFBIZ-2106 > >>>>> Project: OFBiz > >>>>> Issue Type: New Feature > >>>>> Components: ecommerce > >>>>> Affects Versions: SVN trunk > >>>>> Reporter: Bruno Busco > >>>>> Attachments: bin.zip, > >> BrowseCategoryCSS.patch, > EcommerceVisualTheme.patch, > >> EcommerceVisualTheme.patch, screenshot.JPG, > vt_multiflex.zip > >>>>> > >>>>> > >>>>> Hi, > >>>>> in the attached patch a simple > implementation > >> of selectable visual themes for the ecommerce > application. > >>>>> I have added the > "visualThemeId" to > >> the ProductStore entity. The user can select one > of the > >> available themes in the EditProductStore screen. > >>>>> I have defined the actual ecommerce > theme as > >> the default theme that is "EC_DEFAULT". > >>>>> I have followed for the ecommerce > >> main-decorator screen a pattern similar to what > done for the > >> back-end. > >>>>> One thing that we could think to do > (but I > >> would like to hear someone about) is to add a > >> "typeId" field or similar to the > VisualTheme > >> entity that could be used to distinguish between > the themes > >> for the back-end and for the ecommerce. > >>>>> Right now it is possible to select all > of the > >> available themes for bost application and this > results in a > >> mess if, for example, a theme for ecommerce is > selected for > >> the back-end and viceversa. > >>>> > >>>> -- > >>>> This message is automatically generated by > JIRA. > >>>> - > >>>> You can reply to this email to add a > comment to > >> the issue online. > >>>> > >>>> > > > > > >
