opinion about theme needed

[costa]

hello everybody

i'm currently developing a serendipity theme. it's for my blogs purposes only but i'm curious if it could interest anyone here. maybe someone is also in need of simple two columns based theme. it's a work-in-progress but it's usable already. ok, it's nothing spectacular nor even good (greetz for the theme-contest winner ) but i just felt a lackness of this kind of themes for serendipity.

i'm asking about your opinion (colours, fonts etc.). blog is in polish so don't even bother reading it . what i ask is just a drop of an eye and a opinion. maybe somebody likes it... if yes, i'll try to make it for the community.

you'll find the theme here: http://costa.kofeina.net

ps. excuse my english. it sucks, i know. i'm working on that.

[judebert]

I like it a lot. The transparency on the banner is cool. So is the gradient in the entries. And the pictures come out nicely, especially with the separator between the pic and caption (I believe most themes use a barely-visible color for that).

Can it support a second sidebar, or is it right-side only?

[costa]

Can it support a second sidebar, or is it right-side only?

i'm glad that you like it. yes, it supports left, right and both sidebars together. but keep in mind, that this is a fixed width template, made for one sidebar (left or right, it does not metter since they're equal in width). showing them both together makes the content area just too thin and not comfortable for reading. that's the problem width fixed size templates i think. make it good looking in any conditions.

[garvinhicking]

I also like the theme! The header looks very nice. The only thing I would change a bit is the grey gradient from left to right in your content pane. It looks a bit dark and negative, maybe something lighter (or lightly colored) would make it more friendlier?

Best regards,
Garvin

[costa]

The only thing I would change a bit is the grey gradient from left to right in your content pane. It looks a bit dark and negative, maybe something lighter (or lightly colored) would make it more friendlier?

thanks garvin!

ok, i'll try to play a little with the gradient. i like it there but maybe it's trurely too dark. i must consult carl about some tricks and techniques he uses. his blog is a true mine of good ideas and tricks about serendipity skining. then will come the hard part: to test it on someone elses blog. damn, much work but skining is actually funny

[d_cee]

Hi Costa

I think it's a really neat theme. I favour fixed width templates myself and think your blog looks great and the use of transparency in the header makes the large image an integral part of the page rather than just a header.

I agree the gradient could be a little more subtle but it's not important as it looks good now

nice work

Dave Cummins

[judebert]

For LCD users like me, the gradient is very subtle. If I bring it up on the CRT at work, I'll bet it'll be more noticeable.

But, as of now, I see no gradient. Just a nice shadow. That's even cooler.

[costa]

thanks for the comments. i implemented all of your wishes and indeed - it looks better. thanks again.

i have a question thought: i'm trying to reach template's path from inside a tpl file (index.tpl). a variable TEMPLATE_PATH works perfectly in css styles. but i want to use it in tpl file, not in css. using it in the way it is used in css brings errors. i'll reproduce the errors when i go back from work. it seems, that TEMPLATE_PATH is not recognized as a valid variable known to smarty. but why it works when css is being parsed and not with tpl files? it's a mystery for me.

i tried to find an answer here on forums but to be honest it is a lot of digging and i simply don't have time for that :/.

to put it in another way: i want to read image from template's subdirecotry "img" (let's say "pict1.jpg") but from within index.tpl file. how to do that? in css it is simple:

Code: Select all

url({TEMPLATE_PATH}/img/pict1.jpg);

and voila - it works perfectly. it does not work in index.tpl file however. how to pass this problem?

[garvinhicking]

Hi costa!

Within smarty files, you need to use this:

Code: Select all

{serendipity_getFile file="img/back.png"}

This'll return the real path to the target image (it might not be inside your current template path, but within 'default' for example), while the TEMPLATE_PATH variable of CSS only leads to the path of your template directory, not the path where the file might really be in.

Regards,
Garvin

[costa]

thanks garvin, works like a charm... yuppi! time to play with tpl files then

[carl_galloway]

Costa, I haven't been following this thread, my apologies, so I haven't seen the result of the changes you've been making, but I can tell you this, I am very impressed with the high quality of your theme, and the transparency is something I've been wanting to play with but don't have the skills for. Well done, if you want to test your theme in another blog, for example my themes site, let me know, I'll happily upload it for you.

Carl

[Guest]

thanks carl. your opinion means a lot to me.

ok, i'll ask you for upload this theme to your site since i really want to test it in very hard condidtions . in a week or so, after reading all your tips (your page is a treasure!) and see most of the plugins features and styles their provide, theme should be ready for testing and polishing. now i can see how much work it takes and now i understand how hard it is to properly style my beloved serendipity. it takes much of an efford but it's worthy! greatings are going to all style makers who provide us with their work. and of course to serendipity developers

so thanks again and please, be patient. i don't have much time to spend (after all i'm a father ) for this project but i'll try my best.

[Col. Kurtz]

I also like to say that the transparency is a really great feature of your theme. keep up the good work!

[costa]

ok guys, time to go with this theme into public. it's my first one so please, don't yell at me

please, go to the carl's (btw - thanks for all the help!) testing page and choose something called "nature theme" from dropdown menu. any feedback very appreciated since i want to finish this theme and start working on another one.

it's a right sidebar theme. it's fixed size so going into two sidebars it's nothing good for the theme. i have some problems with IE (who does not ) - its css support is quite poor compared to firefox or opera. i don't know how to pass some problems with its css interpretation to make theme viewable under everything. maybe with next theme...

it does not support comments in popup windows. it is possible (i'm working on it right now) but i really don't like popups, sorry. soon i'll upgrade the theme to support also commenting in popups. i have some problems to make the popups look as accurate as it can be with main theme. after i work this problem out - i'll inform about that.

you can see it working on my homepage. it's the same theme, i just modified the graphics to suit my needs.

so, what you think?

[davecjr]

Very nice graphics and theme. I wish there was an easy way to swap images on these types of themes to make it personal and make it look like it fits the theme.