New Default WordPress Theme?

For one of the 2010 WordPress Themes – I assume there will be at least two 2010 themes 🙂

– at least one theme is HTML4.1/XHTML 1.x valid

– WordPress theme framework ala CSS Zen Garden with all the WP 3.0 PHP tags goodness and CSS hooks only, keeping it clean and simple but not bare naked 🙂
This theme can be used as a parent theme. Documentation on this theme can be built in Codex with simple diagrams/illustrations to specific parts of a special Page/Post template.

– Bells and whistles like preferred grid frameworks, javascripts, theme option pages, etc. should be add-ons in child themes or themes built upon the WordPress framework theme. Tutorials on these add-ons can be added in Codex either as full explanations or links to sites which already have such tutorials.

And YES, whatever is done needs to have documentation. Simple stuff for the first time user and more in depth for people writing themes or wanting to learn to write themes. The more complex stuff could be placed in the codex, but adding a readme file (or two) to the appearance section would be helpful even if it mostly had linksto codex sections.

I’m personally hooked on a three column format. Left column for blog roll. center wide column for content/blog. Right column for ads and such. Gave up on Kubric and finally settled on F2. A simple template that utilizes side columns that can be used or not used would make me a happy old man.

As you’ve said, it’ll be 5 years before the theme will be refreshed and that means probably another 5 years before it will be refreshed again. Given that, this needs to be given a tremendous thought (as you are doing.)

GIVE THE RIGHT STARTING POINT
Some here have said that many people modify the default theme so that would mean that the default theme should:

1. Establish best practices for a WordPress theme
2. Be very well documented in the code
3. Incorporate most of the features supported by WordPress

BEST PRACTICES
So what are best practices for a theme? That should be a new discussion but I’ll throw out my two cents:

1. Establish a base set of theme settings
2. Establish a base set of hooks that new themes could emulate
3. Use a “custom” directory where custom CSS and custom theme functions would always go
4. Allow explicit setting of “Blog”, “CMS”, or “CMS+Blog” thus giving coders a setting they can inspect within plugins (maybe this should be in core?)

THEME SETTINGS
Here are the theme settings, in relative order of importance that I think the user should be able to make in the admin console so this be become defacto-standard (my list is long, I’m sure others will want to shorten it):

1. Configure font families and font sizes for each area (provide list of standard fonts)
2. Configure # columns (1, 2 or 3)
3. Configure column layout (content, content+1 right sidebar, content+2 right sidebars, 1 left sidebar + content, 2 left sidebars + content or 1 left sidebar + content + 1 right sidebar.)
4. Allow selection of different color schemes
5. Allow upload of Header Logo and configure alignment
6. Configure Title Tags
7. Set Page Meta Data including Home Page
8. Header and Footer Scripts
9. Set a Syndication Feed
10. Configure post thumbnails (horizontal and vertical alignment)
11. Configure comments (avatars, disable throughout site,
12. Configure display of post attributes (published on, author, comments, etc.)
13. Configure archive pages format (show titles,excerpts or posts)
14. Configure NoIndex on Archive Pages
15. Disable Custom Stylesheets

THEME HOOKS
This is pretty straightforward. Establish some theme hooks but make sure that applying them to a theme is super easy (i.e. little or no “if” statements or “for” loops.) This set
of theme hooks would be analogous to what many programmers know of as an “interface.” Here’s a hypothetical list of hooks (the actual ones can be hashed out by a task force):

1. theme_header()
2. theme_menu($orientation=’horizontal’)
3. theme_title()
4. theme_body()
5. theme_post()
6. theme_sidebar($sidebar_num=1)
7. theme_footer()

I’m not proposing a full-on framework, just the most basic level. If this came be “standardized” then it will make updating WordPress and themes much easier (and I know getting people to update to the latest version is a WordPress community goal.)

And to figure out which hooks to incorporate into this base level I would recommend forming a task force of all the people currently building theme frameworks and any other professional themers that want to be involved.

FEATURES
This should be a long list but I’ll just mention a few things that come to mind.

1. Multiple page templates for common page types
2. Incorporate post images
3. Drop down menuing system (mega menus preferred)
4. Support for both Blogging and CMS (maybe it should be two themes?)
5. Author pages
6. Use a CSS Reset
7. Child Theme Support
8. Widget Support in other than Sidebars

A closing thought: I think a themes should ideally be about look and feel and less about features so that it should be as easy for the designer to create a theme as possible (this is one thing WordPress does so much better than Drupal.) Still this means that moving as many theme “features” into core so that the best designers who are not PHP developers can create beautiful theme that users can then use without having to trade off functionality.

Here’s my list:

• 960 Grid System with simple baseline grid
• Simple layout theme options page (ability to add/move/delete/size columns and resize main content area)
• Simple color theme options page (change colors of titles, body text, backgrounds, add/remove borders, etc.)
• Simple typography theme options page (change typography of everything in the theme)
• Focus should be on making this a lightweight parent theme that can be extended greatly using child themes or used on its own by beginners
• Add a few child themes that serve specific purposes and offer unique page templates accordingly. Maybe a CMS, video blog, photo gallery, some of the more popular niche-based styles.
• Add helpful code comments.

I am all about keeping the theme simple but adding a lot of customization of basic layout, color, and typography.

All of the people pumping eighteen sidebars, 9 on each side, you are out to lunch. One sidebar. Read, one sidebar.

I’m sick of blogs that clearly suffer from widget overuse. I don’t need to see the calendar. Nor the time. Nor your tweets. Nor how much spam you blocked. Nor the myriad of other html you feel like regurgitating. I don’t spend hours perusing blogs, memorizing every detail. Frankly, we all like to think we’re that important, but we’re not. And the rise of blogs daily sees quality articles dwindling at an alarming rate.

Keep it clean. Restrict the urge to flood a page without anything remotely irrelevant. I’d like to see the focus back on the actual journalism. While people are no doubt going to abuse the system, or just don’t have anything decent to say, I’d rather give them less power than more.

I’m all for aesthetics, but I’d hate to see a blank slate (which a lot of people misattribute as usable and fresh) or some ridiculous theme that has more sidebars and widgets than actual, real content.

I am not sure about HTML 5 Doctype. I think it is too early to implement this Doctype when the specifications of HTML 5 are not finalized yet. I’m not mentioning the compatibility issues.

WordPress is big, and probably the most widely used web platform ever. So a decision like changing the Doctype to HTML 5 should be considered so seriously. I would say we all need to wait first until the specification is completed, widely tested, widely implemented to browsers (and they are used by more than 75% of Internet users).

As per the theme coding, I believe it should be influenced by the Thesis theme. I know the theme makers are making their money out of this theme, but I believe if it was asked to them to be the part of the next WordPress default theme development, I think (and want to believe) they will contribute to it at their best.

The other thing is asking Matt Cutts for a contribution. If the new default theme becomes a framework to future themes (I believe it should for consistency purposes by the way), then Google would be willing to have their hands on this project. At the end of the day, they care about taxonomy and if they know the new framework inside-out, then it will be much easier for them to classify the websites built by the new WordPress Default Theme Framework.