[theme-reviewers] A few issues to look out for
Justin Tadlock
justin at justintadlock.com
Thu Apr 28 03:33:43 UTC 2011
I also check that themes handle public posts types and taxonomies too,
at least to the degree that a theme can handle those things. I assumed
this was something everyone else was doing as well. I do this with
every theme I review.
For example, if a theme had a filter on 'single_template' that didn't
take into account custom post types and failed to display a post of a
custom post type at all, I'd point that out in the review and suggest a fix.
On 4/26/2011 10:33 PM, Chip Bennett wrote:
> This:
>
> /as a matter of official Theme review, I care a great deal about
> non-core comment types, including "tweetbacks" (even if they are
> evil)./ :)
>
>
> But, why? Why should Theme Review be concerned with arbitrary,
> non-core content? And, why only comment types? Why not other types of
> content that could have arbitrary types added (taxonomies, posts, etc.)?
>
> IMHO, that's really the key question to answer.
>
> Chip
>
> On Wed, Apr 27, 2011 at 10:19 PM, Justin Tadlock
> <justin at justintadlock.com <mailto:justin at justintadlock.com>> wrote:
>
> Your use case is perfectly fine by me. That scenario is not what
> I've been talking about. However, it too can handle custom
> comment types with a little tweaking.
>
> Put bluntly: /as a matter of official Theme review, I care a great
> deal about non-core comment types, including "tweetbacks" (even if
> they are evil)./ :)
>
>
> On 4/26/2011 10:09 PM, Chip Bennett wrote:
>> Here's an example of my use case:
>> https://github.com/chipbennett/oenology/blob/master/comments.php
>>
>> (And consider that the Guidelines currently *suggest* separating
>> pings from comments.)
>>
>> My primary issue is with this assertion:
>>
>> how will this be displayed if a theme is deliberately
>> overwriting core functionality and not showing the output of
>> alternate comment types?
>>
>>
>> Passing a valid argument to a core function is not "overwriting
>> core functionality". Those arbitrary, "alternate" comment types
>> *aren't part of core*. Put bluntly: /as a matter of official
>> Theme review, I don't care about any non-core comment types,
>> including "tweetback"/.
>>
>> Again: if a Plugin adds a custom comment type, then the *Plugin*
>> is responsible for either hooking that custom content into the
>> Theme, or else for providing instructions to the end user for how
>> to incorporate that custom content. (Yes, it might mean
>> instructing the user to add a call to wp_list_comments(
>> 'type=tweetback' ). I see no problem with that.)
>>
>> I don't agree that WordPress "handles it beautifully", because,
>> aesthetically speaking, I think that pings mixed in with comments
>> looks utterly horrid. Seeing "tweetbacks" mixed in with comments
>> AND pings would look even worse.
>>
>> On the other hand: I do agree with you that all code should be
>> added deliberately. Copy/pasting TwentyTen's comments callback
>> should be done deliberately. And we should absolutely be
>> checking such a Theme's comment-list output, to ensure that it is
>> appropriate - and wherever possible, helping to educate Theme
>> developers on the proper usage and powerful potential of
>> implementing such custom callbacks. Such effort will only be to
>> the benefit of end users.
>>
>> Chip
>>
>> On Wed, Apr 27, 2011 at 9:50 PM, Justin Tadlock
>> <justin at justintadlock.com <mailto:justin at justintadlock.com>> wrote:
>>
>> My question is: If a plugin adds a custom comment type (for
>> example, Facebook comments, tweetbacks, or something of the
>> sort), how will this be displayed if a theme is deliberately
>> overwriting core functionality and not showing the output of
>> alternate comment types?
>>
>> By default, WordPress handles this beautifully. It's only
>> when a theme overwrites this functionality that it breaks.
>>
>> The fix is really quite simple for most themes. Just create
>> a default case in that copy-pasted switch statement used in
>> about 90% of the themes based off TwentyTen's comment system.
>>
>> I'm not suggesting we make a new guideline here. I'm just
>> suggesting we be on the lookout for this in themes where devs
>> just copy/paste comment callback functions without giving it
>> much thought. I could certainly understand an intentional
>> design choice to exclude custom comment types. Whatever we
>> decide, I'll be sure to continue educating theme authors on
>> this because it is a legitimate problem that themes create
>> for plugin authors.
>>
>>
>> On 4/26/2011 9:36 PM, Chip Bennett wrote:
>>> If a Theme is providing callback output for 'comment',
>>> 'pingback', and 'trackback', then it IS handling every core
>>> comment type; thus, I disagree that a Theme is not "handling
>>> every scenario that core handles by default". A Theme cannot
>>> know what a Plugin might possibly hook into, or what content
>>> it might provide.
>>>
>>> Now, if a Theme provided callback functions for only
>>> 'comment' comment types, but not for 'pings' (or if it
>>> accounted for 'trackback' but not 'pingback', or something
>>> similar), then I would agree.
>>>
>>> One of the most common features is for a Theme to separate
>>> comments form pings. That very act of separation - however
>>> accomplished - would require explicitly declaring 'comment'
>>> and 'pings' comment types. Thus, it would not be using the
>>> 'all' comment type. And thus, such Themes would no longer be
>>> flexible enough to handle some non-core comment type added
>>> by a Plugin.
