[thesite] jeff, rudy..

.jeff jeff at members.evolt.org
Wed Jun 13 17:30:39 CDT 2001


djc,

:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
: From: Daniel J. Cody
:
: remember that one time in oshkosh last
: fall when we got really drunk and coded
: the new evolt site? ;)
:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

um, no, should i?  how drunk did i get again?

:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
: umm. i'm going through all the stylesheet
: stuff cus i wanna make use of all the
: stylesheets that people have been working
: on so nicely, and i'm totally fucking lost :)
:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

yes, there's not much in place to support the ideal solution(s) that have
been discussed.  it needs to be built from scratch.

:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
: login on t.e.o and go here:
: http://test.evolt.org/user/index.html?action=edit
:
: i've just put a lil something in there to show
: the information in oracle regarding the schemes,
: elements and schemeelement tables. it pulls up
: the only scheme we currently have, default1 by
: r937 and shows the values for that particular scheme
:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

correct.  in lieu of how i suggest it be handled, we may need to take
another look at the structure.  it might not require any changes to the
existing architecture.  then again, it might.  however, since we're not
currently using the architecture, now's the time to make that decision.

:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
: now go to http://test.evolt.org/style/index.html and
: you can see what the current session values are for
: most of our stylesheet values(or schemeelements as
: they're referer to in oracle) this somehow ties into
: a shitload of session vars
:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

yes, that is unwieldy in it's approach.  i originally created that simply as
a means of seeing the values and manipulating them in an effort to develop
the proof-of-concept for changing styles on the fly.

:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
: now, my question is this.. what if anything do these
: have to do with eachother? frankley, the
: /style/index.html page would be a bitch for anyone to
: use. i want to have a dropdown list(like is on the
: user page) of all available schemes/styles in the DB.
:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

agreed -- with the addition of a rendered page using that stylesheet so you
get a representation of how it styles the site.  however, i think a dropdown
menu of available schemes is going to become unwieldy *very* quickly.  for
the purpose of browsing and selecting a style to use, we should really have
some sort of skin gallery of sorts developed.  that is separate from the
listing of styles for the user that owns them for editing purposes though.
in that case it should be a list of styles, probably in a drop down, that
would then load up the variables/values into a mechanism to change them.
this same mechanism should also be used to build new styles from scratch.

:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
: the next question is, how do we get whats outputed in
: http://test.evolt.org/user/index.html?action=edit to
: actually change the style for the page?
:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

a *lot* of work -- honestly.

:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
: if you'll notice, our stylesheets are like so:
:
: body {
:   background : #4F5C38;
:   font-family : Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
:   font-size : 11px;
:   line-height : 130%;
: }
:
: b, strong {
:   font-weight : bold;
: }
:
: cite {
:   font-style : normal;
: }
:
:
: now, how do we get the values from the DB to match
: up as a stylesheet?
:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

well, the values should directly mimic the possible css properties of the
tag or class you're styling.  group properties, those that hold more than
one value for the purpose of grouping several properties (ie, background is
a group property that represents background-color, background-image,
background-repeat, etc.), should be evaluated to determine if it is desired
that each individual property be editable.


  body.background-color
  body.background-image
  body.color
  body.margin
  body.padding
  body.font-family
  body.font-size
  body.font-weight
  body.font-style
  body.filter

there are more i'm sure, but i'm having a hard time thinking what they might
be.

the resulting stylesheet that's built will differ slightly in the properties
that are output.  if there's no value set for the background-image, then
there's no need to include it in the stylesheet.

:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
: I'd just like to get working on this now that
: thewife is nearning completion.. its a really
: cool feature and a shame we've let it sit for
: 9 months :(
:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i think an evaluation of what exactly the specific functions this
application should perform is necessary in order to build this project to a
satisfactory state of completion.  this evaluation should cover desired
functionality, browser support for the creation/editing process, what
exactly is editable, and what exactly is tied together for consistency sake.
there's alot of decisions that need to be made and functional specifications
that need to be decided on before we can continue.

so, let's talk specifications and get all the details of it ironed out
before we hit the development hard.

thanks,

.jeff

http://evolt.org/
jeff at members.evolt.org
http://members.evolt.org/jeff/






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