[buddypress-trac] [BuddyPress Trac] #6556: BP Core Frontend Templates Refactoring

[buddypress-trac]

#6556: BP Core Frontend Templates Refactoring
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 Reporter:  hnla                         |       Owner:
     Type:  enhancement                  |      Status:  new
 Priority:  normal                       |   Milestone:  Awaiting Review
Component:  Appearance - Template Parts  |     Version:
 Severity:  normal                       |  Resolution:
 Keywords:  dev-feedback                 |
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Comment (by boonebgorges):

 > Styling or UI/UX is really a secondary phase, one I would love to see
 tackled but one that is not mutually inclusive to the first process

 But this is what I want to avoid, if possible. Imagine the following:
 a. We currently support bp-legacy.
 b. In BP 2.5, we introduce the bp-refactored template pack, along the
 lines of what you're suggesting in this ticket.
 c. In BP 2.7, we introduce the bp-totally-new template pack, with revamped
 UX.

 A couple of things follow from this:
 - By BP 2.7, the BP team is supporting at least three sets of template
 packs.
 - Anyone who upgrades from bp-legacy to bp-refactored, and customizes
 their site based on these templates, will be unable to upgrade to bp-
 totally-new without redoing all their customizations. Many tears ensue.
 - Anyone who installs BP 2.5 or 2.6 using bp-refactored and customizes
 those templates will be unable to upgrade to bp-totally-new.

 If it's possible for us to avoid this scenario and still accomplish our
 admirable goals of refactoring and redesign, I would strongly prefer to do
 so.

 I know that it'd make your task easier to have carte blanche in
 refactoring, with zero concern for backward compatibility. But it may be
 worth considering which of your desiderata can be achieved without
 compatibility breaks, and which cannot:

 * Moving markup generation from functions into templates (a job that is
 going to be extremely unpleasant, by the way) probably *can* be done
 without breaking backward compatibility.
 * Breaking up our templates into smaller parts probably *can* mostly be
 done without breaking backward compatibility.
 * Changing selectors and the structure of markup mostly *cannot* be done
 without breaking compatibility.
 * Improving JS is a huge job that touches many things, but much of it
 (such as the cookie refactoring) definitely *can* be done without breaking
 compatibility.

 IMHO, the guiding principle should be: If it can be done in bp-legacy, it
 should be done in bp-legacy. If it cannot be done in bp-legacy, it should
 be done as part of a full rebuild that includes a redesign.

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Ticket URL: <https://buddypress.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/6556#comment:9>
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