Theme Development for ClassicPress - Methods?

[RoughPixels]

My assumption is that ClassicPress, being a fork of WP, will eventually transform into something that has its own core foundation. But the one thing that has been at the back-of-my-mind is methods of development for themes (even plugins). I am also assuming that how things are done for WP will eventually be different in ClassicPress?

WP has a specific method of hooks, filters, functions, etc. Will this stay the same for ClassicPress themes, or is the plan to change all this?

Ultimately, if I were to start building themes strictly for ClassicPress, what methods of development as it relates to WP will be changed now, later, or in the distant future?

Joomla was forked from Mambo, and eventually, Joomla gradually cleaned out all Mambo coding and methods from the core and they created their own. So I am guessing ClassicPress will do the same so it becomes its own CMS without leftovers from WP?

I would be interested in finding out what and how to develop ClassicPress “only” themes and what not to put into them.

[wadestriebel]

This is a good discussion to have, thank you for starting it!

For V1 we won’t be introducing any changes that could break compatibility with themes or plugins that support WordPress 4.9.x.

For more information you can read our roadmap which outlines our plans for V2 as well.

[RoughPixels]

I was thinking about all this again last night which prompted me to bring this forward about theme development (and plugins) because it’s very important to know how far to take theme development for ClassicPress.

I read the roadmap and it’s a good start…but until and during that time, it would be great to get some ideas on what to potentially expect down the road as it relates to theme (and plugin) development.

What I don’t want to do is later having to go back to previous themes and have to completely recode them.

One of the reasons why i brough this up is the possibility that I could start designing themes strictly for ClassicPress. My background includes 8 years of WP theme development, both free and premium; in addition, I have 13 years of Joomla experience as well.

This is just me doing preliminary thinking

[james]

@RoughPixels what would you like to see in a theme system/framework?

To put it another way, if you were designing a new theme system to eventually go into the core software, what would it look like?

This would start as an experimental plugin, but we are definitely open to ideas here.

So far there have been a couple of petitions to make minor, incremental improvements to the existing theme system. That’s another possibility.

[RoughPixels]

I think a good place to start is knowing what petitions are mentioned for the existing theme system. From there, knowing what the future proposal(s) are for theme development as in what will change, what is proposed, and what is definitely not going to change. Will have to do this in baby steps and to also decide if the goal is to allow WP themes to be installed (for the long-term).

[joyously]

I see it as the important thing of naming. Themes and plugins use core functions (a lot of which start with wp_) and must make sure that they don’t step on each other. If CP were to change all the function names that start with wp_, it could be a real hassle to support both.