[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #35395: Provide a better gateway for code-based theme customizations with the Customizer

[WordPress Trac]

#35395: Provide a better gateway for code-based theme customizations with the
Customizer
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 Reporter:  celloexpressions             |       Owner:  johnregan3
     Type:  feature request              |      Status:  assigned
 Priority:  normal                       |   Milestone:  4.7
Component:  Customize                    |     Version:
 Severity:  normal                       |  Resolution:
 Keywords:  has-screenshots needs-patch  |     Focuses:
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Comment (by joyously):

 @westonruter said "The vast majority of uses for this functionality would
 surely be wanting to tweak the styles of a theme's stylesheet."
 This is conjecture. I would submit that the novices would want the theme
 to do it, and just switch themes to get one that looks better. More
 experienced users would use a plugin to add CSS or find a theme with that
 option. Advanced users write their own theme or child theme, and don't
 need this at all. I would also submit that while it makes sense that the
 CSS must match the HTML that the theme outputs, this type of feature is
 more useful as a way to keep something constant regardless of theme. I
 could see users putting tweaks to plugin CSS in there and then having a
 big problem when they switch themes. I can also see theme support forums
 having a lot more issues because of the new place to store CSS that
 overrides all others (comes last).

 I have a client that is a WordPress novice. I styled their site as they
 requested and the next year, they decided to switch themes without telling
 me. Most of their site was still operational, but widget areas were
 different and menu locations were different, so some of the content was
 missing or needing adjustment. I discovered this, not them. The novice
 expects all the content to be constant, and just the look to change, as
 advertised. It currently doesn't work that way, and the proposed change
 exacerbates the problem.

 '''If this is really an area that core should be doing''', why not make it
 theme independent? Or at least provide an option for that?
 If it has to be theme specific, have you considered that the post type is
 like an attachment and the CSS is actually stored in a file? This way the
 storage is easier (CSS can be difficult to get into the database
 correctly), and the inclusion in the header is better (using the src
 attribute), and the browser can cache the file and it can be served
 zipped.

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/35395#comment:20>
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