Digg This Theme
chinafka - March 20, 2008 - 02:37
I'm making a new theme called "Digg This" for Drupal 5.x and Drupal 6.x, I would like to get some feedback and such before I submit this to the CVS. Thank you. http://anthonylicari.com
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looks **awesome** - some quick suggestions
okay, so this is GREAT looking - thanks, and hope you put it up!
now, if i were actually paying for this theme, here's what i'd be looking for to optimize the limited two column screen space:
1) support for secondary links - ideally way down at the bottom of hte page below everything (for 'about, contact' privacy, etc) where you have 'copyright' (that general area) - or see footer blocks comment down below..
(1a: fonts for second level in top primary links should be smaller, see digg for example of this)
2) hardcode search and userlogin into the top header bar - that will free up tons of space on the right side column AND make it look more slick (you can style the search box and user login, make it side by side instead of vertical like in the block)
2a) - hey, just look at dig: search in upper right, no text, just a box (you either get it, or you're like, "huh, a box?") and NO login boxes, just links hardcoded for signup (in this case, for /user and /register)
3) multiple regions/block zones (not sure what's there now, but i'd definitely want to be able to put a block in top of content, bottom of content and in footer region (for additional blocks, content, ads, tags, etc) seems like bottom content is there for syndication, but top? footer? specifically: block space for ad between header and content just like digg where they stick banners over hte background color...
3a) could you copy digg's footer style? in this case, six blocks side by side in their own region like that? that would be super slick...or they're styling for the breadcrumbs? there are many subtle things that make that site what it is...simple and subtle but combined make it killer.
4) forums - why so dark? lighten up man ;) - in fact, why not make titles for all content blue just like digg? it's nice, colorful but plain
5) logo support? is it there? maybe pictotitle support instead - that would be AWESOME (see fblike theme to understand how this work and looks in drupal -they're copying facebook! and very well i might add !) picto is what digg appears to use as well...
6) make that digg button optional! i hope it's optional - not everybody digg's everything (no pun intended)
7) basic icon support (see the amazing famfamfam.com silk set) to decorate the minimalist theme - particularly for 'comments and tags - little shout box icon, or tag icon, maybe print icon too...subtle, but very useful and effective on this kind of theme, just like 3 icons....
8) could this incorporate the new yui menu using yui in d6 to get nice dropdown menus just like digg? i'm guessing so - you can't distribute that code directly, but you can certainly link to it in your theme or optimize for yui menu...
9) two words: rounded corners in opening. that is probably fifty percent of digg's visual impact for top and bottom sections and the visual break in the interface. simple, but high impact. yes, i know it's there now, but if home page doesn't open to second level links (expanded menu) then the effect is lost - maybe there could be a round corner for top line and then overlap for second to cover if expanded?
okay, now i'm going off the deep end, but you asked for some feedback - short version: it's looking awesome! definitely release it! d6 is in serious need of great themes like this, and with even a few of those ideas above incorporate you'll have a killer theme rolling out...
dude, if you could do all of the above i'd be happy to sponsor you some reasonable amount to crank it all out and release to the drupal community at large - just would love it to be d6 first ;)
Great Suggestions
I will definitely be implementing these suggestions tonight. I hope to get some more feedback as I know what you mean by the 6.x themes. I'd like to get a few powerhouse and versatile 6.x themes released for the community to use.
btw, some kneejerk reactions from my 8th grader
so i showed this to my son earlier, asked him for gut reactions - then also opened digg in a new tab to see what he noticed and the before-and-after opinions were the same:
he immediately felt the title colors were dark (liked the pervasive blue on digg)
he said (not to sound harsh) that because there was "nothing in the right side of the top bars" it looked home made (then saw digg and was like 'yeah, you need a search box and links like that on the right to put stuff over there)
that was about it. he really like it. wants me to actually install a drupal site for him to screw around with now too....
Great
Yes the right side of the header I had plans on implementing the search, RSS for the current page, and user login fields.
That's a cool theme
I have been waiting for a flexible rounded corners theme.
