Maintaining a ReadyTheme questions

[lancermedia]

I'm working on a site redesign and we are using the Iron and Wool ReadyTheme as a base. This is our first time using a ReadyTheme, we've been designing/developing using a CSSUI store up to this point.

I have some questions on maintaining a ReadyTheme.

1) When a ReadyTheme is updated, is there an update process that can be used? Or do we have to do like in the past where we go through the Template changes manually?

2) Are the template changes that Miva posts just for CSSUI sites? I'm referencing this: http://www.miva.com/template-changes
Are we to follow those if we are using a ReadyTheme?

3) I notice that the ReadyThemes also are posted to github. Is this where we would find updated info for new releases?

4) I'm assuming that once we customize a ReadyTheme, there is no update process. Any updates would overwrite the customizations?

5) Guessing there isn't a child-theme type setup with Miva, like we do in the Wordpress world. Where the child can be customized allowing the parent theme to still be updated?

6) As for CSS changes with a ReadyTheme, do most people include a NEW CSS file to overwrite changes? Or do they modify the theme's CSS files?

Thanks for any help!

-Kevin

[lancermedia]

Re: Maintaining a ReadyTheme questions

Realized this should have been posted in the ReadyThemes forum. Can a mod move this or should I repost?

-Kevin

[Rick Wilson]

Re: Maintaining a ReadyTheme questions

Moved.

[Brennan]

Re: Maintaining a ReadyTheme questions

Hi Kevin -

See answers in red

1) When a ReadyTheme is updated, is there an update process that can be used? Or do we have to do like in the past where we go through the Template changes manually?

Any template changes will need to be made manually.

2) Are the template changes that Miva posts just for CSSUI sites? I'm referencing this: http://www.miva.com/template-changes
Are we to follow those if we are using a ReadyTheme?

Those are the best to follow. If there theme specific changes we will post them here:

https://github.com/mivaecommerce/readytheme-suivant/wiki/v1.1.0-Updates

3) I notice that the ReadyThemes also are posted to github. Is this where we would find updated info for new releases?

Yes, we also post links to these under the Release Notes tab on the theme store.

4) I'm assuming that once we customize a ReadyTheme, there is no update process. Any updates would overwrite the customizations?

Correct, any changes need to be made manually. We are exploring options to help make this process easier.

5) Guessing there isn't a child-theme type setup with Miva, like we do in the Wordpress world. Where the child can be customized allowing the parent theme to still be updated?

Not yet but we are working on this concept as well. For sample Iron and Wool is the suivant theme with a new stylesheet and graphics. We will be continuing to expand on this concept in the future.

6) As for CSS changes with a ReadyTheme, do most people include a NEW CSS file to overwrite changes? Or do they modify the theme's CSS files?

I believe most people are modifying the existing style sheets to make customization.

[lancermedia]

Re: Maintaining a ReadyTheme questions

Thanks Brennan for the info.

So I'm guessing that the only changes posted to github are the ones specific for the ReadyTheme? Meaning, github doesn't have both the main template changes AND the theme changes.....it has just the changes that fall outside of the normal templates?

-Kevin

[Brennan]

Re: Maintaining a ReadyTheme questions

Correct.

[Bruce - PhosphorMedia]

I

6) As for CSS changes with a ReadyTheme, do most people include a NEW CSS file to overwrite changes? Or do they modify the theme's CSS files?

Thanks for any help!

-Kevin

It's a matter of personal preference for the most part, but I prefer to use a separate style sheet for custom or customized styles. Makes updating easier as you can simply replace the old miva supplied style sheet with the new one, or more easily find the changes. Granted, that means you have to be careful to overwrite all style declarations when modifying an existing style, but that too, IMO, makes it easier to see what your custom styles are really trying to do.

[lancermedia]

It's a matter of personal preference for the most part, but I prefer to use a separate style sheet for custom or customized styles. Makes updating easier as you can simply replace the old miva supplied style sheet with the new one, or more easily find the changes. Granted, that means you have to be careful to overwrite all style declarations when modifying an existing style, but that too, IMO, makes it easier to see what your custom styles are really trying to do.

Thanks Bruce. I think I'm going to switch to doing it this way.

We are modifying the Iron and Wool theme, and when I look on github I see that some of the updates are vague and don't give exact details. If I put all my custom CSS in a file that is loaded last, I should be able to overwrite with the latest release.

Can anyone explain to me - why are all the CSS files processed through a css.php file? Do this file do something special? All I know is it makes it tough to locate the actual style when using the web inspector because it identifies all styles as loading in the master file generated by css.php.

-Kevin

[RayYates]

The php program combines all the css files and compresses the output. This means the browser is only making a single request which speeds up the site.

I'm not sure what the best method for adjusting the css but I opted for leaving the default css files alone and adding my own file at the end to alter styles as needed rather than replacing them.

When creating new pages, I tried to use the existing classes as much as possible to preserve the fluid design.

[lancermedia]

The php program combines all the css files and compresses the output. This means the browser is only making a single request which speeds up the site.

I'm not sure what the best method for adjusting the css but I opted for leaving the default css files alone and adding my own file at the end to alter styles as needed rather than replacing them.

When creating new pages, I tried to use the existing classes as much as possible to preserve the fluid design.

Thanks for the info. Yeah kinda figured that's what the php file was doing. Just a pain to track down the exact class to edit this way.

I did take both your and Bruce's advice and have left the original CSS files alone and just have a single custom file that gets loaded last to override the built in styles. This should work nicely.

-Kevin