Skip to:
Content
Pages
Categories
Search
Top
Bottom

Call to arms – Own your task


  • John James Jacoby
    Keymaster

    @johnjamesjacoby

    Do you really like the activity stream and have ideas on how to improve it? Are you working on a site where you’re beefing up Private Messages and want to contribute some code back to the project? Maybe you’re just really good at blogging and want to share some BuddyPress experiences?

    Now’s your chance to help the BuddyPress core team get things done.

    If there’s a task you want to *own* in BuddyPress, let’s start by talking about it here first. Later we’ll move onto development chats, etc… but for now I want to get a feel for who wants to commit to doing what. :)

    Example – Things I am working on:

    Step 0 – Better dedicated support forums via bbPress plugin – June
    Step 1 – Redesigning buddypress.org – June
    Step 2 – Releasing 1.3 – June’ish
    Step 3 – Mirroring the WordPress development methods (UI/UX/Trac/etc…) – July
    Step 4 – Improved collaboration with contributors – July

    Examples of things that could use ownership:

    bp-default theme audit (make sure actions are in the right places, CSS is tidy, small visual tweaks to bp-default CSS)
    phpDoc audit (verbose documentation on functions, classes, variables, etc…)
    deprecated code clean-up (get rid of our old MU specific code)
    Moderation tools (integrate them into the WP menu)
    Admin interface UI (thinking far, far head here)
    Wireframes, mock-ups, ideas, visual stuff
    *anything that you think needs doing, and can commit to doing*

Viewing 25 replies - 1 through 25 (of 90 total)

  • MrMaz
    Participant

    @mrmaz

    I feel very strongly that a big part of what makes BP difficult to theme is the fact that the default theme is located under the plugins/ folder. I would be interested in helping to move it back to themes/

    How does that make it harder?


    John James Jacoby
    Keymaster

    @johnjamesjacoby

    I’m a little confused by that too Maz. Any plugin can register a theme directory anywhere they want, and where the files sit doesn’t change any of the functionality. What specifically are you proposing?


    MrMaz
    Participant

    @mrmaz

    I just think its wrong that a plugin takes over the entire WordPress theme. When you do that its not WordPress anymore its BuddyPress. It adds an additional layer of complexity that is not necessary. Additionally, keeping the theme inside of BuddyPress makes it too easy to couple the functionality of BP to its theme. This cohesion is what makes it so infuriating that your theme has to be “perfect” or it breaks all of the advanced BP functionality achieved with javascript. Separating the two would force BuddyPress to play nicer with WP.

    1.better looking default theme( I’m willing to contribute a minimalist theme with an awesome option panel )
    2.privacy settings( may help prevent spam )
    3.activity stream on profile pages should have better order like (if I’m looking at my profile first thing I should see is my friends activity) also re-share on activity and post to wall as fb would be cool
    4.forums not attached to groups


    John James Jacoby
    Keymaster

    @johnjamesjacoby

    Without template files to display content, there is no BuddyPress. Having just gone through this with the bbPress plugin, it’s impossible to create custom WordPress components without theme files to back them up.

    Are you saying you want to make a non-ajax default theme that is easier to extend?


    Bowe
    Participant

    @bowromir

    I’m interested in working on the bp-default theme. Some ideas:

    – Splitting up the bp-default.css file into smaller CSS files on a per component basis. Then in turn load these stylesheets conditionally using the BP conditionals..

    Ideally you would end up with:

    Base.css (all the layout, typography and regular WP styling for posts and pages)
    Activity.css (only activity stream css)
    Member-Group.css
    Forums.css (BBPress stuff)

    In turn this means that theme development would be a little bit easier, since modifying the base theme would open up much more flexibility. In turn this means that the ajax functionality need to be refactored to apply the same concept as well. Splitting up the CSS and JS into “modules” and making them global and not tied to the core template layout would mean a huge step forward.

    Besides that I’d like to work with @imath on extending the BuddyPress Shortcodes plugin. When this is handled properly it would allow you to display all kinds of BP content anywhere in a regular theme. It would not be a fully featured BuddyPress site, but it can be a powerful solution.

    Finally I’d like to discuss the possibility of setting up a BuddyPress Supporter project powered by the community. The basic idea is so make one giant tip jar for (recurring) donations and using this money to fund cool BuddyPress related projects (chose and voted upon by the community). I understand that this might be hard to do on BP.org, but I’m willing to set up a special domain for that.

    Looking forward to see more ideas pouring in :)


    John James Jacoby
    Keymaster

    @johnjamesjacoby

    @uloga

    1. Decisions over options – and you’ll want to pair up with Maz and anyone else that’s interested in a new theme
    2. How does privacy prevent spam?
    3. I would suggest making this as a plugin to start. Having a proof of concept here is key.
    4. Forums are already mine.


    MrMaz
    Participant

    @mrmaz

    ok, i better go download some bp templates from the interwebs… can someone halp me find a good devsigner… oh look a piece of candy…


    John James Jacoby
    Keymaster

    @johnjamesjacoby

    @bowromir

    CSS
    Decoupling the CSS into smaller pieces seems like it would go against the cardinal rule of minimizing HTTP requests to speed up page load times. Having everything turned on would load up 10 separate CSS files, just for the theme itself. They’d naturally be enqueued hierarchically so they cascade correct, so if one of them hangs for some reason, you end up with theme spaghetti.

