[wp-hackers] post format types

[Brian Layman]

On 1/6/2011 1:45 PM, Philip M. Hofer (Frumph) wrote:
>> No, you can not create custom Post Formats. Giving theme the ability
>> to make their own post formats would defeat the whole purpose of post
>> formats.
>
> I disagree, if the fallback of post_format_exists brought it to 
> standard or empty on non-designed themes with it.  The first thought I 
> had when I heard about this was "cool, I can have each author have 
> their own "post look"" that they can set.  I'm just a theme designer 
> that has to work within the 'confines' of code.  This implementation 
> is very confining.  Not that i'm saying it's bad, it's not bad it's 
> just not implemented in a way that I thought it would be.
>
I'm with Frumph on this one...

You've got an incorrect assumption here:
>> Note that any theme could have rolled their own post-formats with a
>> custom taxonomy at any time prior to core post-format support. None
>> did. Why? Because without a standard set to choose from, nobody would
>> have been compatible with anybody else. Compatibility amongst themes
>> is the reason for post-formats, and the reason you don't want to have
>> custom ones. 
You are thinking of this only from the perspective of general use themes.

You've no way of knowing how many themes use this behavior, because the 
power of this feature is often used by the client who hires a consultant 
to create custom functionality specific to their sites.  "Custom Post 
Formats" have been hacked into sites for years - at least on sites I've 
helped created.  One of the ways I've implemented this for clients is by 
requiring them to choose from the "Custom Field" dropdown.  As long a 
desired postmetadata exists, the theme will reveal/hide different areas 
or change the general formatting of the post upon display.  That screams 
"Custom Post Format" to me and avoids the "what is a custom field?" and 
"What do I put in the value box?" questions.

The clients that pay me to develop a theme from scratch or to convert an 
existing site don't care that their theme isn't going to work with a 
competitor's site. Nor do they care that 2010 will remove that 
behavior.  They have unique functionality that expresses their 
creativity and their own business vision.  Custom post formats just seem 
to make sense.

Brian.