Zikula Community

• **unknown user**
  
  

  • Rank: Registered User
  • Registered: Mar 16, 2002
  • Last visit: Oct 21, 2009
  • Posts: 38

  Posted: May 17, 2003 - 04:14 AM

  can anyone explian me what is Xanthia ?

  • 
  •  
• **unknown user**
  
  

  • Rank: Softmore
  • Registered: Mar 16, 2002
  • Last visit: Oct 21, 2009
  • Posts: 451

  Posted: May 18, 2003 - 11:25 AM

  FrOidE

  can anyone explian me what is Xanthia ?

  
  
  Xanthia is a fork of the Encompass Theme Engine currently being used for http://www.envolution.com. Xanthia was modified to work with PostNuke 723 without the need to hack core files like Encompass required.
  
  Development on Xanthia has slowed down temporarily. I would recommend waiting until the next release before using it due to performance issues. You can find Xanthia here http://sourceforge.net/projects/xanthia/
  
  I created a few themes for Xanthia which can be downloaded at http://pnapi.com
  
  I'm currently using AutoTheme Light for new themes while I wait for the next release of Xanthia. AutoTheme Light templates are very similar to Xanthia templates so it is fairly easy to convert themes between the 2 theming systems :)

  • 
  •  
• **unknown user**
  
  

  • Rank: Registered User
  • Registered: Mar 16, 2002
  • Last visit: Oct 21, 2009
  • Posts: 38

  Posted: May 18, 2003 - 10:50 PM

  I´m kind of noob in this stuff, sorry but I don´t get it very well.
  
  Xanthia is a theme engine right ? So... what does it do ? it works like a module for postnuke? or is a external program?
  
  Sorry my noobiness!

  • 
  •  
• **unknown user**
  
  

  • Rank: Helper
  • Registered: Mar 16, 2002
  • Last visit: Oct 21, 2009
  • Posts: 676

  Posted: May 19, 2003 - 12:37 AM

  I'm no expert on Xanthia myself, but basically 'theme engines' like Xanthia make it easier for people to make themes, ie the look-and-feel, of a site. Currently you havea theme system that consist of a set of PHP functions (PHP being the scripting language Postnuke is written in), and requires some knowledge of PHP. It can be restricting for a sdesigner, or anybody who doesn't understand PHP, to make or even edit a theme. I think they've made it unnecessarily tricky for people by encasing all the HTML code in PHP statement, rather than the other way around, but that's how it's done. Xanthia and AutoTheme etc seek to make it easier to undertand and make or edit themes, often in normal HTML editors, without the need to understand PHP. They also provide facility for making mor eflexible designs than the current method, be it multiple centre columns or vertical ones.
  But to do this, the system will have to translate the theme into something that can be executed and displayed. Hence the 'engine' part. I haven't read up on them, but I believe they use a Caching system, whereby all the processing is done the first time it is run, translating it into executable form, and thereafter the system uses this 'compiled' - cached - version, so as not to slow things down unnecessarily.
  Currently they're not a part of the Postnuke distribution, but the plans as I understand are to incorporate Xanthia into it for the next version, whenever that may be (Xaraya, an offshoot of Postnuke, is approaching final release of v1 fast, and has all this sorted out).
  
  Martin

  • 
  •  
• **unknown user**
  
  

  • Rank: Softmore
  • Registered: Mar 16, 2002
  • Last visit: Oct 21, 2009
  • Posts: 451

  Posted: May 24, 2003 - 11:41 AM

  That is a very accurate assesment. Caching in Xanthia is not up to speed but should be in the next release. AutoTheme Light currently renders pages faster than Xanthia. Both theming systems are almost identical in terms of template creation. Xanthia promise.s a more evolved user interface however to make block positioning and template editing easier
  
  I have seen some test results for the new version of Xanthia with caching enabled for dynamic blocks and it is a bit faster than AutoTheme and Envolution's Encompass. Caching for dynamic block content is a new step forward. It is unclear wheather that new code will be released or not anytime soon. We may need to wait until PostNuke v.80

  • 
  •  
• **unknown user**
  
  

  • Rank: Helper
  • Registered: Mar 16, 2002
  • Last visit: Oct 21, 2009
  • Posts: 676

  Posted: May 25, 2003 - 08:08 AM

  Do you have any info on when 0.80 might come around, and if Xanthia will be ready for it?
  The main concerns I have with these systems is the speed penalty. All the database access and processing already has a cost. So I don't mind putting up with a system like this if the flexibility is there too. Xanthia and AutoTheme, however, has some more advanced layout options. It just seems as if PN has stalled, buit I guess something big is brewing behind the scenes. Better they take the tiime to get it right than to frustrate the hell out of its user base with a buggy unstable release.
  
  Martin

  • 
  •  
• **unknown user**
  
  

  • Rank: Softmore
  • Registered: Mar 16, 2002
  • Last visit: Oct 21, 2009
  • Posts: 451

  Posted: May 25, 2003 - 10:04 AM

  msandersen

  Do you have any info on when 0.80 might come around, and if Xanthia will be ready for it?
  The main concerns I have with these systems is the speed penalty. All the database access and processing already has a cost. So I don't mind putting up with a system like this if the flexibility is there too. Xanthia and AutoTheme, however, has some more advanced layout options. It just seems as if PN has stalled, buit I guess something big is brewing behind the scenes. Better they take the tiime to get it right than to frustrate the hell out of its user base with a buggy unstable release.
  
  Martin

  
  
  I have no idea when PN .80 will be released. PN hasn't stalled it's just has most of it's development resting on the shoulders of a few dedicated developers and no project manager. At least it apears that way. Harry Zink seems to take very long vacations. Markwest and Xaoyu Huang are making most of the CVS commits these days to PN .80
  
  Quite frankly I'm very impressed with what has been going on behind the scenes considering all the fallout we've witnessed over the last year. PostNuke appears to be indestructable in spirit even when 90% of the original developers left the project. The 3rd party development community seems to be growing too. I have noticed a surge in module and theme production over the last few months. pnCommerce is the next big thing on the horizon.
  
  http://pnc.snowbankih.tzo.com
  
  Eventually the core development team should grow back to the head count it was at in the beginning as new 3rd party coders assist or join the core development team. The process is taking place at the public PN dev list.
  
  The places to watch for development trends are:
  
  http://news.gmane.org/thread.php?group=gmane.comp.web.postnuke.devel
  http://pnlab.markwest.me.uk
  http://dev.postnuke.com/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/PostNuke/

  • 
  •  
•  
•  

Users on-line

• 0 users

This list is based on users active over the last 60 minutes.