[IPD] Skin

[MixOughT]

hello,
can i have some info about IPD skins ?
thanks in advance

[bfarber]

IPD has not even been released as a public beta. There are certainly no skins available for it yet. :D

[Mark]

I think he means it's capabilities as far as skinning.
IPB's is very good.
Converge's is somewhat.... simpler.
IPDs?

[Justin]

I dont see why you'd want to spend your time skinning IP.D... nobody but you will ever see it on your site?

[bfarber]

Actually, IPD is a content management system - so every member, guest and bot that visits would see it (when released, and you install it, etc.).

I personally wouldn't worry too much about the IPD skinning system yet. :thumbsup:

[Justin]

I think that's what I was trying to convey...

Like... would you consider the IPS website a skin?
Can everybody "login" to the IP.D backend behind the IPS website? (it is still "powered by IP.D" right?)

[Mark]

Like... would you consider the IPS website a skin?

Yes

Can everybody "login" to the IP.D backend behind the IPS website? (it is still "powered by IP.D" right?)

There is a difference between the ACP and a front skin.
That said, you can login to the customer area, no? (A Nexus skin that matches the dynamic one)

[Justin]

I know there's a difference between the two, that's my point. :)

Logging into the customer area is not the same as logging into the control panel of IP.Dynamic to manage your website's content.

If the OP is wondering about IP.D skins, I'm thinking he wants to skin the control panel of IP.D and I dont know why you would bother with that, because only you are going to see it... etc.

[lerums]

I'm pretty certain he really wouldn't bother skinning the backend. Where did you get that idea? :P

The current IP.B ACP theme is the same thats used in IP.D

[bfarber]

I know there's a difference between the two, that's my point. :)

Logging into the customer area is not the same as logging into the control panel of IP.Dynamic to manage your website's content.

If the OP is wondering about IP.D skins, I'm thinking he wants to skin the control panel of IP.D and I dont know why you would bother with that, because only you are going to see it... etc.

No, I'm thinking the OP was wondering about the front end skin.

IPD is a CMS and yes it has a backend control panel. But, using IPD, you generate your front end website - that's what a CMS does, after all. I'm thinking he's asking about skins for the front end.

While it's skinnable, until the product is actually finalized and released, I couldn't see any skinner bothering taking the time to make any yet - no one would be able to use them, and likely the IPD templates will change before release anyways.

[Justin]

I guess all I'm asking is why are we calling those skins? oO It's website content...

[bfarber]

Content and delivery can (and usually are|should be) abstracted.

You can deliver one html page - but you could allow your users to select from one of 10 skins, for example.

It's the same concept with a forum - it's all content. So why do we have skinning support? Do you think every site on the net running IPD wants to have the same exact delivery (skin)? :)

[Justin]

Not everybody would have the same exact delivery... just like your personal homepage and my personal home page are completely different, because we used our own css / images / markup, etc... oO

With forums, the delivery of the content is the same... board index, topics, personal messages, etc.. with web sites... there are so many variations it's hard to compare them... eh?

I might have just one page for a link to my contact information...whereas you might have a portfolio with separate pages for each of your favorite movies as well... :blink:

I still dont see how IP.D could have a thriving skinning community...because I may export a skin of my site, that has absolutely no effect for your site, because we dont run the same content?

[bfarber]

Well, I agree that distributable skins will likely be less-received than create your own.

However, the CSS, images, and basic HTML templates (those that come with IPD and cannot be removed) can be distributed, providing an overall skin. Then, the pages you generate would just inherit the CSS classes and such - skin developers wouldn't provide customized versions of those pages, of course, but they should use the same CSS and thus be skinned by inheritence.

In any event, this sort of discussion is probably best left for when IPD is opened back up for discussion. :D

[Justin]

In any event, this sort of discussion is probably best left for when IPD is opened back up for discussion. :D

Yeah yeah yeah. :)