[Typo3-dev] any extension developers need html/css templating?

[ben van 't ende [netcreators]]

Kasper Skårhøj wrote:
> I'm curiuos.
> 
> - What is complex about the CSS in the extensions? (examples)
> - What is the difference between "complex" and "sophisticated" CSS
> (which you propose is better)?


Hi,

What is meant here is that a lot of classes are involved in some of the 
extensions. That is why it is so cool if the extension has an external 
template you can manipulate yourself as a non programmer. I had a very 
good cooperation with Zach Davis this way. I modified the template to be 
semantically correct and implemented classes and id's where needed. A 
lot of stuff can be manipulated generically from a container div 
(div.forum h3 {color: red; font-size: 24px; margin: 0;}). In the case of 
chc_forum I included some colors and other values as constants that is 
written to an inline style which in it's turn is transformed into an 
external css file. So if you are lucky someone will have provided you 
with a proper setup. If you are not that lucky there will be at least a 
template you can layout yourself and where you have to add styles 
yourself. I have gotten used to preparing several stylesheets like 
extensions.css, csc.css and main.css. With the right comment inside the 
stylesheet it is not that difficult to manipulate your layout. If the 
person that built the extension coded everything in php files you have a 
serious problem. I have written to several extension authors asking them 
to change that. They see the advantage, but that is probably not done 
overnight and the extension most likely suits there particular needs.

Bottomline is that you have to spent time to learn something. TYPO3 is a 
good example. The benefits of css-coding your layout in a webstandards 
way are so evident that I feel you HAVE to spent some time to learn 
this. You can start out with very easy CSS and get into more complex 
stuff later. That is the good thing. It is very scalable. The biggest 
benefit is that you are no longer building your webpages only for a 
browser, but for devices that are able to display webpages like 
cellphones or what have you. It is very easy to manipulate your css to 
get a print stylesheet or get your display right for the visually impaired.

gRTz

ben
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netcreators::creation and innovation
www.netcreators.nl - www.typo3.nl