dreamscapes | <insert famous Star Wars quote>

Hi guys,

I've patched about eighty themes during the last two weeks and could really use some help patching the remaining ones as there are still as many left and the end of the quarter is not a good time for me, work-wise (lots of late meetings and papers to grade).

We currently have some ~~Blanket~~, ~~Crisped~~, ~~Dusty Foot~~, ~~Five AM~~ and ~~Fluid Measure~~ themes which are perfect-for-newbies, easy-to-patch themes. If you've submitted one and have always wondered how it becomes official* or if you've always wanted to contribute as a developer but were afraid you didn't have the required skills this is a very good intro to the patching process because patching themes is really not complicated in itself. Once you get the hang of it you can do it in less than 10 minutes (seriously!).

If you want to give it a try --and you can do it with just one theme-- you can comment here, PM me or make yourself known on the #dreamwidth / #dreamwidth-dev IRC channels or at dw_volunteers.

*or just plain want to get it live sooner rather than later. ;) There's no shame in this. That's how I started learning about dev work and I'd never done anything like that before.

Edit:
~~Blanket themes: http://bugs.dwscoalition.org/show_bug.cgi?id=3807 (11 themes)~~ All patched!
~~Crisped themes: http://bugs.dwscoalition.org/show_bug.cgi?id=3917 (23 themes)~~ All patched!
~~Dusty Foot: http://bugs.dwscoalition.org/show_bug.cgi?id=3944 (29 themes)~~ All patched!
~~Five AM themes: http://bugs.dwscoalition.org/show_bug.cgi?id=3908 (20 themes)~~ All patched!
~~Fluid Measure themes: http://bugs.dwscoalition.org/show_bug.cgi?id=3918 (12 themes)~~ All patched!

Edit 2:
Many thanks to Laitaine who volunteered and did epic, stellar work.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Just wanted to say thank you for all the patching you've done :D During the semester is ridiculously crazy for me, or I'd help out, but. <3 <3 <3

You're most welcome and I know you would. <3

My life is crazy busy but sometimes I do get free time to play on the internet. In theory I am keen to help out and make patches but in practice I have not had much success!

I got about so far with patching my own layouts/themes but completely failed at testing. I mean, I tested in DW itself as far as I could, what happens if I put the icons on the right, or use three columns or hide this sidebar module etc etc etc. But testing my patch was a big fail. I went to my hack and followed all the instructions on the dev wiki and created a patch. But I couldn't see any of my changes on the my hack site, so I couldn't tell if I'd done it correctly. Since it didn't work, I assume I did something wrong, but I checked everything I had done and I couldn't see an error, and it wasn't exactly a complicated process! And I didn't feel comfortable submitting a patch that I hadn't been able to get live on my hack, that did not seem like a Good Idea.

I did ask in IRC but no one was able to help. And then my life got crazy busy so I had no time to follow up - story of my life! - and I wasn't exactly inspired to do so anyway because I was frustrated that it hadn't worked. I spend my working days being frustrated by code that doesn't work, that's not how I want to spend my time off!

But I would like to be able to make patches and I'm sure it can't be as hard as I found it last time! Indeed, making the patch itself was very easy and didn't take long at all. If I can get the patch-testing bit sorted then I'll be away! I can't promise to be very useful (see above, re crazy busy) but every little helps, right?

I'm sorry you didn't have a nice experience. I think it'd be a good idea to try your hand at patching a theme as it would make the testing process clearer I believe.

I can't remember which OS you're on, Laitaine. Can you remind me please?

Since we're about in the same time zone, I may able to help you if you have questions. Are you available on GTalk and what time is a good time for you? Or you can PM me and I'll give you my email address. That may more practical and flexible for you if you're busy.

Thank you :)

I have both mac and ubuntu though I mostly use the former. (But I guess the point is that I'm happy with terminals and command lines and things like that.)

I have sent you a PM with contact info etc :)

how newbie are we talking?

Baby-level is absolutely fine. I had never patched anything in my life when I started working in themes and had to learn everything.

May I ask which OS you're on?

ubuntu

Lucky you, that'll make things simpler. The first thing to do is ask for a Dreamhack if you don't have one. Do you?

i do! haven't done anything with it, but i do have one :)

Great! Have you followed any of the steps mentioned at http://wiki.dwscoalition.org/notes/Dreamhack_getting_started?

allegedly all of them.

Oh, you're all set and ready then!

Edit: sorry! I forgot something important. If you haven't read http://wiki.dwscoalition.org/notes/Dev_Maintenance already and possibly created the scripts you need to maintain your Dreamhack you need to do that as well.

So I think what you need is http://wiki.dwscoalition.org/notes/Newbie_Guide_for_People_Patching_Styles ('Where Are Style Files?' and 'Adding a New Color Theme').

The bug for Dusty Foot themes is http://bugs.dwscoalition.org/show_bug.cgi?id=3944, the one for Five AM themes is http://bugs.dwscoalition.org/show_bug.cgi?id=3908 and the one for Fluid Measure theme is http://bugs.dwscoalition.org/show_bug.cgi?id=3918. You can choose any theme to patch although some are simpler (just colors instead of colors and fonts or colors and CSS) so you may want to start with one of these.

I can't stay up much longer as I have to get up in 5,5 hours but if you're familiar with IRC you can see if someone's there if you have questions or comment back and I'll do my best to answer them tomorrow.

Second Edit: sorry I keep forgetting things. You also need to know how to create and generate patches so http://wiki.dwscoalition.org/notes/Version_Control#Using_Mercurial might be good reading. I've also written a guide which is more newbie-oriented which might help too: http://wiki.dwscoalition.org/notes/Newbie_Guide_for_Windows_People_Working_on_Minor_Bugs. Just skip the beginning about installing stuff as it's for Windows people.

Edited 2011-11-16 23:58 (UTC)

Hi ghoti,

I hope I didn't overwhelm you with all the stuff I've linked you to. I'm there if you have questions (also on Gtalk as ninetydtoo).

Edited 2011-11-19 14:50 (UTC)

I love this answer. I, too have allegedly read all of them.

Thanks for all the work you do!

I'm trying to find the time and settle down into it so that I can do it, just a bit loaded with school, at the mo. However, re: your comment, whatever works is fine and I can patch a different one other than that practicality theme.

Thanks again!

You're most welcome! Thanks for volunteering.

No, it's totally fine now as long as you update your Dreamhack. Since you haven't started on it yet, it's nothing complicated. Do you have your Dreamhack yet?

Whee! All patched!

And thank you again, for all your hand-holding and patience. I couldn't have done any of it without your help!

Also, I think I have nearly finished patching one of my styles (and a bunch of themes for it too)!

<3

That's awesome news! I'm looking forward to seeing your patch in the review queue. If you need any more help, you know where to find me. :)

<insert famous Star Wars quote>

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