Please release it for 5.x :)
I would go along the multiple "content-top" blocks as suggested already by Zilla
everything else looks good to me
very nice!!!
It surely does look like one of the nicest drupal themes. :) If there are really copyright problems why not change colors?
It would be nice to change this "digg this" functionality with different services like e.g. yigg.de, webnews.de, voting...
Thumbs up! Good work.
please release this great theme
Chinafka, please let us know if you release your theme at your site. By the way, fantastic work! Too me it looks very nice, not because the theme looks somewhat familiar, but because it is clean and still web2.0. I don't think that there would be any copyright issues. But to make sure, why not just take a different color scheme?
Thanks
Erm...
I hate to be a killjoy, but that is really blatantly copying digg...
"DIGG, DIGG IT, DUGG, DIGG THIS, Digg graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and other service names are the trademarks of Digg Inc"
Michelle
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See my Drupal articles and tutorials or come check out life in the Coulee Region.
Own material
The dimensions of everything on the page is custom. As are the 4 graphics I used in the CSS file. The "digg this" part of the page has nothing to do with the theme. That's functionality granted by "digg labs" and anyone can use it on their site. The only thing that I'm using from the digg site are TWO colors and as far as I know hexadecimal numbers are not copyrighted material.
The only thing you would be correct about is calling the theme "Digg This" in which all I simply need to do is change the name of the theme which hasn't been released yet.
...
Well, I'm not a lawyer or anything but I look at your theme and I think "Digg". I'll leave it up to people who understand copyright/trademark better than me to decide if it can be in CVS.
Michelle
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See my Drupal articles and tutorials or come check out life in the Coulee Region.
Trade dress
IANAL, but Michelle has a good point.
This theme would likely be considered to infringe upon the trade dress of digg.com, and I'm also -1 to putting this in CVS.
I think it would be better
I think it would be better to not add it in the current way. Trademark law is ugly and time consuming and we'd rather not have to deal with it.
--
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My Drupal services
yes, but digg ain't all that original..
they're claiming property on what looks like the silkicon set for comments? come on? rounded corners and use of green?
okay, so my advice based on the 'design issue' may be to simply (if possible) implement support for the color.module so that users can change the entire thing to ranges of red, blue, green etc - then there's no design bugouts...
and yes, digg has gone after some pligg.com installs for copying the theme as well.
OH! simple idea: enable a left column option that allows for blocks but is fixed at circa 2/3 width of right side block (see wired.com's three column balance for an example of uneven sidebar widths)
i really love this theme.
and michelle, even more interesting - look at:
www.yahoo.com
now open a new tab and look at:
www.aol.com
...notice anything? ;)
Nice work, please release a
Nice work, please release a 5.x
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Biladi
http://www.biladi.ma
+1 for Drupal 5
+1 for Drupal 5 release!
greetings, Martijn
Releasing 6.x First
At the moment I'm being funded by an individual to roll out the 6.x version first. After that version is released I will release the 5.x.
maybe rename it 'dlike theme'?
and avoid specifically calling it digg in 'title' of theme (instead use digg in description?), could avoid people raising hands (facebook like theme did this by calling it 'fblike theme' ;)
...
The name isn't the issue. The theme simply looks way too much like digg's theme. The name just makes it that much more obvious that the intent was to copy digg but it's still pretty obvious even without the name.
Michelle
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See my Drupal articles and tutorials or come check out life in the Coulee Region.
check out the same aol/yahoo comment above
ditto on my earlier yahoo/aol copy issue...or look at magazine layouts (copycats galore)....
drawing inspiration for look and feel is kind of a non-starter in webdesign...digg is definitely not high-brow design, it's a great looking utility (that's why i love this theme) but it's not breakthrough design (rounded corners and stuff? sorry, don't see it) google, live.com, ask.com, they all have moved to center-screen-vertically-spaced search boxes with web, images and news in positions 1,2 and 3 or 4 respectively immediately above the search rectangle, all of which are approximately the same size.
at any rate, here's a great legal article discussing this PRECISE issue: http://www.ivanhoffman.com/feel.html (summary, "good luck demonstrating that digg has protectable elements and that this theme copies source code)
Irrelevant
AFAIK, no one is submitting an AOL/Yahoo copy as a theme to drupal.org, which is my concern. If people want to copy other themes for their own sites, fine, they can deal with the legal issues, but it can't be hosted on drupal.org. Anything on drupal.org must be GPL and digg's theme is not.
