Conservative theme framework for a school needed. Sandbox, Thematic, Carrington?

  • HI AND THANK YOU!

    I am asking for your help selecting a theme framework for greatest stability in launching a big website for a school of Clinical Western Herbalism with 100 students and with a large academic alumni and professional network. The school is expanding with a new building and a big commitment to website plans to bring the operation online. The theme framework needs to be optimum for CMS for my stage one. Stage two(near future) will implement bbPress, MU and buddypress.

    SANDBOX
    I would have selected “Sandbox” but support and upgrading with WP in the future appears to me to be in question. Or, am I wrong? Are Sandbox support/upgrades very strong in the WP/open source community for years to come? Is there a “better” theme framework successor to Sandbox today? Sandbox author Scott Wallick recommended thematic and carrington as sandbox successors on the WordPress Weekly podcast. But, it was not apparent if he considers the sandbox semi-retired

    CONSERVATIVE CUTTING EDGE (WITH A SMALLER SURGICAL INCISION)
    I want to develop this site’s design and functionality conservatively for years of well organized web development and maximum ease of graceful upgrading with WP – sticking to well-established well-supported practices. I do not know php but can get through rigerous directions, work with some code and learn.

    FUNCTIONALITY NEEDED
    Stage 1. CMS, Social, web standards aiming at web3.0, microformats, openID, etc.
    Stage 2. multimedia, bbPress, MU and Buddypress or it’s plugins
    CSS needs to be reasonably readable and php has to be some how comprehensible to a non-php programmer. The Sandbox standard is high on this. The documentation for Sandbox is coherent to me. I need maximum potential for adding CMS plugins/functionality.

    LAYOUT NEEDED
    For now, I want a blank canvas with great typographic basis. Over time, I plan to gradually develop design. My layout goals are simple – using either a child theme or whatever. My layout plan is very close to the look of https://en.wikipedia.org/ in most ways including: 2 col, left static sidebar to the top of the viewport, fluid main body column with some navigation and links above, floating boxes and pictures left and right in the body of the large column. Sandbox is very close to wkikipedia as a design obviously.

    THANKS!

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

  • I’ll just throw one more framework in the mix if you don’t mind: Hybrid.
    https://themehybrid.com/themes/hybrid

    Much of its contextual classes code came from Sandbox.

    Thread Starter hari-seldon

    (@hari-seldon)

    Apologizing. To be accurate, your theme framework “theme hybrid” or “hybrid” was mentioned also among top 3-4 but the conversation was truncated moving on to another topic unfortunately. Isn’t WordPress Weekly late for a program about you? I just listened to podcast mentioning you from 12 months ago. Are you part of any discussions online that compare theme frameworks?

    Your project M theme club was mentioned and sounds like it might address the community issues I am concerned about. And where for art Sandbox community support and development?

    Can you compare Hybrid to Sandbox in relation to my primary concerns explained above under the headings FUNCTIONALITY… and LAYOUT… We all want to learn more about your framework – and wordpress through understanding and the well formed web standards html and typography of Sandbox.

    Isn’t WordPress Weekly late for a program about you?

    Yeah, the last time I was up for an interview, my sister was visiting me in Korea, so I was unable to do it.

    Are you part of any discussions online that compare theme frameworks?

    If there’s a discussion about theme frameworks, I’m likely in on it.

    And where for art Sandbox community support and development?

    As far as I know, Sandbox is pretty much dead. It’s still a great theme, but I don’t think it’s being developed further. But, I could be completely wrong about this.

    Can you compare Hybrid to Sandbox in relation to my primary concerns explained above under the headings FUNCTIONALITY… and LAYOUT…

    What made Sandbox so great and ahead of its time was its dynamic (contextual) class system. Basically, you get a <body>, post, and comment class depending on the page you’re viewing, the post metadata, and comment metadata. This works well when you want to style things a certain way, which made it a good starting point for designers.

    Hybrid and other theme frameworks (like Thematic and WP Framework) all have roots beginning with Sandbox’s dynamic classes. But, the themes go well beyond that in terms of offering a more robust hook system that extends the capabilities of themes. So, Hybrid is Sandbox but with more features.

    You are welcome to read my thoughts on why I created Hybrid here:
    https://justintadlock.com/archives/2008/12/24/why-i-created-a-wordpress-theme-framework

    I go into a lot more detail of the process and the goals of the theme.

    Also, here is a comparison of Hybrid, Thematic, and Carrington that might be worth checking out:
    https://www.wptavern.com/comparisons-between-most-popular-theme-frameworks

    I sent Scott Wallick an email the other day through the sites contact form but I have yet to receive a response. I’m not sure if he actually had someone purchase the sites from him and if the new owner is taking over development work or if the deal fell through and the site/files will sit there until they go 404.

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
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