0 mods awaiting approval

[SleePy]

Well this is a very unusual event to occur.

     Just today we where able to get all the modifications on our mod site either approved or rejected (to bad about those customizations). The Theme site seems to be doing very good as well thanks to some work of a few team members to get that list under control. This will not last long as I am sure another customizer is coding is latest little hack.
     Just wanted to stop in and say thanks for those who took their time to get their own customizations to follow our modification and themes guidelines. Folllowing these guidelines is a major help.
     Those who follow the guidelines usually mean that the code is clean and safe, follows standards (mainly for themes though), installs and works ok. This makes it easier for us as we just have to do our checks and approve the customizations. If this isn't the case we have to use our tools to send out personal messages to the customization author requesting the issues be fixed up before we approve it.

     Now as a disappointment to us and to theme authors whos themes need to wait to be approved, is that most of the themes we see issues with is copyrighted images. We won't approve anything if we know it is copyright protected and you don't have permissions to redistribute the content. It is a plain and simple factor, so please try to remember when creating your themes to ensure you created the image or that you have permission of this.
     Another issue I see with themes and modifications is hard coded text. We require all customizations to use language strings for any text output. This means if you want to say FORUM you either need to create a theme that uses the single word "home" you would either need to create one (more details on this in a bit) or use one already in SMF (For SMF 1.1 "home" is $txt[103]; For SMF 2.0 it is $txt['home']).
     The neat things some theme authors have been doing when they need these customized language strings is using the template_int function in the index.template.php to call their own language file (Usually ThemeStrings) with the LoadLanguage Function. Making this a simple process for each theme to just include that file in their languages folder and making modifications work easier across themes.
     A final major issue I see themes having is invalid XHTML. Please make sure when creating your themes that the XHTML is valid if you are leaving the link tot he xhtml site. That link does a referrer check then runs its parser on that page and returns the results of the page. If it is not xhtml valid the theme approvers will have to send a pm requesting this be fixed.
     Now as for customizations I can't say of any neat things, but I have noticed authors have been attempting to make as few theme edits as possible. This greatly benefits all users to ensure when they install the modification it works across all themes. Though this isn't the case of all modifications and this is why on the Docs site we have a document for the Manual Installation of Mods to help all of the regular users and modification authors out as a point of reference. Daniel15 has created a very helpful tool called Package Parser which is very helpful. The tool simply takes a mod package (boardmod modifications may not work) and gives the user a GUI (Graphical User Interface) output and helps even the newest of users to install a modification to a theme. I run a copy of Dan's Package Parser at my own website, as his seems to go down from time to time

This completes my big thanks to everyone for their help by following guidelines and tools others have made to give a hand to others. It really does help

[karlbenson]

0 mods awaiting approval....for now.



Btw, I spotted in Huws signature a great link
http://huw.org.uk/smfstrings
If you want to see all of smf strings which you can use.

[HoTmetal]

Just wait until the bulk of the team is in the air...

* rickC runs*

[Gary]

Awesome. Awesome to the max!

Though for the next week or so, Theme approvals may slow down due to three out of four of the people who do the theme approvals are going to the MOTM.

[christicehurst]

0 mods awaiting approval....for now.



Btw, I spotted in Huws signature a great link
http://huw.org.uk/smfstrings
If you want to see all of smf strings which you can use.

Until KarlBenson comes tapping on the door again!

[karlbenson]

nah, I've only got 1 or 2 new mods in progress and neither of them are anywhere near finished.

The rest are bug fixes and updates.

[Rumbaar]

Fantastic to read this.  Certainly a great sign of the great team we have here.

[karlbenson]

Until KarlBenson comes tapping on the door again!

I know I said I wouldn't. Be making new mods is fun. http://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?mod=1051

[Gary]

Code Select Expand

There are currently 5 mods waiting for approval

Yeah, that lasted long.

[christicehurst]

I knew it

[Croco]

so what will be the decision for 1050 ?