[theme-reviewers] A few issues to look out for

Wed Apr 27 02:36:15 UTC 2011

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>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>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>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>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> 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'.
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> theme-reviewers mailing list
>>>>> theme-reviewers at lists.wordpress.org
>>>>> http://lists.wordpress.org/mailman/listinfo/theme-reviewers
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> theme-reviewers mailing list
>>> theme-reviewers at lists.wordpress.org
>>> http://lists.wordpress.org/mailman/listinfo/theme-reviewers
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>  --
>> 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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>>
>>
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