Idea: New default theme and foundation/bootstrap themes for SS4 installer

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Mike

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Feb 4, 2016, 4:48:58 AM2/4/16
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Hi everyone,

With the approach of SS4 I'd like to see a new theme take the place of the existing 'simple' theme, also some skeleton themes added to the installer to help people getting started with SilverStripe. One day this could also include a theme picker, but for the moment I would like to see the installer become more useful with adding better themes to build sites on.

It would be great to see a new default theme developed for each major release (similar to how Wordpress do it), this also encourages more themes in the community. If you have any in mind then feel free to post them in this discussion. This won't be some sort of competition but even if the existing 'simple' theme is given a new coat of paint for SS4, I think it is better than nothing. It also shows that we are moving forward and are encouraging front end developers and designers to contribute back to the community.

For the skeleton themes I would imagine the first would be a barebones, very simple theme kinda like my hardyakka theme http://addons.silverstripe.org/add-ons/mandrew/hardyakka (which is just built from html5boilerplate) added to the installer, with no classes, minimal reset styles etc. If you have any others that you would recommend as a great default theme post them here. It would be good to either vote on one and/or combine the best parts of each to create an awesome one : )

I would also like to see at least two more advanced skeleton themes (possibly more? Still very boilerplate) built from the skeleton theme chosen but use different css frameworks out of the box and would have a simple reference guide kinda like http://www.basscss.com/skull/ or http://getskeleton.com/ as examples (maybe even simpler?) to get people started. I would suggest using Bootstrap 4 and Foundation 6 for these themes but if you disagree then post here and suggest others. I'd like to see these work with a number of modules out of the box but that is up to how much community support there is for this idea.

I will do some research and report back on existing skeleton starter themes avaliable and go from there : )

Mike.

Anselm Christophersen

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Feb 4, 2016, 6:13:40 AM2/4/16
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Good idea,
I’ve often used this one as a base:

I actually liked it so much that I added it as an option to my silverstripe installer (it asks in the end if you want to download Foundation):


Anselm


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kPodo

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Feb 4, 2016, 11:10:44 AM2/4/16
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Ryan's foundation theme (with #6 in it if possible) and a bootstrap-sass theme would be awesome starts.

How about a Material Design one, Ionic etc.?

We could also all pitch in and convert the best themeforest themes into SS (E.g. Canvas)

Richard Rudy

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Feb 4, 2016, 11:58:59 AM2/4/16
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I did a materialize based site last year. Ill see about stripping out the client specific stuff and adapting it to SS4

Sent from my iPhone

Ryan Wachtl

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Feb 4, 2016, 2:35:43 PM2/4/16
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Thanks for recommending my SilverStripe Foundation theme, Anselm!

I’m currently working on an update to the theme that uses Foundation 6, and updating the supporting modules.


https://github.com/ryanwachtl/silverstripe-foundation-forms (supports UserForms module, but needs update to work with UserForms 3)


Ryan Wachtl
Principal Consultant, Beyond Usability
+1 (608) 207-6044
@ryanwachtl
www.linkedin.com/in/ryanwachtl

David Craig

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Feb 4, 2016, 4:20:28 PM2/4/16
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A yeoman generator which scaffolds a skeleton theme is something worth considering. That way you could provide options to the user, for including different frameworks like Bootstrap and Foundation, if they want them.

gl...@silverstripe.com

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Feb 5, 2016, 5:39:02 AM2/5/16
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Just wanted to chuck a theme that the White Rabbits worked on when we first started into the mix.  It's called Pocketwatch and it uses Bootstrap, Scss and Compass for styling.  It's both a one pager and your typical tabbed webpage.  The main page is made up of Slices (e.g. a Blog Slice that pulls data through from the Blog section to your main page).  Take a look at the attached pic to see what it's capable of.  

It is a theme, but it also requires a helper module.  You can see both here: https://packagist.org/packages/psukhedelos/   Requiring either one will install the other as right now they are inseparable (though we may look at splitting this down further to make certain parts of it opt in).  We still need to polish it up for a proper release (more documentation + code comments).  We snuck a bit more work in on it today during Hack Day.  Have a hoon if you're curious and don't hesitate to email me if you have trouble installing it! :)  

1.  composer require psukhedelos/silverstripe-pocketwatch
2.  You'll need to have at least one "Home Page", so if you're starting from a fresh install I'd suggest simply swapping the usual main page for the type "Home Page"
3.  Swap the theme to "Pocketwatch"

That should get it up and running and you'll be able to add slices, pages, etc.  Some of the default images don't work as the paths were lost when we split it up into a module and theme.  And we're also in the process of making sure all of our default images are above board.  

