Several issues have been registered recently to migrate specific ftl functions to widgets. And patches have been attached. These just need a review and get committed.
Yes, the use of ftl functionality is overwhelming. Even when it is not needed at all. E.g. defining standard screenlet functionality. And, for sure, it was the best (easiest?) choice for the contributor at the moment of creation to get to the desired solution (think functionality and/or time constraints). Like widgets, the ftl functions serve a purpose. It is not either widgets or ftl, but and widgets and ftl. But both techs should be applied wisely and not mere for convenience sake. When talking about moving from ftl to widgets (where possible), it all starts with registering the improvement issue in JIRA. Best regards, Pierre Smits *ORRTIZ.COM <http://www.orrtiz.com>* Services & Solutions for Cloud- Based Manufacturing, Professional Services and Retail & Trade http://www.orrtiz.com On Thu, May 14, 2015 at 1:22 PM, Gavin Mabie <kwikst...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi Community > > I have not been able to continue the work on the bootstrap theme for the > past few months now and therefore resisted the urge to comment on various > threads in the mailing list about matters related. So maybe apologies are > in order. Having said that, these are my thoughts: > > 1. The UI, specifically HTML is as important as any other part of the > framework and should consequently be treated as such by the community. > 2. Many projects with lesser architectural soundness but with sexy UIs' > have proven successful purely based on the UI. The Ofbiz architectural > framework rocks, but it not enough has been done to project this > graphically. The look and feel of the ecommerce app has not been upgraded > for more than half a decade now. This may be the reason why some are > looking towards integrating with other ecommerce projects. The Ofbiz > ecommerce app isn't bad - the demo just looks bad. > 3. Graphical designers can easily write their own UI, as alluded to by > Adrian. This regardless of the Javascript framework you would like to use. > You can write your own widget templates and incorporate that in your theme. > It's possible. > 4. The elephant in the room is the significant amount of "raw" ftl widgets > present in the current demos. This is where I got stuck with the bootstrap > development. We cannot move the theme forward without dealing with "raw" > ftl. I suspect that the same might be true for any other J'S framework. > Any volunteers? > 5. Following on the previous point, developing a UI based on vogue JS > frameworks will be extremely difficult if we are concerned about breaking > older themes. Maybe it is time for a clean break. > > So, this is my proposal: > 1. Let's bodly adopt bootstrap. If there are any proponents of any other > framework, let them bring it forward so we can all discuss and work on it. > 2. Put aside a sprint event to deal with "raw" ftls scattered all over and > get these converted into properly defined widgets. > 3. Produce a more sexy ecommerce UI (this is critical to the Ofbiz brand). > > There are other issues - but this I feel should be prioritised. > > Regards > Gavin > On 14 May 2015 12:20 PM, "Jacques Le Roux" <jacques.le.r...@les7arts.com> > wrote: > > > Below are some, but this question is more to shake things a bit and know > > what people think > > > > I think everybody will agree that the Entity Engine is the gem of this > > project, follows the Service Engine. I believe, though less polished, the > > widgets are 3rnd, but that's only my opinion and I'd really like to know > > others > > > > Jacques > > > > > > Le 14/05/2015 10:45, Pierre Smits a écrit : > > > >> But what are the proposals? Where can these be found? > >> > >> Best regards, > >> > >> Pierre Smits > >> > >> *ORRTIZ.COM <http://www.orrtiz.com>* > >> Services & Solutions for Cloud- > >> Based Manufacturing, Professional > >> Services and Retail & Trade > >> http://www.orrtiz.com > >> > >> On Thu, May 14, 2015 at 9:14 AM, Jacques Le Roux < > >> jacques.le.r...