Kpairs Theme Schema

[todd rme]

On Wed, Sep 7, 2011 at
9:46 PM, Marco Calignano <marco.calignano at web.de> wrote:
>
>
> On 09/07/2011 12:33 PM, todd rme wrote:
>>
>> On Wed, Sep 7, 2011 at 12:24 PM, Marco Calignano<marco.calignano at web.de>
>>  wrote:
>>>
>>> On 09/07/2011 10:05 AM, todd rme wrote:
>>>>
>>>> On Tue, Sep 6, 2011 at 8:25 PM, Marco Calignano<marco.calignano at web.de>
>>>>  wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> I find the Idea with the category good and i think we should include
>>>>> it.
>>>>> I would like also to close this discussion so we could start developing
>>>>> the theme support, and you can start create wonderful themes ;).
>>>>> If someone has any other suggestion, feel free to tell us
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks
>>>>>
>>>>> Marco
>>>>
>>>> Is there not going to be a discussion on the format of the theme first?
>>>
>>> What do you mean?
>>> Marco
>>
>> I mean, shouldn't we work out the details of the theme file format
>> before we start trying to implement it?
>
> Do you have something more to add or to specify about the file format?
> Marco

First, has a consensus been reached on whether a new file format or an
extension to the existing kvtml would be used?  The conversation seems
to have gotten cut short.

As for my own ideas, there are a few things:

Regarding the category idea, we need to figure out how pref and
category will interact, or if pref is even necessary or desirable when
categories are available.  My own opinion is that reomving pref
entirely is a better solution since it will require theme developers
to come up with a descriptive name.

If you keep pref, then we need to figure out what the name will be for
those items.  For example, give this case:

<image src='lion.svg' pref='1'/>
<image src='lion_photo.jpg' pref='2'/>
<image src='baby_lion.svg' category='babies' pref='1'/>
<image src='baby_lion_photo.jpg' category='babies' pref='2'/>

How would the names be handled?

Possibilities include:

1: Zoo 1, Zoo 2, Zoo Babies 1, Zoo Babies 2
2: Zoo, Zoo 1, Zoo Babies, Zoo Babies 1
3: Zoo, Zoo 2, Zoo Babies, Zoo Babies 2
4: Zoo A, Zoo B, Zoo Babies A, Zoo Babies B
5: Zoo, Zoo A, Zoo Babies, Zoo Babies A
6: Zoo, Zoo B, Zoo Babies, Zoo Babies B

Is the Pref='1' tag necessary, or could the entry without the tag be
assumed to have priority?  Would the tag be required or would the
program just pick one of the possibilities at random if it isn't
there?  Is there a reason that the number has to be a string and not
just a number?

There are some other elements that I think theme developers might want
(not all of these are necessarily desirable, they are just
possibilities):

1. Game board background
2. Highlight color or even an svg (to show which card is selected)
3. Text for the window title bar (defaults to the theme title if not specified)
4. An explicit version number
5. A color or SVG to go behind transparent parts of images
6. Fonts (probably both global and per-element)
7. A sound for turning the card over
8. There could probably be multiple possible animations for turning
the card over, and the theme could specify one (like flip horizontal,
flip vertical, crossfade, etc)

Can the theme be set to use icons from the current icon theme in
places where pictures are normally used?

When a sound card is clicked, will it flip over or just play the
sound?  If the former, then the theme needs to be able to specify the
image for this.  If not, then there needs to be some animation or
other effect, perhaps also with options the theme could pick from.

Shouldn't we figure out how to do translations before we finalize the
format?  These might require more fundamental changes to the format.

Regarding files, we have discussed how the xml file will be formatted,
but presumably there will need to be a package that contains the
images, sounds, and/or videos to go along with it.  How will these
files be formatted?  I assume they will be tarballs, but she would
come up with a new extension name for them?  What compressed
containers will be supported?

-Todd