Based on discussion in the Commons group on Groups.Drupal.org, Commons 3.x will ship a single default theme, built on a contributed base theme.
The purpose of this issue is to discuss which contributed base theme to use.
In my view, the main choices under consideration are:
These are several conversations that compare these themes:
Let's use this issue to discuss how the themes compare specifically to the needs of Commons.
In my view, here's what Commons needs in a base theme:
One benefit of building on top of a contributed base theme is that we share the maintenance responsibility more than the current Commons theme architecture: While it is based on Fusion, Commons ships with its own base theme (Commons Roots) which depends on Fusion core and powers Commons Origins - that's a lof of dependencies. Using a single contributed base theme should help us reduce the amount of time we spend maintaining the Commons theme.
When people say "responsive," there's often a lot of debate about what that means, and whether a theme is "truly responsive." The general need for Commons, as stated in the Commons D7 MVP user stories is Screen sizes ranging from standard desktop, tablet, phone. While this requirement would benefit from additional description, I think the need is stated clearly enough to chose a base theme.
(Assuming we select Panels as the main page building tool)
| Comment | File | Size | Author |
|---|---|---|---|
| #3 | AdaptiveThemePanelsSettings.png | 73.8 KB | ezra-g |
Comments
Comment #0.0
ezra-g commentedRemoving unnecessary punctuation.
Comment #0.1
ezra-g commentedfix broken link.
Comment #1
izkreny commentedI did some (re)search, results are below.
Suggestion: maybe we could ping (via twitter?) maintainers to drop by and say word or two? Although, they really explained a lot in their posts (Adaptivetheme, Zen, Omega) @ Responsive Drupal.org: What we want in a framework discussion.
If we will use Panels, then AT is maybe the best choice and Omega is out of the game.
If we go with Context, then Omega is probably the best tool for the job.
Although Zen 7.x-5-x is also nice.. :)
1) Wide user base and active maintainership
All themes are evidently under active maintanership, I can't estimate correctly about community involvement, but it seems that Zen is leading here, right after is Omega, and then at the last place AT.
Usage numbers (April 15, 2012):
2) Support for Responsive layouts
All themes are providing responsive layouts.
3) The ability to provide responsive layouts defined by the Panels interface
AT 7.x-3.x: Officialy supported (quote from project page):
Other two candidates are not officially (or publicly?) supporting Panels module, but as far as I can see, they provide some sort of support.
JFTR: Omega is recommending Context module as preferred approach.
4) Helps us in supporting the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 Level AA specification
Zen was also one of the first themes to make the D7 Accessibility Pledge. And we stand behind it!"
Comment #2
Jeff Burnz commentedezra-g - I picked up the message in IRC, but you had gone by then, sorry about that.
There is pretty good documentation in the actual files, although this is entirely directed at developers looking to extend the system and build new plugins.
The actual usage is pretty strait forward - the theme settings control the responsiveness of the actual panels layouts and use of those layouts is per-normal panels layouts (in Page Manager etc).
The real power is in the theme settings - each panel layout has a number of "layout options" which you can choose per break-point - this is what the layout will change to when that screen size is being used (all based on media queries).
Whats nice is that this all works for Display Suit also, so fine grain control over the responsive layout of the node content is possible, not just the page layout.
I am writing the 7.x-3.x docs right now, so I can fast-forward the Panels integration docs in more detail. I can get some stuff asap, I need to get this done now in any case.
Cheers.
Comment #3
ezra-g commentedThanks, Jeff.
I installed AdaptiveTheme and the sample AT Commerce theme to get a better understanding of what kind of functionality is provided.
I found this group theme-specific Panels settings:
In a nutshell, it seems like AT provides Panels AT-enabled layouts, and then site builders can configure on a per-theme basis the stacking order for regions in those layouts.
Comment #4
Jeff Burnz commentedThats it in a nutshell. So with the capability to change the break-points, page layout and panel region stacking order you have a pretty handy and flexible set of layout tools. I purposely went with Panels plugins since they work with Display Suite as well. The actual plugins are pretty tightly integrated with the theme (its pluggable, both in terms of page layouts and adding more panels layouts). I think a good "selling point" of the system is how light it is, very low CSS weight due to the plugins not actually having any CSS files and AT Core generating the CSS based on your theme settings.
Let me know if I can be of help, or if you need further clarifications on certain points. FYI I am adding a few more layout options to the two and three column layouts, I've identified some gaps there that need filling.
Comment #5
ezra-g commentedRetitling the issue to reflect the current state of the proposal.
Comment #6
crimsondryad commentedI really like the default Panels layout in AT. Since we have several yes and there has been plenty of time for folks to object, marking RTBC.
Comment #7
ezra-g commentedBased on the discussion above, this is fixed.
Comment #8
sylus commentedEven though this is marked RTBC just wanted to give a big +1 for this choice! :)
Comment #9.0
(not verified) commentedAdded direct links, and formated text.