Template troubles.

[nixnerd]

Alright guys, I’m coming to you for suggestions.

Here is the deal: I have a client that has hired me to make several templates for him. Basically here is the deal: I do the design and front-end envelopment of each theme. He then takes all my HTML, CSS and JS and hooks it up to his custom back-end. His in-house back-end devs worry about feeding the proper content into my themes. I don’t really know anything about their back-end and it’s not really my job to know. I may have structured it differently but hey… not my system.

The way it’s been described to me is a cobbled-together system primarily written in PHP… with legacy concerns in mind. Suffice it to say, I do not have the power to change it and again, it’s not my job to. All I know is that it is NOT wordpress or any off-the-shelf CMS. Definitely custom… but I digress.

Here is the challenge I face: My client wants every theme to have that uber custom look… but he wants a lot of them developed relatively fast.

I’ve been around long enough to understand there must be a balance struck. Nonetheless, I like to make clients happy.

So, I need to kick out a bunch of custom looking themes pretty fast.

I’m kind of thinking Bootstrap on this one… but I’d be open to other suggestions.

[Alen]

His in-house back-end devs worry about feeding the proper content into my themes. I don’t really know anything about their back-end and it’s not really my job to know.

Worry about feeding the proper content? Well let them provide you with samples of that content so you can be informed. I would imagine they need to give you something, you can’t be designing in the dark.

The way it’s been described to me is a cobbled-together system primarily written in PHP

It’s not part of your scope so ignore it. You’re only designing the feel. Let them worry about how to bring the content into proper places from their Db.

My client wants every theme to have that uber custom look… but he wants a lot of them developed relatively fast.

I also want a place in Dubai with nice ocean view, by next week. What you’ll think that will cost?

I’m kind of thinking Bootstrap on this one

Take a step back and don’t start thinking about the technical issues, just yet. Get as much info as possible about the problem they’re trying to solve. Then do some research, there will most likely be design review of some sort, so don’t put the cart before the horse.

-Alen

[shaneisme]

I don’t get the negativity toward using Bootstrap or Foundation, et al.

In the hands of amateurs they will all “look the same” because all the buttons and whatnot are so “Bootstrappy”. Don’t be an amateur! Customize it where it counts.

[nixnerd]

@alenabdula

Thanks for the input. I love that infographic by the way.

I am well aware of the elements that need to be there as I’ve already made one TOTALLY custom theme. However, this isn’t sustainable. 100% custom takes forever.

I know what all needs to be there. An photo container here, an h2 there, a paragraph here, this links to that… blah blah blah. But… their system involves a third party in this whole equation. Basically, this third party can use their system, click a bunch of buttons and it spits out a website… my website. I don’t know anything about the particulars, because I’ve never even seen the code. But… it doesn’t matter, I know what content needs to be there.

@shaneisme I’m not against Bootstrap or Foundation at all. I’m just wondering what the right tool for the job would be. Maybe instead of creating custom themes, I can create a custom, generic structure that I can make many themes from. I don’t know.

Additional thoughts?

[shaneisme]

I personally have my own that I cobbled together from my favorite pieces of both Foundation and Bootstrap, then added my own stuff. Having that as my baseline saves so much effort, and I know exactly what the bones of my markup will be when looking at any comps, etc.

[nixnerd]

That’s kind of what I’m thinking I might do. I’ve written some badass mixins lately and if I combine that with some smart and generic markup, along with some fairly customizable JS, I think I might be in business and poised to crank out a ton of these things.

[Alen]

I am well aware of the elements that need to be there as I’ve already made one TOTALLY custom theme.

For the same client?

However, this isn’t sustainable.

What do you mean? As a business model? Sustainable from time investment perspective? Turnover time?

Custom things require more time, so charge for it. And set proper expectations.

I’ve never even seen the code. But… it doesn’t matter, I know what content needs to be there.

Great. Just stay focus on your part and stay within scope. You don’t need to solve all their problems, just the ones they paid you to fix… :)

[nixnerd]

What do you mean? As a business model? Sustainable from time investment perspective? Turnover time?

Custom things require more time, so charge for it. And set proper expectations.

Totally get it. However, it seems as though my client is more concerned with speed at this point and not AS concerned with the uber custom look and feel.

So, I’m trying to take my proverbial scale and shift a few of the weights to the speed side and away from the custom aesthetics side. But, I’m trying to find the most efficient way to do this.

[Alen]

My client wants every theme to have that uber custom look… but he wants a lot of them developed relatively fast

If the final product will be “one click, boom!” you can up sell them on really trying to invest more time and carefully developing system that is modular, robust, extensible and can scale. Maybe using something like inuit could help. It would also help with maintaining the code base going forward.

[nixnerd]

you can up sell them on really trying to invest more time and carefully developing system that is modular, robust, extensible and can scale. Maybe using something like inuit could help.

That’s essentially what I’ve done. I had a little chat with the client and expressed a need to take a MUCH… MUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCH more modular and streamlined approach. Intuit looks seriously interesting dude. Have you used it? What do you think? Looks like it could be seriously legit.

@Josh

There’s not really a set time frame per se. It’s a little complicated and I’m totally at liberty to share everything, due to a non-disclosure agreement. Buuuut, I’ll say this, I’m trying to do things as fast as possible if that helps. I’d like to crank out relatively custom themes in a matter of weeks. That should be TOO hard, as long as I have a TON of reusable code. The reason we don’t from the first theme is that they project wasn’t super well-defined to begin with and we shifted directions halfway through… so there was a lot of stop gaps and temporary fixes.

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