Michelle
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See my Drupal articles and tutorials or come check out life in the Coulee Region.
innocent until proven guilty.
sorry, i think you're making that argument in the wrong judicial system/region...this is not digg's theme, this is 'some drupal contributor's theme'
implying that this theme dev is guilty of something that he in fact has not done is wrong, and suggesting that drupal is in the wrong for allowing him to push his theme into the cvs is the wrong way to go, feels like a draconian measure built on a set of baseless assumptions.
his theme, if on drupal, will be gpl'd, that's the way it works. by switching one molecule, drug companies create entirely 'new drugs' in the eyes of the fda, free from patent enforcement...i see no difference here. header width is different, placement and shape of form elements is different, too many differences to even begin to list. it just 'feels familiar'
...
This isn't a court of law. We're talking about drupal.org's CVS. Putting something in CVS that is an obvious rip off of a site is not a good idea. I'm not saying "drupal is in the wrong for allowing him to push his theme into the cvs"; I'm saying it won't be allowed to be in CVS. If he wants to host it on his own site and deal with any legal issues that may arise should the folks that own digg decide to persue it, that's his business. My only concern is keeping drupal.org from unneeded legal hassles.
Michelle
--------------------------------------
See my Drupal articles and tutorials or come check out life in the Coulee Region.
has anyone...
MIchelle, have you (or, well, anyone else) contacted Dries or the Drupal Association about this? There are lawyers that are consulted on these matters and they (and Dries) should have the final say about this theme being included as a contributed download on drupal.org.
Until the hounds... err, lawyers are brought in, this part of the discussion really can't go very far.
And, on the bottom of http://digg.com there's this little bit of text:
~silverwing
_____________________________________________
MisguidedThoughts | showcaseCMS
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Yes, that was the bit I quoted that caused all this. ;)
I'm not aware of anyone asking the DA about it. If the person making the theme wants to appeal the decision, they certainly can do so. I don't know if the DA would want to get involved with it or not. That's their call. I suspect they are too busy to worry about consulting lawyers over a theme getting turned down but I'm not on the board and can't speak for them so who knows.
Michelle
--------------------------------------
See my Drupal articles and tutorials or come check out life in the Coulee Region.
oh...
like I was going to read the whole thread! :)
I have a feeling that if it does make it to the official project page it wont last long. (They've removed themes before for copyright violations).
All this is a shame because it is a nice theme. Too bad Digg made it first :)
~silverwing
_____________________________________________
MisguidedThoughts | showcaseCMS
We could just save ourselves
We could just save ourselves the trouble and ask digg for permission. What do you think they would say? ;)
Not released yet?
Not released yet?
very nice theme, period!
The commenting design here at drupal.org is very confusing. Chinafka, your theme rocks! If you are not allowed to realease your theme here (what a shame) then let us know if you relasese it elsewhere. :) With a different color scheme it won't look alike digg.com. ;) Great work!
anthony - did you see safari search module (for d6)
this may automate some nifty styling for the search box in the header: http://drupal.org/project/safarisearch
as of today, it supports ie7, ff, and safari...(i think all browsers excluding ie6 per their forum)
digg functionality
i actually think the best feature of the digg model is the ability to change the order of importantce of different articles by clicking on the digg symbol. Is there anyway to incorporate a simple tagging sytem like this in drupal which enables the users to vote on the best article?
there is nothing that cannot be understood if you try hard enough
drupalit module or drigg module
http://drupal.org/project/drigg
http://drupal.org/project/drupalit
cant get the voting to work
i cant get the voting part of the voting module to work with this module......
This should be of help for the theme.
Here is all the work you need for the header and menu!
http://css-tricks.com/designing-the-digg-header-how-to-download/
wow, nice find!
very nice indeed...hopefully anthony is following this thread!
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