Wish: full jQuery UI theme for Elgg 1.8

Currently there is a partial theme for the datepicker only. It would be fantastic to have a full jQuery UI theme compatible with the core UI plugins (tabs, accordion, progressbar etc.) that is compatible with the default Elgg 1.8 theme and properly supports the jQuery UI widget CSS system.

Has anyone developed one of these or is planning to?

  • Kevin,

    I've encountered numerous challenges with trying to implement this in 1.7. hypeFramework does some of this already, and I will hopefully be able to port what's out there plus new UI features into 1.8. In discussion with someone from the core team, I was told that they are moving away from jQuery UI - still not sure why or whether it is a wise decision.

  • Well, so far as I can see, Elgg cannot be "moving away from jQuery UI" as it has not moved toward it yet!

    I realise that supporting jQuery generally is not the same thing as supporting jQuery UI.

    However, jQuery UI is the *official* UI library for jQuery (link on the jQuery homepage navigation) and I think that more and more web designers are taking support for it as a given.

    I'm currently creating a JavaScript rich form system for a client in Elgg 1.8 and Elgg's current lack of support for jQuery UI is disappointing.

    I realise that the core developers have enough on their plate so I was hoping that someone else was already taking a look at this.

  • We decided early on in the 1.8 redesign not to tie Elgg theming to jQuery-UI themes because we preferred an OOCSS approach. We also use only a few jQuery widgets, so their CSS can be included when required. I'll admit I don't have extensive experience working in jQuery-UI, but it would be a simple enough process to implement support for it as plugins by overriding specific views.

  • Hi Brett,

    I had understood OOCSS as more of a philosophy rather than a specific library. Are there UI plugins for OOCSS? Googling OOCSS returns very little unfortunately.

    A few of the references that do turn up give jQuery UI as an example of an OOCSS-influenced library so I find the either/or implication in your comment a bit confusing.

  • Dhrup,

    Yes I've seen those.

    Although the directories are called "plugins" in fact all they contain is CSS and a few small examples.

    In my view a plugin needs to actually do something (i.e. needs to contain JS).

    Without that the (small amount) of CSS in those directories is just pie in the sky.

  • We are using a pattern orientated approach to CSS inspired by the OOCSS framework. We borrowed some of the implementation from that framework (padding/margin primitives, grid, modules, and our image block). I think using jQuery UI and OOCSS are certainly compatible.

    There have been no discussions among the core developers about moving away from using jQuery UI. Our widget implementation is completely dependent on it. We are also including the date picker and autocomplete widgets. I'm sure there are some other dependencies that I'm not thinking of.

    The problems that I see in making the default theme dependant on a jQuery UI theme are

    1. creating new themes will require first creating a new jQuery theme (or finding one that is close enough to what you are building)

    2. jQuery themes are not small so you're adding a siginificant amount of overhead even if you are justing using a few widgets.

    It would be interesting to create a theme that is tied to a jQuery UI theme as an example that others can extend.

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