Expect updates to this topic frequently. Some questions/clarifications may be deleted as they're incorporated into this top-level post until we get to the actual Contest start date. This isn't an attempt at censorship or co-opting ideas, rather a way to keep this thread in particular tight and focused. Sorry if it frustrates you, as that is definitely not the intention, but it's how this thread will be moderated for the next few days.
We seriously want to nail an incredibly usable and clean
default theme for 2.3 themes for 2.3. To do this, we’re going to need great design and pattern libraries to reset the standards for users of the Manager. I’d personally love to see several key areas focused on: custom dashboards on login, content creation/editing, the system settings, and a media manager. Cleaning up the installation experience would be a win, too. The media manager is admittedly up in the air for initial release, as we want to do it right, but it is a very big priority overall.
This week, MODX community member Peter Knight (EdenWeb) posted his
interpretation for the design of the new MODX Revolution 2.3 Manager UI and got some traction on implementation. He was building from some of the other work people have done in the current dev branch of 2.3, which is now
available as a preview. Peter’s work was preceded months ago by Phil Steer, who likewise did an
awesome re-imagination of the Manager, and the team at
Sterc posted pixels, too.
So as outlined in today's blog post, let the games being. More details coming soon, and likely appended to this post as they're available.
Updates/rules/guildelines follow … check back regularly:
Judging
The MODX team will have the final call on the winners. It'll be based on usability, quality and attention to detail, great typographic chops, size of the delivered product, the current lunar phase,
degree of mobile-responsiveness in an admittedly constraining ExtJS 1.3.x framework (though granted if you pull anything sensible off you're a supernatural genius from another planet), and size of the overall final JS and CSS. We'll bring in people from the outside to help judge, but let's be honest, it's purely up to our discretion and arbitrary. We've worked for nine years at this so we think we've earned the right to make the final call, and we do promise to not play long-term-insider favoritism. Clean up the Sass a ton, cut a ton of cruft out (there's lots that can be trimmed!), and make it sexy!
(Gah! Tripped up by my own bad words filter: s e x y)
Timeline
2-3 weeks from go. Tops. Be crafty and get a head start now, because "go" is coming really soon.
Prizes
We want to encourage people to collaborate and form ad hoc teams, so prizes will be awarded on an "up to" basis. If there's an ad hoc group consisting designer, a developer and a UXer on board, that's up to 3 (our max). If it's a company that employs all three people (I'm looking at you, Sterc
), you get 1. If cash winds up being involved, it'll be split between the 1-to-3 winners equally. Hardware? Flip a coin.
Your theme may even wind up or inspire the default 2.3 theme.
How
You have to be able to work with Sass. JP and Jay will document how it's set up for MODX Manager themes in the immediate future, and JP will be available in this thread to coach you through it and help you get started. If I can make it work, trust me, you can!
Lots more blanks to fill in here …
UPDATE: It's your theme. You don't have to use Sass unless you are shooting for your theme to become the default.
What
You'll be responsible for providing a theme directory we can pop into our own local installs and experience right then and there. If it requires updates to the Manager outside of the theme directory, that's really ambitious and we're totally up for that, but it has to be broadly compatible with relative modern browsers down to IE9. They'd also need to be approved by our Lead Architect, like any other pull request.
Legal
We're probably breaking all sorts of guidelines for running a "contest" like this, so things are subject to change, and it's not actually a sweepstakes/contest/whatever it is that might get us in trouble. You also might one day find an unmarked envelope/box/container/stray cat and wonder where the hell it came from and how it got there. Wasn't us. You might also be liable for taxes for the cool things contained inside said previous container, but we're not tax advisors, so consult yours. Besides, we have no idea what you're talking about. Mileage may vary. Actual prizes delivered may be different from those shown. Etc.
more updates and changes subject to come, until this line goes away
[ed. note: dinocorn last edited this post 10 years, 2 months ago.]