[wp-forums] Sidebars and Widgets

[Petit]

Podz wrote:

>Podz wrote:
>  
>
>>Is it me or are sidebar problems the current mass problem?
>>
Google "site:wordpress.org sidebar" gets you "about 160 000" results, 
well ... it seems to be not just you ;)

>kay ....http://automattic.com/code/widgets/themes/
>Go read.
>Ignore the money / ask nicely bit - I'll get to that.
>
>Widgets could cause us massive amounts of work / posts / angry posts /
>WTF posts. Fact is theme authors should do this, not us - but we know
>some will not and we know we'll pick up the rest. It's the way it is.
><snip>
>This is very open to what we need to do but we need to accept the
>workload that will happen for our users. It does for everything else :)
>  
>
Agreed. We'll definitely get there once the next version is released.
Lorelle wrote a very thought through article in her blog about the 
matter: 
http://lorelle.wordpress.com/2006/03/31/designing-a-theme-to-include-wordpress-widgets/
She writes:
"These can be very easy to use and very complicated. Take your time. 
Read through the instructions carefully. And seriously consider if your 
WordPress Theme really needs these. Some do, some might not. It’s up to 
you. WordPress accessorizing Widgets are just one more tool in your 
WordPress Theme design arsenal.

And remember, it turns over part of the design elements to the user, so 
take this into consideration as you plan or renovate your WordPress Theme."
And:
"For users having trouble with WordPress Themes using WordPress Widgets, 
contact the Theme author first as the problem is with the Theme. If this 
fails, then turn to the Forums for help."

>I'm thinking a sticky from today "Made a theme? READ THIS!" which points
>very clearly to the above link.
>  
>
I think that would be a good idea. Maybe some theme authors will visits 
the forum and get warned about what will happen.
I also think that theme authors have the main responsibility of 
following the development of WordPress, and either make sure their theme 
works with a new version or just make clear they abandoned it. Not every 
author will have the time or urge to update their theme.
Hopefully the changes to the WP core will be such that older themes 
don't break. If it does, thunder will break loose in the forum.

>I'm also thinking that we include in that a list of known Good themes.
>Let's point people at work we know will give us less grief.
>Maybe even a list of known Bad themes (name & shame tactics)
>  
>
That would ease things a bit, but a problem with this approach could be 
to keep the list up to date, as authors update their themes to 
accommodate to the Ajaxian widget drag and drop. The shame could fall on 
us if we don't. Maybe we should rather have a place where authors could 
report their themes as widget aware.
I think we should trow at the authors first. We'll have to answer 
questions anyway, but we would have the possibility to point to that 
author page.

><snip>
>Just like the new editor came along and the new 1.5 structure we pick up
>the bits for some people - and widgets are the same (only this time we
>really can blame someone for not helping). As a side issue, if changing
>how themes interact with wp code means we get better themes for users
>that actually helps us in the longer term.
>  
>
It's a good thing that WordPress is still evolving. We don't have to 
change policy for the forum because of that.
If we can answer a question we do, and if not we try to point to a page 
in the Codex or elsewhere that seems to have an answer.
If it is completely out of subject, we say so. If it's abuse, the 
moderator take appropriate action.
If it is obviously a plugin or theme question, we direct the questioner 
to author or, if we have experience with the problem we answer directly.

This time we have notice, yes. Does anyone know for how long?
When is the next version due for release?

Finally: I have faith in the volontary helpers, that we will solve any 
new problems.

And for spencerp's sigh, the simple questions will always repeat themselves.
What we do, when we answer these questions again and again, is to set 
all the no clue newbies on track to a better life ;)

/Petit