[theme-reviewers] TDC: Clarification of Checklist Items

[Joseph Scott]

I'd like to see others chime on this as well.


On Wed, Jun 30, 2010 at 10:26 AM,  <chip at chipbennett.net> wrote:
> 1) Navigation: Is style layout stable with all categories showing?
>
> What does this mean? Categories displayed as a navigation menu, categories
> listed in a sidebar list, something else?

I suspect this is referencing issues where the layout gets over run
when using categories in a nav menu.


> 2) Widgets: Is theme widgetized as fully as possible?
>
> What is the minimum standard? Is merely a widgetized sidebar.php
> acceptable? If multiple sidebars (columns, e.g. leftcolumn.php,
> rightcolumn.php) are included, must all be widgetized? Must other template
> parts be widgetized (e.g. footer.php)?

I think this varies a bit depending on the theme.  Obviously if it has
a sidebar with several components that is a good candidate for being
managed by widgets.  The trend with fat footers would be another one,
where it should really be managed via widgets.


> 3) Widgets: Does the theme require custom widgets?
>
> This seems to be a YES/NO question. What is its purpose? Are custom
> widgets acceptable? (I assume so.) Are we testing for code quality/display
> of included custom widgets?

I think custom widgets are fine, perhaps the point of this item was
just to make sure they work as expected.

> 4) Widgets: Are standard widgets setup? Should they be?
>
> Good question: should they be? And even better question: what is meant by
> "standard widgets"? Does this refer to widgets that are added to a sidebar
> by default? (And if so, how is this done?) If not, what does it mean?

I'm not sure exactly what this is referring to.  If it is default
widgets, then yes, a theme should have a default widget set.  Seeing
things like "this is a widget area, please configure widgets for this
space in wp-admin" all over the theme is really unattractive.


> 5) Widgets: Do any standard widgets need to be overridden?
>
> Again, this seems to be a YES/NO question. What is its purpose? What are
> we testing: duplication of widget functionality, correct filtering of
> default widgets, or something else?


I've seen a few themes do this, and I find it very confusing.  I
expect a default widget to work a certain way, the way I'm used to it
working with every other theme.  When I run into a theme that replaces
a default widget (but uses the exact same name and everything else)
but it behaves in a different way it isn't immediately obvious what
has happened.  In some cases I've found these default replacements to
causes errors and tracking them down is confusing because it isn't
obvious where it came from.

My personal opinion is I'd rather not have default widgets get replaced.



-- 
Joseph Scott
joseph at josephscott.org
http://josephscott.org/