>>>
>>> Or am I missing something?
>>>
>>> Chip
>>>
>>> On Wed, Apr 27, 2011 at 6:02 PM, Justin Tadlock
>>> <justin at justintadlock.com <mailto:justin at justintadlock.com>>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> I probably didn't explain myself well enough in the
>>> first email.
>>>
>>> We're not looking at the "type" parameter of
>>> wp_list_comments(). We're looking at the "callback"
>>> parameter here. This is where a theme is overriding
>>> core functionality. If the theme didn't override this
>>> functionality with a custom function, WordPress would
>>> display other comment types by default.
>>>
>>> A plugin cannot be responsible for incorporating custom
>>> comment types if a theme is purposely not allowing
>>> comments of a custom type to show. There's no hook to
>>> allow a plugin to override what a theme is doing there.
>>> Even if there was a hook there, this would be a major
>>> problem if a plugin was changing how a theme handled the
>>> display of comments.
>>>
>>> What's happening here is themes are overriding core
>>> functionality without handling every scenario that core
>>> handles by default.
>>>
>>>
>>> On 4/26/2011 3:18 PM, Chip Bennett wrote:
>>>> Quite possibly. But it is not the responsibility of
>>>> Themes to account for content added by Plugins.
>>>>
>>>> I see no reason to require Themes to support a non-core
>>>> 'tweetback' comment-type. If a Plugin adds this
>>>> comment-type, then the Plugin should be responsible for
>>>> incorporating it.
>>>>
>>>> Chip
>>>>
>>>> On Tue, Apr 26, 2011 at 3:14 PM, Sayontan Sinha
>>>> <sayontan at gmail.com <mailto:sayontan at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Chip,
>>>> I believe Justin is referring to the fact that
>>>> plugins can add the type "tweetback". If that is
>>>> the case, then a theme that is explicitly checking
>>>> only for "comment", "pingback" and "trackback" is
>>>> missing out on the ones that don't fall into these
>>>> buckets, i.e. it is missing a catch-all for types
>>>> introduced by plugins.
>>>>
>>>> Sayontan.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Tue, Apr 26, 2011 at 12:49 PM, Chip Bennett
>>>> <chip at chipbennett.net
>>>> <mailto:chip at chipbennett.net>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> I can't find that 'tweetback' is a core comment
>>>> type.
>>>>
>>>> According to the Codex
>>>> <http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/wp_list_comments>,
>>>> the valid types are: 'all', 'comment',
>>>> 'trackback', 'pingback', or 'pings'
>>>>
>>>> So, if a Theme accounts for these types, that
>>>> should be sufficient. For instance, if a Theme
>>>> accounts for 'comments' and 'pings', all bases
>>>> are covered.
>>>>
>>>> Chip
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Tue, Apr 26, 2011 at 2:39 PM, Chip Bennett
>>>> <chip at chipbennett.net
>>>> <mailto:chip at chipbennett.net>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Hmm... I don't think I've yet seen a Theme
>>>> that explicitly handles tweetbacks.
>>>> (Honestly, I didn't even realize such a
>>>> comment type existed.)
>>>>
>>>> Chip
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Wed, Apr 27, 2011 at 2:16 PM, Justin
>>>> Tadlock <justin at justintadlock.com
>>>> <mailto:justin at justintadlock.com>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Here's a few things we should be on the
>>>> lookout for when reviewing themes that
>>>> I thought I'd bring up.
>>>>
>>>> The use of the_post_thumbnail() with
>>>> the_content() can sometimes be a
>>>> problem. If a user places the image
>>>> within the post content (at the
>>>> beginning of the post) and sets the
>>>> same image as the "feature image," it
>>>> creates a duplicate image issue. Some
>>>> themes' designs are meant to handle
>>>> this while others aren't.
>>>>
>>>> Some themes have a comments callback
>>>> function where they don't recognize
>>>> comment types other than 'comment',
>>>> 'pingback', and 'trackback'. This is
>>>> also the case in the TwentyTen theme.
>>>> If you look at its switch statement,
>>>> you'll notice it doesn't give a
>>>> 'default' case. It should be corrected
>>>> to handle all comment types (e.g.,
>>>> tweetbacks).
>>>>
>>>> Loading JS and CSS on all pages of the
>>>> admin. Sometimes, themes hook their
>>>> theme settings page JavaScript and
>>>> Stylesheet to the 'admin_init' hook or
>>>> something similar. This should only be
>>>> loaded on the the theme settings page.
>>>> If using the add_theme_page()
>>>> function, a hook is created just for
>>>> that page. A better hook would
>>>> probably be
>>>> 'load-appearance_page_$pagename'.
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>>>>
>>>>
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>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Sayontan Sinha
>>>> http://mynethome.net | http://mynethome.net/blog
>>>> --
>>>> Beating Australia in Cricket is like killing a
>>>> celebrity. The death gets more coverage than the crime.
>>>>
>>>>
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