Comments on: Special classes in themes

By: archGFX | New Competencies for Theme Designers

archGFX | New Competencies for Theme Designers — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 19:26:37 +0000

[...] Wordpress 2.5’s new image uploader solves the longstanding bug of using deprecated XHTML attributes to float images (align=”left”, etc.), rather than it being done in CSS. This is handled by applying classes to the image when it’s inserted into the post, rather than via inline CSS. This is good, in terms of semantics, clean markup, and separating presentation from content. It’s something that Scott suggested a while back, that I’ve been building into my themes and designs since. [...]

By: Nate Olson

Nate Olson — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 19:19:54 +0000

Scott (and others), any interest in setting up a forum or mailing list devoted to (X)HTML/CSS and your themes, esp. Sandbox? Would be a good place for seasoned users to strut their stuff while allowing us n00bs a chance to climb the learning curves more quickly. (In this regard it might make for a perfect complement to the skins showcase at Sand Castles, though that site seems to be down.)

There are obviously a lot of discussion areas for coders around the Web, but one focused specifically on this set of themes might be nice and, well, focused. Just throwing it out there.

By: Scott

Scott — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 23:22:51 +0000

Andy: I hear you about feed readers. If the image is placed on its own line within the composition window in WP, then it gets wrapped in a p’s, so it doesn’t look so terrible.

Inline CSS is a great solution to that. Except that it mixes style with content, which I’m not so hot about. Especially if you’re like me and redesign your site every three months. But it is good for the end user.

I suppose it would be entirely logically to use a class like .important with the HTML element strong, as labeling something as important dictates that it carries strong emphasis.

Ben: Thank you very much for your nice, nice words. When Hallmark does make one of those cards, send one to Andy as well.

By: Andy Beard

Andy Beard — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 01:46:06 +0000

Being someone who reads most blogs in a feed reader, I hate the idea of a standard for image alignment that isn’t also taken up by feed readers

You would also have to get all the compnaies who publish feeds by email involved as well, because otherwise those emails might look horrible.

I use inline CSS for a simple left or right alignment so that my content looks how I want it to.

By: Ben Whitehouse

Ben Whitehouse — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 21:42:05 +0000

I think the really important part of this conversation is the semantic nature of the classes. Sandbox taught me reams about the importance of Semantic classes in my markup. It also made me buy a few books by Dan Cederholm.

I currently use on all my sites .alert, .notice, .caps, .left, .right, .center, .clear, span.hilite, blockquote.pullquote I have found them to be absolutely invaluable when moving from design to design. I have also appropriated your div id structure from sandbox for all of my sites, including those not running on WordPress. I have become so familiar with them it’s really simplified my work flow.

(Note that .alert and .notice serve 2 very different functions. Alert is a problem while notice is informational. In my mind and alert is red, while a notice is yellow.)

I wish they made a thank you card the said all that, but until Hallmark recognizes the importance of semantic classes, I’m just going to have to leave this comment.

By: ..::| archGFX | Disconnected 1.2 |::..

..::| archGFX | Disconnected 1.2 |::.. — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 00:14:12 +0000

[...] added some standard classes to use in posts [...]

By: Alex Wang

Alex Wang — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 01:59:02 +0000

What about multiple images? For instance I want to put three images of the same size, all floated to the right, but stacked top-to-bottom. With a straight float, the images will get stacked right-to-left.

Currently I manually use something like a div,img,br,img,br,img,/div kind of setup and float the outer div. But I don’t know how many people frequently have multiple images up like that…

By: Scott

Scott — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 13:28:58 +0000

I think that’s a great idea, Matt. Would that, by chance, include the option for .center as well? I haven’t used the WYSIWYG editor yet, but I imagine this as being a radio button option, like in the uploader.

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 04:29:37 +0000

As Lloyd said above, we’re probably going to make the WYSIWYG do .alignleft/.alignright classes by default in WP.

By: Scott

Scott — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 13:23:34 +0000

I like the idea of a plugin providing the same CSS regardless of the theme. A plugin that provides an option to add CSS or link to a file and insert it into the head. I'm sure there's already something out there that does just that. But great idea. Perhaps related to this plugin idea would be to add one that gave the user an option to add one of the three image classes when using the RTE to insert images. Speaking of images looking badly in most themes, don't forget the img{max-width:99%;} and div.sidebar{overflow:hidden;}. But we digress. Even div#wrapper{overflow:auto;} can keep things from becoming too terrible. So far I'm keen on .alignleft, .alignright, .center, .clearer, .content-column, .important, .caps, and .download. I like the idea of just making .content-column{width:33%;} and using it in conjunction with .alignleft, .alignright.