092 - Write a document on PHP essentials for template designers

StallonSelvan · **Joined:** Fri Dec 21, 2007 3:57 pm **Posts:** 1

I'm Stallon Selvan, I'm a 18 year old amateur programmer (and a student of Information Technology) with about 5 years experience in languages like C, ASP, etc. I'm very familiar with PHP and love it because of my great interest in CMSs and other PHP scripts. I started PHP programming 2 years back.

My GHOP task is to analyze 10 free Joomla! templates, find commonly used PHP statements and document it. I'll be obtaining Joomla! templates from various free websites and doing my analysis. I'm also planning to make a "Template Quick Reference" Cheatsheet which will help new and experienced designers alike for quick reference.

Task Source:

Code:

One line summary
Write a document on PHP essentials for template designers.

Description
Many web designers and casual website owners are not conversant with the
PHP language in which Joomla! is written and since Joomla! templates
usually contain PHP statements it is necessary to understand at least a
little of the language in order to be able to create or customise
templates. For this task the student will analyse a range of at least 10
templates from a variety of free sources and determine which aspects of the
PHP language are used most frequently. The student will then write a
document describing, in simple terms, how to use each aspect of PHP in the
context of a Joomla! template. For example, a simple explanation of the PHP
if-then-else syntax using extracts from a template for illustration.

The document should comply with current Joomla! Editorial Style Guidelines
and guidelines for the Template Tutorials Project.

Documentation written for this task must be made available under the
Joomla! Electronic Documentation License.

Skills Needed

Difficulty
Basic.

Work Product
Document as described above.

Extra Credit (optional)

Time Limit
1 week. 

Claimed Date: 21 Dec. 2007

Help Required:

Can somebody show me a example document, which is produced according to the Joomla! Editorial Style Guidelines, and also a document according to the Template Tutorials Project guidelines
Also the document should be in which format (normal TXT will suffice?)
How do I make the document available under the Joomla! Electronic Documentation License

Thanking You

Chris Davenport · **Posted:** Fri Dec 21, 2007 8:21 pm

Hi Stallon,

StallonSelvan wrote:

Can somebody show me a example document, which is produced according to the Joomla! Editorial Style Guidelines, and also a document according to the Template Tutorials Project guidelines

The Installation Manual is a good example, but don't get bogged down with it. We can fix editorial style issues in a later iteration. Forget the Template Tutorials Project guidelines as there really aren't any yet!

StallonSelvan wrote:

Also the document should be in which format (normal TXT will suffice?)

TXT would be okay. OpenOffice.org Writer would be better. Ultimately I expect this material to placed into our MediaWiki so you could use MediaWiki markup if you prefer.

StallonSelvan wrote:

How do I make the document available under the Joomla! Electronic Documentation License

Just state something like "This document is made available under the Joomla! Electronic Documentation License" and include a link to the license text on our wiki. It doesn't need to be on every page; bottom of the last page would be fine, for example.

This is going to be a really useful document for a lot of people out there. Thanks for taking it on.

Regards,
Chris.

AmyStephen · **Posted:** Sun Jan 06, 2008 5:10 am

Stallon -

We need an update, if possible! If you are unable to do the task, please let us know so we can offer it to someone else. But, if you are working on it, we normally like to see work in progress. That way, we can help with questions or even clarifications that might be needed.

Looking forward to hearing from you,
Amy

AmyStephen · **Posted:** Thu Jan 17, 2008 1:50 am

Task closed - at contestant's request.

Stallon - it's understandable we all get busy! Thanks so much for letting us know!

Take care,
Amy

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