[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #12902: Ticking the boxes for Twenty Ten: Some areas for improvement

[WordPress Trac]

#12902: Ticking the boxes for Twenty Ten:  Some areas for improvement
-------------------------+--------------------------------------------------
 Reporter:  demetris     |       Owner:     
     Type:  enhancement  |      Status:  new
 Priority:  normal       |   Milestone:  3.0
Component:  Themes       |     Version:  3.0
 Severity:  normal       |    Keywords:     
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 Not all of us had envisioned the new default theme in the same way, but, I
 think, there are a few characteristics that, more or less, all would
 consider essential in it.

 The new default theme should be:

  *  modern
  *  simple
  *  customizable
  *  educational...

 ... and, of course, something that people will enjoy using.

 With these aims in mind, I have noted a few areas where I think Twenty Ten
 can be improved easily.

 1.

 '''Busy typography'''.  While the design of 2010 is simple, clean, and
 modern, typography seems busy to me at this point:  There are too many
 combinations of font-family (serif and sans-serif), size, style, and
 colour.  See this example post:

 http://op109.net/2010/01/html-elements/

 There are also inconsistencies:  Some headings are styled in serif, others
 in sans-serif.

 2.

 '''Fancy strings'''.  A basic theme, that, among other things, wants to be
 as easy to translate as possible, should not say things like “This entry
 was posted in x and tagged y, z”, etc.  It should prefer simplicity and
 clarity:  “Categories:  Cooking, Eating.  Tags:  salad.” etc.

 3.

 '''Fancy functionality'''.  “Also tagged x, y, z” (in 2010’s tag
 archives).  What’s the practical benefit of that?  If we wanted to offer a
 useful extra, there are lots of better things to do.  For example, a
 function that adds a CSS class to the tag whose archive is viewed.  But
 even that would be too much for the basic, default theme, whose
 functions.php should not be overcrowded.

 4.

 '''More fancy and unneeded functionality'''.  Does the default theme need
 to modify the default length of the autogenerated excerpt?  What do we
 have plugins for?

 5.

 '''Uninviting code'''.  header.php is one of the first theme files people
 look at.  In Twenty Ten it greets you with a large block of conditional
 logic that is not attractive to look at.  If we want to make good use of
 functions.php, here is a good candidate.  (And we don’t need to reinvent
 the wheel for that.  There are already several good implementations for
 assembling the document title conditionally.  See, for example, Tarski’s
 filterable {{{tarski_doctitle}}}, or Thematic, which starts from Tarski’s
 function and offers its own alternative.)

 See also this ticket:  #12370.

 6.

 '''More uninviting and illegible code'''.

 {{{"<span class=\"meta-sep\">|</span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"edit-
 link\">"}}}

 What the ...?  Who cares how the generated HTML aligns?

 7.

 '''Options page'''.  More and more themes have an options page, yet there
 is no simple authoritative implementation for theme authors to start from.
 Twenty Ten is ideal for this role:  An options page that uses the Settings
 API and offers a few selected no-nonsense options.  E.g., a textarea to
 edit the footer, and an option to separate pingbacks from comments (along
 with a nicely coded function in functions.php).

 Interesting fact about the penetration of the Settings API:  I searched
 the themes repo for {{{register_setting}}} and found only twenty (20)
 themes using it.  Some of them do not appear on WordPress Extend.  Three
 of theme are coded (or, at least, their options pages are coded) by
 Automattic folks.

 8.

 '''WP icon'''.  I do not like that we force an extra HTTP request upon
 innocent, unsuspecting people just to promote the WP identity.  Is the
 followed link to wp.org not enough?

 If Twenty Ten used icons in its design, we would use a sprite, add the WP
 icon there, and it would not make any material difference.  But, as it is
 now, I would like to see the icon go.

 9.

 '''Obligatory header image'''.  I would like to see an option to use no
 header image at all.  (And have its space collapse.)  Not offering this
 option feels restrictive to me.

 IN CONCLUSION

 I tried to stay in the spirit of 2010 as I understand it,  a simple and
 clean theme, and I believe the changes I suggest would make Twenty Ten
 simpler and cleaner without reducing its functionality.

 The front-end does not need much work; it’s almost there.  (If it weren’t
 for the busy typography, I would say the front-end is perfect.)

 The back-end needs some work, but for the most part it’s only small things
 here and there that would have a good return in total.

 What do you think?

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Ticket URL: <http://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/12902>
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