Hi

So, 5 months later, I thought I would follow up on this :-)

I am trying to get a requirements plan setup for different freelancers to have a good idea what would be involved in creating a full UIKIT template for EasyBlog.

So you have these requirements ?

I've seen the list of files in the theme interface but there seems to be a lot of files in there that won't require adaptation for design level impacts ?

As a minimum, we're going to want front end list view, full view, latest blog view

Your help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Danny

This request was updated a while ago and I don't know if there has been any progress on it, but I would definitely like to see a UIKit compatible template for Easy Blog available out-of-the-box. It would be extremely helpful and versatile.

Could somebody from the Stack-Ideas Team please follow up on this?

Shouldn't be a big effort to add UIKIT support for EasyBlog.

Thank you very much for your Feedback.

Best regards, Chris

Hi all
I haven't really heard back on this request.
BUT, it is a feature request and StackIdea's components are heavily dependent on their own styling.
I for one, would LOVE to see UIKIT compatibilty with their componenents as this would bring together probably 2 of my FAV Joomla worlds ;-)
StackIdea team, please consider this is you haven't already !
Said with much love <3
Thanks
Danny

+1 from me too.

I think a UNIFIED them across all apps (EasyBlog, EasyDiscuss, EasySocial) that leverages the UIKIT framework is long overdue.
This doesn't need stackideas approval or support, does it? Just a new set of css files for each app that follow the UIKIT look/feel? I'll bet there is a decent market for this . . .

Hm, it's not really feasible for us to create a unique set of theme specifically for UIKit because then other customers would want us to create a unique theme for different frameworks and we end up having to maintain too many themes which takes up all of our time.

If you guys could persuade the theme providers to create a theme across all our extensions, it would definitely be better since they are more familiar with their own UI.

Of course Mark, I agree with you. I'm hoping some enterprising individual(s) will use the basic UIKIT assets and create a unified look and feel that matches that. My site is a hodgepodge of different themes and UIKIT pages. It's OK, but it could be better. But I use EasyBlog, EasySocial, AND EasyDiscuss.

You can see it here: http://www.schooltechnologyleadership.com

(I block most countries - non U.S. countries may find it hard to access).

But wouldn't it be cool to have common themes across all StackIdeas assets? So you could pick "Wireframe4" for example, for each app simply by selecting a single "site" style? or Change a css element with an override and have it apply to all buttons, for example.

Mmm, I "think" templating would likely fall under each dev's responsibility, not the framework itself.
I am a hardcore YoothemePRO advocate (both Joomla and Worpress). I've been designing websites off these for years now.
I see extensions like RsFormPRO offer their UIKIT framework as style bases for their forms (as an example)
I would find it REALLY cool is StackIdeas would adhere to that too ;-)
Thanks for considering it some more
Danny

Hi Danny. Yes, I use RsFormPro as well. It's really hard managing all of the extensions/plug-ins and their multiple style sheets. A LOT of time spent tweaking css files. If some Yootheme pros out there (maybe yourself?) could create a unified look and feel for some of the top extensions that would be great. Or, thinking of it another way, if there were universal themes out there (say, for example, a "standard uikit 2.0", then we could create themes or skins for each of the extensions that tried to mirror those universal themes. I use yootheme's uikit, EasyBlog,Discuss,Social,Komenta, and Payment modules, plus yootheme's zoo, RSFORMPRO, DropFiles and AcyMailing!

Otherwise, you have a site like mine that has probably 5 or 6 different input button styles. Totally tacky!

I have tried to start a UIKIT theme for Easyblog but it got out of hand fast. I can just imagine for EasySocial ...
It's a big ask for extension developers cause they can't do it all. There's more and more frameworks our there now :-(
As mentioned, i'm a UIKIT (YooTheme) guy but there's a few other good ones out there too.
Since most frameworks have common element builders; containers, headings, links, icons, buttons ... it would be great for extension developers to allow some basic levels of these most popular frameworks to be applied into their code (like RsForm does and they are themselves template builders so it goes to show the open source mentality)
Danny

Hi there!

I am also using Yootheme pro.
I do not believe it is a viable solution for StackIdeas to dive into this, I am thinking about the time they would need to spend and the profit they could get out of it....

I believe it would be better to enhance much further the " Layout / Styling " options in all SI component settings.
This way it is not framework dependent

I agree! Stackideas should not be in the business of creating framework specific themes.

But there needs to be a way to apply a single theme to all StackIdeas assets, to maintain consistency. I know they have developed their own themes as well, and I assume those work well with all of their app assets, but it would also be nice to have a "unified theme" possibility across all assets. I like Yoothemes customizer. It seems to go above and beyond what we can customize within the stackideas apps.

But if there was a "top level" independent style "framework" that could be layered on top of StackIdeas, Zoo, RSForms, DropFiles, etc. Then we could buy "Multi-use theme packs" that could be used across multiple apps.

I know it's difficult, and I'm not suggesting Stackideas build the actual themes, just be open to the idea of establishing a more universal theme framework to which we can drop in our own themes or skins and have all of the assets the adopt that theme's look/feel.

