[pmwiki-users] Problems with the embedded CSS in pmwiki.php

[marc]

Patrick R. Michaud said...
> On Mon, Oct 30, 2006 at 07:52:29PM -0000, marc wrote:
> > Patrick R. Michaud said...
> > > On Mon, Oct 30, 2006 at 12:20:51PM -0000, marc wrote:
> > > > I suspect that this CSS file would be loaded by default - so as not to 
> > > > break the default install [where it would be loaded in any case, in your 
> > > > scenario] and not to break any existing skins. 
> > > 
> > > Having the CSS file "loaded by default" doesn't at all resolve the
> > > original issue that started this thread.  The only ways that a 
> > > pmwiki-core.css file can achieve the desired semantics (admin
> > > overrides skin overrides core) is by one of the following:
> > > 
> > >   - All templates explicitly load pmwiki-core.css at an appropriate location.
> > > 
> > >   - The skin has a skin.php file that manipulates $HTMLHeaderFmt.
> > > 
> > >   - We define an "automatically loaded skin.css" rule that adds
> > >     a link to a per-skin css file between the pmwiki core CSS and
> > >     any site-specific (local) CSS files.
> > > 
> > > Currently PmWiki goes with the second option.
> > 
> > I understand #1 and #2, and why #1 is undesirable as things stand.  I'm
> > clearly missing something with understanding #3. I thought that since
> > existing skins already include <!--HTMLHeader-->, then this could be
> > used to trigger the generation of the <link rel='stylesheet' for
> > pmwiki-core.css - in other words, a replacement for the embedded PmWiki
> > core styles.
> 
> This is effectively what Hans has been advocating, and as noted
> in my previous message, it doesn't work, or at least isn't substantially
> different from what we have now.
> 
> Suppose a skin has the following in its template:
> 
>     <link rel='stylesheet' href='$SkinDirUrl/skin.css' type='text/css' />
>     <!--HTMLHeader-->
> 
> It makes no difference if the styles are coming from $HTMLStylesFmt,
> $HTMLHeaderFmt, or anything else that manipulates the <!--HTMLHeader-->
> directive.  Anything that is inserted in the output via <!--HTMLHeader--> 
> will end up coming after the skin.css file and overriding its settings.
> This is true regardless of whether the settings are coming from 
> an embedded stylesheet or an external one.
> 
> And, of course, if we reverse the above
> 
>     <!--HTMLHeader-->
>     <link rel='stylesheet' href='$SkinDirUrl/skin.css' type='text/css' />
> 
> then skin.css overrides anything in <!--HTMLHeader-->, including
> the administrative styles.  What we ultimately want is this sequence:
> 
>     a. core PmWiki styles
>     b. recipe styles
>     c. skin styles
>     d. local/admin styles

Yup, that's the setup I'm using.
 
> But since <!--HTMLHeader--> is responsible for a, b, and d, the only
> way to get skin.css in the correct location--that is, after core and
> recipe styles but before local/admin styles--is to either have the
> skin manipulate $HTMLHeaderFmt via skin.php (#2 of my earlier
> message) or for the core to define a "automatically load skin.css" 
> rule to put the skin's css file in the appropriate location (#3
> in my earlier message, the one you said you were missing something).

Okay, is there a way that to implement, say:

  <!--HTMLHeader skin='skin.css'-->

In addition, where this is defined, that pmwiki-core.css is 

> > Automatically generating pmwiki-core.css is
> > easy enough, so that it can be updated between PmWiki releases, and I
> > can null the embedded styles in skin.php with:
> > 
> >   global $HTMLStylesFmt;
> >   $HTMLStylesFmt['pmwiki']	= '';
> >   $HTMLStylesFmt['diff']		= '';
> >   $HTMLStylesFmt['simuledit'] = '';
> >   $HTMLStylesFmt['markup']	= '';
> >   $HTMLStylesFmt['urlapprove']= '';
> >   $HTMLStylesFmt['vardoc']	= '';
> >   $HTMLStylesFmt['wikistyles']= '';
> 
> Hmm, I didn't quite realize there were seven sets of things to
> be nulled out (I knew there were a few, but didn't know that
> this many existed).  I might be able to come up with a shortcut
> for this.

That would be great. An $Enable would be ideal
 
> And as I indicated in my previous message to Hans, I don't have a 
> problem with the distribution including a pmwiki-core.css file 
> that skins can use (and that will be kept up-to-date), I only have 
> a problem with breaking existing sites if we start automatically
> including that file by default.

Of course. Including pmwiki-core.css by default would also be great.

-- 
Best,
Marc