@les7arts.com> wrote: > >> > >> Actually maybe I'm misunderstanding you and I also want to clarify with > >>> everybody. I will try to be brief and right to the point! > >>> > >>> Do you (we) want to replace the widgets by something like Ean and Anil > >>> proposed many times, or do we want to improve them using these new > tools? > >>> > >>> Jacques > >>> > >>> Le 13/05/2015 22:15, Julien NICOLAS a écrit : > >>> > >>> Le 13/05/2015 16:35, Jacques Le Roux a écrit : > >>>> > >>>> Le 13/05/2015 15:04, Julien NICOLAS a écrit : > >>>>> > >>>>> Hello Pierre, > >>>>>> > >>>>>> Le 13/05/2015 12:35, Pierre Smits a écrit : > >>>>>> > >>>>>> For what it is worth, the BOOTSTRAP_theme dev branch is a other way > >>>>>>> to > >>>>>>> enhance the user experience. Unfortunately the work is not done > yet. > >>>>>>> > >>>>>>> The problem is that the GUI is a demo GUI. Then all the time you > >>>>>> spend > >>>>>> to solve all GUI problems, will potentially lost because nobody use > >>>>>> it (and > >>>>>> when I say that I think in particular to the order screen that is a > >>>>>> nightmare...). > >>>>>> It's better that OFBiz embedded GUI web framework (like bootstrap > but > >>>>>> not only, it can be bootstrap based tool for dashboard, etc.) and a > >>>>>> documentation on how to use it. > >>>>>> > >>>>>> I don't know if nobody is using it (I guess some are ;)), but I > >>>>> believe > >>>>> a lot are reusing parts of it. The idea is not only to provide a demo > >>>>> but > >>>>> also to provide ideas, bricks to be reused. Did you wrote your own > >>>>> totally > >>>>> from scratch :-o (I guess not even considering ideas) ? > >>>>> > >>>>> Is the BOOTSTRAP_theme dev branch not a way to embed one "HTML, CSS, > >>>>> and > >>>>> JavaScript framework" and use its artefacts inside widgets? > >>>>> What are actually the parts you found so bad? > >>>>> > >>>>> I mean if you need to adapt the actual visual theme to bootstrap, it > >>>> may > >>>> take a lot of time but the gain is very low. > >>>> It will be more interesting to add tool (like bootstrap or some js > tool > >>>> or widget) and use it for the future demo screen. To have a good > screen > >>>> render by using a new HTML/CSS/JS framework (like bootstrap), you must > >>>> to > >>>> define your global solution rendering and create GUI specifications > that > >>>> contain all visual cases. > >>>> If we speak about create a bootstrap theme not for demo but for a good > >>>> user experience, we'll have to create the GUI specifications first. > >>>> Then we > >>>> need a GUI developer group that define the guidance and validate new > >>>> screen. In my opinion, changing colour of the actual demo GUI is a > >>>> waste of > >>>> time. But use new feature for new demo screen, that change the demo > >>>> version > >>>> into a patchwork but it's not a problem :) > >>>> > >>>> How the widgets are generated, the CSS class used, how js is used > >>>> inside > >>>> > >>>>> of that, etc. ? > >>>>> > >>>>> If we go this way (embed a HTML framework in OFBiz) I remember some > >>>>> proposed to use rather foundation, we would need to pick one and only > >>>>> one. > >>>>> Like wed did with jQuery as the main js lib that BTW we need to keep! > >>>>> > >>>>> I agree. We have to make the choice of a framework and use it. But > we > >>>> can > >>>> keep in mind that maybe somebody want use another one so we can have > >>>> detail > >>>> documentation to explain how to change it. > >>>> Another point, prefer to use heritage for the default css class. > >>>> And with the next add-on management, it may be possible to have a > >>>> specific add-on by css framework ;) > >>>> > >>>> Also some have proposed to get further and use something like Angular > >>>>> > >>>>> > https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/OFBIZ-5040?focusedCommentId=13887287 > >>>>> or Backbone > >>>>> > >>>>> > https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/OFBIZ-5522?focusedCommentId=13885989 > >>>>> you name it... > >>>>> > >>>>> https://cordova.apache.org/ ("aka" PhoneGap) is also worth > considering > >>>>> see > >>>>> > >>>>> > https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/download/attachments/48792051/mobile_web.pdf?version=1&modificationDate=1429534402000&api=v2 > >>>>> > >>>>> PhoneGap is a very interesting project but I'm not sure that a phone > >>>> app > >>>> is a priority but it's only my opinion :D > >>>> > >>>> We need to make delicate choices and quickly, time is flying... > >>>>> > >>>>> So true... > >>>> > >>>> Julien. > >>>> > >>>> Jacques > >>>>> > >>>>> > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> >
