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iconifying xaraya - and xarigami?

Posted by: Jo on April 24, 2009 |  Updated: April 25, 2009 09:33 PM

The Tango icon scenario was merged into the Xaraya 1x branch today, and there was some deliberating on what to do in relation to xarigami branches.

  • We were keen on implementing a sprite solution for key core image icons, as suggested by Jason, rather than adding a host of new images as in the Tango icon scenario. We still plan to use the sprite solution for xarigami branches.
  • Due to the widespread nature of the changes, not huge changes, but touching many files, it also makes for increased probability of typos and the like in the branch.
  • Deleting all the old images, and changing the naming method for the admin icons in modules could introduce errors, or at least missing images in many third party modules. There is definitely at least work involved for checking those, in addition to theme checking where they are using overridden images.

Of course, everyone likes the eye candy, so we did look at the possible pros for also iconifying the xarigami branches.

  • There are many non-standard images throughout the core, and a unified look for these is a definite improvement and using the Tango naming conventions at least is useful. It also provides a consistent naming convention for any future move to sprites.
  • A minor future problem could be the theme image override issue again, assuming people want to swap around themes made for one branch or the other
  • It looks good?

After some deliberating, we decided to go ahead and iconify the xarigami branches with some key changes:

  • We did not add in extra files and changes for the Installer theme. This is because the xarigami branch is separating out the Installer and Upgrade process totally from the core.
  • We retained, for now, the convention of using 'admin.gif' files as the admin overview file for custom module icons. If there is an admin.png file available it will be used, and if not, fall back to the admin.gif and finally a generic_admin.png file.
  • There was some usability issues especially in the module and theme listings. The type of icons used there could confuse the user at first glance in a listing of modules as to whether it is installed, or needs to be installed. We worked around this by using some differing icons, and also adding status icons so users can clearly see if a module is installed or not. We can review this if necessary.

As we implemented this differently in some respects, and our files are different in many areas, it required a review of every file and icon for our own branches. Now, it's finished for the time being (http://demo.xarigami.com) and we can get on with finalizing the planned dynamic data changes.

However, we did decide to move direct to sprites .... this now gives us the advantages we have wanted for some time with respect to theme management and skins.

Xarigami is Spritified!


Related project : xarigami core

 
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