As you all know, I`ll be developing a Theme Scratchpad for WordPress thanks to Google Summer of Code 2009. Just to let you guys know, how the coding is coming along, I have posted an update about the Project Progress.

Here is my update :

Introduction

I and my mentor (Mr. Andrew Ozz) were trying to define our project scope. We had some issues since the project idea is very vast and we had to properly define who will be using our system and how it should work. Just so for those who don`t know what this is, we are working on “Theme Scratchpad” which is an interactive UI to build themes for WordPress, targeted mostly towards people who are new to WordPress and wanna try their hand at designing their own individual themes, but It can be used by every type of user.

After a some heavy research, we planned to keep the system as simple as possible and offer immense flexibility to the User. Of course this is not so simple as it sounds. There are lot of problems which needs to be addressed but primarily, the functionality as to how it is going to work is being sorted out.

Working

We initally decided to use “YUI” framework to power our builder but due to compatibility reasons and the lack of flexibility. Check the here. Due to this, we decided to build a custom YUI Grid Builder Theme ScratchPad Builder which will be powered by jQuery. I have already begun work and will be soon posting an online demo of the builder as it progresses.

For now,

1. User can select the size of the template page i.e (100%, 974px,750px)
2. User can modify sidebar position and size (i.e left or right + size of sidebar)
3. User can add additional columns to content.

Although, code cannot be still ported to WordPress theme format. But the builder helps to create a skeleton of the Theme and then it will be converted to Wordpess Theme Format.

Currently YUI Grids CSS is being used to define the layout for the themes and for the cosmetic looks jQueryUI CSS Framework will be used.

Issues

1. The primary issue is, porting the theme to WordPress theme format, which I am wondering as to how to go about.
2. How much customization to offer ? This is very important as every User has different ideas and different needs.

Planned for the Coming Week

1. Try to make a proper feature list.
2. Try to use a better CSS Framework for cosmetics if possible.
3. Look for Alternatives on how to export to WordPress Theme Format.