For instance, my site uses EasyDiscuss:
https://www.schooltechnologyleadership.com/community-forum

And EasyBlog
https://www.schooltechnologyleadership.com/

And EasySocial:
https://www.schooltechnologyleadership.com/dashboard

And Zoo from Yootheme:
https://www.schooltechnologyleadership.com/file/all-downloadable-files

And a forms app:
https://www.schooltechnologyleadership.com/index.php?option=com_rsform&view=rsform&formId=28

I've tried to play around with the CSS in each of them to adopt common menu bar colors, etc. But it's still a hodge-podge of different styles and interfaces buttons and such.

If we could shop for and install a "Multi-app Theme Pack" that we could then install on, say, the top 10 apps that stack ideas users commonly have in their sites, that would be a wonderful improvement.

Cheers!

Also, when you have a common look and feel across assets, you have what some companies are charging HUGE dollar amounts for. Check out this site: https://cetpa.net/login.aspx They use a service called "your membership", which you can see here: https://www.yourmembership.com/products/association-management-software/

It's basically the same thing as the StackIdeas suite of products (blog, discussions, file downloads, ticketing, registration-payment).
But they charge $5K to 10K U.S. or more for an annual fee to the professional associations. They whole thing comes pre-set up, too, with common menu configurations and features already turned on.

I am hoping that in the next 3 years, StackIdeas maintains their individual apps but also offers a single unified app that has all existing features (and maybe adds event management and donations too!). Single installation package. Selection of many more theme options based on their own pre-built templates. That would be cool. Its likely already been thought of - the stackideas team is really one of the best groups I've worked with in the Joomla world.

Keep up the great work everyone!!!

It would have been interesting to take a look at the issues you face but I cannot access you site from my location, I have to reinstall Ghost or similar app

In the template setting in the CSS custom code I have 680 lines ... I do understand you point of view....

Still I do not believe in a 'One Fits All" theme.
If you take a look only at the headings you have selected in the Yootheme pro.
In your case H2 might be a relatively small font, on other sites it might be a very large font.
How then to deal with the H2 in SI components ? you will still need to inject custom codes.

Therefore if all SI components had the options to style as many layout/design/styling as possible per theme or at once...

A "Theme Style Customizer" because the base style is Wireframe theme.
- and this it could be very very very complex due to the many views / interactions may be just too many !
To keep the example of EasyBlog: .eb-mod, eb-post-author, .eb-post-hits, .eb-post-top, .eb-post-body, eb-entry-helper, .eb-reactions, .eb-tags, .eb-comment-head, .eb-mod-media-title, and on and on and on...)

In the component > Themes > New Custom Theme and from there you style the theme to your needs with as many options as possible
In other words some kind of style builder for SI components

Yeah, I agree with what Supporter is pointing out and it's more of an internal framework for all our extensions. If there is a template that needs to be inherited, doing it once would work but for what it's worth, we did try it before and therefore if you recall there was a "Foundry" package in our extensions.

It failed simply because there is no way to unify the styling components. Button for instance have a different size and spacing and it needs to be spaced differently because of the layout requirements (A good reference is to the H2 example that Supporter mentioned). A H2 could look differently on EasyBlog, EasyDiscuss, Komento and EasySocial because of how the user wants to display the content.

If we were to pursuit this ever, it needs to be carefully thought out because I can foresee that the immediate changes to the structure (html, css classes) is going to affect too many players on the ecosystem.

Perhaps just start with small portions and grow over time. Make it part of the dev process to "templatize" work for different themes. Of course, this is a long term thing but it would be simple to start somewhere through this way of working. Just start with a new template tab somewhere and clearly state that this is in progress and that element by element over time, the choice of template/framework will take please. Start with buttons and perhaps containers ...

My 2 cents
Danny

Hello all

With interest I pursue your discussion - the topic UI Kit for StackIdeas components I consider important and very valuable. Stackideas certainly has resource limits or business strategic criteria ... all of which may be justified, but UI KIT from Yootheme, Hamburg, is so common and established that Stackideas could only benefit from implementing the framework.

So here's a suggestion: Can we find the right people to take on this job as part of a project assignment? Or do you have other ideas to meet this broad and justified need?

It's true, you could save a lot of work as a webmaster, and the result would be even stronger, right?

Best regards
Christian

I could not agree more Christian :-)
+1 for me
I use YTP for all my Joomla AND Wordpress sites
I use StackIdea components for Advanced Blogs, Discussion Forums and Social platforms (and now testing Metaman)
UIKIT would be EPIC.
Danny

I have been following this thread from the start and to be honest, we are pretty much shorthanded to undertake such a task but if there is anyone else willing to create a "uikit" theme for EasyBlog, we are more than happy to assist and also include it into the core.

+1

+1

EasyBlog already supports uikit theme in EasyBlog 5, https://stackideas.com/docs/easyblog/administrators/how-tos/set-up-uikit-theme