    I’d suggest giving this a shot and comparing the speed differences with BP trunk on your average web host account to see what the real-world impact would be. If it’s negligible or we can minimize the impact, I’m for it. Would be nice to separate it into structure, colors, etc… too.

    Shortcodes
    check out how the bbPress plugin is incorporating shortcodes, and how it’s theme compatibility works to get a head start on what will get ported into BuddyPress core in the near future (after 1.3) – I’m filtering the_content() and loading template parts in an output buffer, to inject bbPress forums into *any* existing WordPress theme with a page.php template file (with appropriate measures taken to minimize conflicts, etc…)

    Supporter
    The Supporter idea is neat, but doesn’t sound so much directly related to BuddyPress core. In the past, these kinds of donation based tasks don’t usually raise enough money for the hours of development that are involved in making something happen. Plus, who holds the money in escrow, who handles taxes and payouts, etc… It all gets really complicated, so you have your work cut out for you there. :)

    2. for example ,if you set your profile as : just friends, then you have control of your activity stream and anything posted on your wall.
    if your friends spam you, you just remove them from friends.
    simple as that.
    also users must have a option that allow them to mark as spam or delete spam. it works on FB.


    Bowe
    Participant

    @bowromir

    @JJJ: Yeah I thought about the performance implications. Although I must say that the opinions about this are vastly different. a few http requests might make it slower, but these days that might not a big deal if theme development would be a lot easier. Actually combining adminbar.css, reset.css and using style.css for the base layout would solve this problem :)

    Shortcodes: Nice! I’ll look into that.. well I’ll ask @imath. Can’t program :(

    Supporter: Yeah it needs work and a lot of effort and planning.. sounds like a challenge :)


    John James Jacoby
    Keymaster

    @johnjamesjacoby

    @uloga – Are these things you are able/willing complete on your own, or are these ideas for a core wishlist?

    BP-Default 1.3’s CSS is mine. @mercime has recently identified a number of issues which I am working through; if anyone wants to look at it with me, get in contact soon.


    finni3
    Participant

    @finni3

    @bowromir Have you checked out flattr.com as a donation platform? If all BP plugin/theme devs standardise on one donation platform it would make things simpler, no? With flattr you can also do monthly micro-donations where you choose how much you want to donate per month and it is spread out between the different plugins you have flattred. @boone already has an account there and also @jeffsayre has(had?) one.

    At least to me, flattr would be easier to contribute smaller amounts monthly to various plugin devs.

    EDIT Promo video:

    @John James Jacoby
    I need to check into that.I believe I am.
    what about default theme?? can some of us start developing some examples then you guys can pick the best one :)


    John James Jacoby
    Keymaster

    @johnjamesjacoby

    @uloga – Creating a robust replacement for bp-default isn’t something to do on a whim. Let’s get a few people to collaborate rather than compete, and see who wants to do what. Deal?

    sure, no problem :)


    John James Jacoby
    Keymaster

    @johnjamesjacoby

    @djpaul – Sounds good. When you get a moment can you post up a rough outline of tasks and expectations on bpdevel? We’ll use it as the running stream of communication as needed, to keep it public. Maybe make a master ticket in trac right away too, to post diff’s, files, etc…

    BP-Default 1.3?s CSS is mine. @mercime has recently identified a number of issues which I am working through; if anyone wants to look at it with me, get in contact soon.

    Drop me a line Paul, give us an idea of the issues that have been identified.


    stwc
    Participant

    @stwc

    I am ridiculously busy with my own network of sites, and so although I don’t have time (or skill, probably) to ‘own’ redesign work on buddypress.org, I would love to help in any way I can.


    Bowe
    Participant

    @bowromir

    I’d like to chip in on making BP-Default 1.3 awesome as well :)


    modemlooper
    Moderator

    @modemlooper

    The only reason to split up CSS is to separate layout from design and since BP only has one design I don’t see the purpose and it adds requests. The single most thing that bp.org needs is to drop the activity stream. Push everything into forums and hopefully get some of JJJ’s bbpress into it with more forum features.

    This site does need a better look to entice users. Needs a showcase section and How-to’s. I have no problem with bp-default other than the fact that it should not be required to get features into a WordPress theme. This should be the goal, creating a new design does not accomplish that. Focus on the problems not cover it up with fancy design. Base theme should be clean and simple not overly designed. You could even have a few child themes to show what’s capable with simple CSS/ javascript tweaks.

    That’s a few things off the top of my head.


    Brandon Allen
    Participant

    @cnorris23

    If there are no objections, I’d like to work on moving all xprofile data into the user_meta table so we can make use of the WP_User_Query class. For many reasons, this would be for 1.4+.


    Brandon Allen
    Participant

    @cnorris23

    Also, I’ll work on phpDoc.

Viewing 25 replies - 1 through 25 (of 90 total)
  • The topic ‘Call to arms – Own your task’ is closed to new replies.
Skip to toolbar