[wp-testers] post-format 'standard'?

[Andrew Nacin]

On Thu, Jan 6, 2011 at 5:04 PM, Philip M. Hofer (Frumph)
<philip at frumph.net>wrote:

> While reading this, i'm thinking to continually question why to limit the
> post formats to those distinct few.
>
> The main defense is to be compatible with various themes, however Nacin
> points out a tag/converter that supports post formats that can move one post
> format to another.
>
> Is there really something i'm missing?  Is it a core code deficiency that
> is not allowing non-exclusive post formats?
>
> If someone is moving from one theme to another and the other theme doesn't
> support x format, say aside, it's going to fall back to normal posts
> anyways.   If they make it support the post format, the can do it with
> whatever custom post format was made as well.
>
> What am I missing here that is causing the limitation to only that set?


The limitation is for standardization and portability. It's the whole point
of the feature. If you want custom post formats, then you should use your
own taxonomy. Post formats are nothing more than a custom taxonomy with a
custom meta box with some extra few bits to ensure standardization and
portability.

The point of adding formats to the tag/category converter is that some
themes or users previously leveraged categories as these standard formats.
For example, Twenty Ten had the 'gallery' and 'asides' categories, which can
now be converted to the 'gallery' and 'aside' post format. It's nothing more
than that. You can't just turn any term into a format -- it needs to be one
of the defined ones.

Even if a theme doesn't support X format, the context is not lost. The post
is still identified as an aside. Generally speaking those using tumblog-like
themes are going to check which formats the theme support, and generally
speaking the authors of tumblelog themes are going to ensure that as many as
possible are supported, as appropriate.

Nacin