Re: [Phpwebsite-developers] Directory structure for themes and templates

[Matthew M. <ma...@tu...>]

> Then along comes an upgrade. How do I load the
> updated code without overwriting theme and template modules distributed
> accross the system - thereby frying the website?

As Eloi stated, you would just change your theme. The templates are fairly
standard. If anything, we would just be adding new tags to the defaults.
Then your would place the defaults in your theme's templates as well.

In many cases, you won't need a copy of the template in your theme
directory. Many admin menus and such are fine as is. But if you want to
improve upon an existing display template for your theme, the option is
there. However, any change in templates should not fry your system.

What we as developers need to watch out for is when we completely change
the functionality of a particular template. For example, let's say we have
a template named "myHomies.tpl" that lists a bunch of users. We should not
alter the template structure (say by spliting the display into 3 new
templates) and then to continue using that file name in the process.
myHomies.tpl may be set in someone's theme, which we have no control over.
If we totally revamp the templates, we should exclude that file name so
that it is not picked up during processing of the new structure.

Hope that helps. Please respond if you have more concerns.

Matt



Matthew McNaney
Internet Systems Architect
Electronic Student Services
Appalachian State University
Phone: 828-262-6493
phpwebsite.appstate.edu
ess.appstate.edu