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1. kim (kim@social.surtdelcercle.cat)'s status on Wednesday, 26-Jun-2019 10:34:00 EDT kim
   Hi I saw your latest message in the !gnusocial group but I lost it and I can't answer directly, I have some troubles with the federation.
   
   Yes I'm working on a new theme and the install layout but I think the following... With the current system, themes only allow designers to overwritte some css styles but we need more, we need to edit the document object adding classes and more elements. To achieve this we need to overwritte the lib folder from the active theme, in some point the gnusocial core must see if a a file exists in the active theme and use it instead the original one.
   
   Modern cms like joomla o wordpress use that technique for modify core scripts.
   
   What do you think about that?
   1. Diogo Cordeiro (diogo@loadaverage.org)'s status on Wednesday, 26-Jun-2019 11:52:10 EDT Diogo Cordeiro

      in reply to
      The difference between GNU social and CMSs like Joomla is that, in GNU social, we follow the Unix-philosophy of small programs to do a small job seriously.
      
      That is, GS has a structure in which themes are only intended to change the common appearance and, therefore, changing the CSS should be enough.
      
      Often, themes in CMSs like Joomla allow to add functionality, which should only be done via plugins (at least in GS's case). The concept of themes with embedded PHP wasn't new back when GS was first written. I believe it wasn't applied on purpose because of the above mentioned reasons.
      
      Therefore, I think the existing structure is good and powerful.
      
      With plugins you can add functionality and the associated styling. Take your translation plugin as an example. You were able to add a visual component (a Translate button to each notice), specific javascript and, you could have added specific CSS too (maybe by presenting an icon in the translate button instead of the text 'Translate').
      
      The HTML visual components that are inherent to GS, i.e. not added by plugins, can be edited, as you've said, by directly modifying the core. And, although the existing elements are likely fine, we should consider to start making use of HTML5's new tags.
      
      cc: Maybe you have some further insight to add @MMN-o ?
      
      > we need to edit the document object adding classes and more elements
      
      So, bearing this in mind, maybe those new elements could be added with plugins instead? As this allows every theme to take advantage of them and not only a specific one. What do you think?
   2. Diogo Cordeiro (diogo@loadaverage.org)'s status on Monday, 15-Jul-2019 00:13:01 EDT Diogo Cordeiro

      in reply to
      Hey @kim
      We've just pushed the initial GNU social v2 to nightly, maybe this is a good opportunity for you to consider opening a MR with a new visual for the installer :)