We're just really excited to begin the process of getting it out there!  Hope everyone has had an awesome week!  :)

G




On Thursday, 4 February 2016 22:48:58 UTC+13, Mike wrote:
Home Page.png

Andrew Houle

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Feb 6, 2016, 9:16:38 AM2/6/16
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I love the idea of creating a new default theme for SS4! Improving their default theme on every major release is honestly one of the best things wordpress does. 

This wouldn't be a new default theme, but I did want to share my starter theme that I created for my projects. It's pretty barebones, but here's what it has...
  • It utilizes Bower for frontend dependencies. Which are jQuery, Respond, Normalize, and Jeet. I use Jeet instead of the traditional powerhouses like bootstrap and foundation. I realize that won't be a popular choice, but I think too many sites rely on them and look too similar. All I really want is a flexible grid system and Jeet does that extremely well.
  • Grunt is setup for the SCSS and some concatenating/minifying.
  • The SCSS contains base styles and styles specific to SilverStripe.
  • The page template is basic and HTML5 ready. 

Andy

Mike

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Feb 25, 2016, 12:41:59 AM2/25/16
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Hi all,

Here is spreadsheet with all the starter themes that I could find: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1PdEdj7hrjZOm2t0FdmHsoZQZO4sLGgibklrXcUEbGnQ/edit?usp=sharing
 
The more I researched, the more questions I had regarding how Frontend devs start a SilverStripe project. So here are a couple:

  1. Do you use the php installer or do you prefer to bypass it using composer and an environment file?
  2. Do you use a skeleton or very basic default theme currently to build sites?
  3. If a skeleton theme was chosen and added to the installer, would you use it? Or would you prefer to start with a theme that includes a framework like bootstrap or foundation?

I'm happy to spearhead this and update the installer but if no one uses the installer or even a skeleton theme then it might be better to keep the options a lot more simpler and just have a couple of options? Thoughts?


Mike.


On Thursday, 4 February 2016 22:48:58 UTC+13, Mike wrote:

Anselm Christophersen

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Feb 25, 2016, 1:29:27 AM2/25/16
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1. I kick off projects with a script that uses the installer to download the latest version via composer
2. I’ve been using Ryan Wachtl’s Foundation theme quite a few times. He’s planning on updating it for Foundation 6.
3. I prefer to start with my framework of choice, ususally that’s either Foundation (mostly) but also sometimes Bootstrap

Martine bloem

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Feb 25, 2016, 5:08:38 AM2/25/16
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Thanks for looking into this! 

1. Composer!!!
2. Basic home-cooked skeleton, mostly bootstrap and sass
3. I might go with a skeleton based on a simple but well wrought (and documented) grid, preferably one  that would work well with SilverStripe forms (hopefull) :). Not necessarily something as extended as bootstrap or foundation (although I've grown used to them by now)

Martine
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Mike

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Feb 28, 2016, 7:04:00 PM2/28/16
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Thanks for the responses so far. Just a clarification:

Do you install SilverStripe with the help of the install.php GUI or instead choose to use the _ss_envionment.php file (without the GUI)?


Mike.

On Thursday, 4 February 2016 22:48:58 UTC+13, Mike wrote:

Martimiz

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Feb 29, 2016, 4:15:16 AM2/29/16
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_ss_environment.php only, haven't seen the installer in ages :)

Martine
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Anselm Christophersen

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Feb 29, 2016, 5:08:03 AM2/29/16
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I haven’t used the installer for a loooong time. Not sure how well it works with Composer?

Mark Muller

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Mar 4, 2016, 10:11:46 AM3/4/16
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Poet much composer install and environment for all sites/apps now - what does the installer look like now ;)

Foundation is great, I see bootstrap4 as being quite a nice framework to look into too, especially if the backbend forms will be making use of it, it will mean less work scaffolding nice looking forms and add some continuity...

Ryan the foundation forms module is all I take now but it's a God send!

Mark Muller

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Mar 4, 2016, 10:11:46 AM3/4/16
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