Skins developing

[sammysosa]

Hello!

First of all I would like to thank you for all this effort!(awesome piece of soft & support as well!)

My questions is:

How do you guys making Skins? (I'm fairly new to this, after two weeks playing with aadvark)

1.What kind of IDE you're using?
2.Localhost or Uploading every time on server?


These are maybe stupid questions, but it would help me a lot if you could spare a moment and answer

 

[Basti]

Well i am not really designing skins, but coding. Then for me, i do it always on a live server. Not really a localhost tester, as i never really bothered with it.
For the most time i just use NotePad++, which is just a bit better editor than most standart ones and more fit for coding. From time to time i use phpDesigner, which is an awsome editor tool for many programming languages, way better than notepad actually. ( should use it more often, but so used to notepad )

 

[sammysosa]

I'm using NotePad++ as well (after trying so many different editors ... notepad++ was easiest to use).

Thanks for mentioning phpDesinger (looks good).

 

[proxydesign]

I don't bother with localhost, rather I upload changes on the server and see the changes on the web. It's not hard at all, you only need to know what your'e doing. I think the bootstrap theme which is located in the Resource-page on this forum is a great starting-point. I have noticed that the CSS is compromised (don't know if that's the correct word), so you can just search for the css-file (ex: Cerulean-theme-bootstrap) on google, and change the bootstrap.css with cerulean-theme.css. It's much easier to do changes in the CSS-file then.

Anyway, Visiolist is great! Basti and Mark have done a great job. I started with 0 unique visits, now I have over 100, and thats most because of the functonality and the great work these two guys have done. They do also updating the script often, so I suggest you to pay the license year after year;-)

Good luck with your Visiolist! If you have any trouble or anything you wonder about, don't wait to ask me, or other members. Many things has been up already, so it can be nice to use the search-function before you start a thread.

EDIT: Since I have Mac, I use Notepad++, it's great. If anyone know a better editor-program for Mac, I would like to know though...

 

[Mark]

for IDE I use phpDesigner, its been my favorite tool for about 6 years now, love it I work both on localhost and on live servers to develop.

My process for skins is usually as follows:

1) start with a base, either bootstrap or default parabola

2) work exclusively in the /child/ folder for template edits.
so wrapper template is usually where I start to get my header/footer and sidebars dialed in. I begin by copying wrapper to /child/ and making my edits there, I never modify any of the core template or CSS files. This ensures I have an easier time upgrading when the time comes.

The other method I have used in the past is to code the HTML template separate (or buy a prebuilt HTML template) and simply integrate that into child templates.

both methods work great and are quite easy, I guess it depends most on the level of customization needed.