page: Themes: Creating, using, and sharing

[wion]

New title: Themes: Creating, using, and sharing
https://docs.textpattern.com/build/themes-creating-using-and-sharing

Formerly...
https://docs.textpattern.com/themes/front-end-themes

Reason the page is needed

One example:

I’m so far finding the answers, but only after looking all over the place. It’d be nice if there was one big “This is basically what you need,” type of document/page.
– craigbass76, the tech writer

What will be the scope and structure of document?

• What is the tutorial start point?
  (Probably recent completion of a fresh install. Take it from there.)

• What is the tutorial completion point?
  (Having exported a theme package for some demonstrated example or two.)

• What are the essential sections of the document body?
  (That likely remains to be written and revised through several iterations, as usual.)

• Can any of these sections be supplied as unique one-to-many content components, as per discussion, to use across other doc pages?
  (That likely needs to be a new issue labeled with 'architecture' and 'researching'.)

Resources to review, reference, and/or use

• Hive theme; the software's default
• Themes panel doc and it's hu-gi-mongous pophelp. ;)
• Sections panel features; drop down menu location/explanation
• Front-end themes structure
• Active/Preview links; still not firm yet?
• Theme assets; Oleg insights
• Hack porting a theme; Julian's great insights for where to begin, pull ideas as useful
• flat-file theming; plugin mode
• skin auto-rotation

What other forum threads or resources should we look at?

Notes

This thread suggests theme creation is easier if you're running in flat-file mode with etc_flat.

• Can it be done using only core functionality?
  If so, this qualifies the doc as a 'user doc'.

• Should there be two docs: one for core-approach and one with plugin approach?
  No, I now think not. The 'Themes panel' doc can be honed down to reflect the basic mechanics. The longer tutorial can have endnotes for such notions of convenience (e.g. plugin usage, whatever.)

Cleanup

Eliminate anything in the /themes directory that is no longer needing to sit there and mummify after this venture is over.

[wion]

I think the existing Front-end themes page can be used and refactored into a fully elaborated 'Creating a theme' tutorial.

Proposal: We don't refer to front-side themes as 'front-side' (i.e. we drop the adjective). We simply say 'themes', which means front-side by default. Back-end themes are distinguished by saying 'administration theme(s)' (i.e. using the adjective).

[wion]

#130

[wion]

Possible title change, or merge of page altogether. Well see how it plays out first...
https://forum.textpattern.com/viewtopic.php?pid=320264#p320264