[wp-hackers] Theme structure

[Alan Baljeu]

Eric wrote:
>You need something to act as an interpreter of PHP, with awareness of  
>wp template tags. It needs to generate and edit theme files that not  
>only are whole and complete html files, but have all the appropriate  
>tags, file names and other bits that turns it from a template to a  
>fully functional wp theme. The tool should tell them the theme is okay  
>- forcing them to check it out on the web is kludgy and inefficient.
>
>If the user (or your tool) outputs a bad set of files, then you've  
>just corrupted their site. Easy to reverse maybe, but most users will  
>probably not go through the trouble of setting up a local server, so  
>you can be sure your tool will be used on their live site.

Since we are talking about a template editor, what we need is a backup of the template only.  They won't corrupt their entire site.  Ultimately the only reliable test is to put the files on the site, and see what gets produced.  And when that happens, the author better have a backup in case the results turn out to be not what she wanted.  

Besides that, I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest interpreting PHP is waayy beyond what I want to attempt.  I think the other poster is on to something with Renard.  By substituting HTML for PHP, we can approximate the end result, and that could work as an external tool.

>All in all, I think that you haven't thought through the problems your  
>app is trying to solve enough. 

I agree I haven't fully thought through the problems, and that's why
I'm discussing the issues on the forum.  More talk will help us come to
a better plan before I start coding.

> And given your insistence on doing it  
>on the web says to me that you are limiting yourself and your thinking  
>to what you know. When you only have one hammer, everything looks like  
>a nail... even when its a screw.

Huh?  I'm not *insisting* on a web interface.  Read my post again!  I also wrote:

>> That's certainly one possible direction.  From one perspective it  
>> would be easier to build the interface using desktop tools, and  
>> actually the whole app may be easier.
....
>> Please explain why you think a desktop tool is better than a webtop  
>>tool.

>Its not whether or not it would work on the web or not, I just don't  
>think PHP is an appropriate tool to use.

Do you have another suggestion?  I suppose it's wide open for everything from C# to Perl.


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