if Telnic were to allow for dynamic style control via use of the .tsm record

Why we have 8 templates? I want only 1!

 by Rambo on Mon 23 Jul 2012, 5:40 pm

I don’t understand the strategy of Telnic. Instead of providing 8 different templates 1 would be enough if this would provide all requirements from domain owners:

- Big pictures (only available for temple 8 )
- No limitation for number of pictures per sub domain
- No limitation for number of videos per sub domain
- Flexible and long text (only available at Telmasters)
- Text format (bold letters)
- Background pictures (only available at TelChina and Telnames)

Instead of providing an useable template Telnic have released 8 premature alternatives.
I look forward to the day when we get one which can be used for all purposes!

Re: Why we have 8 templates? I want only 1!

 by kprobe on Mon 23 Jul 2012, 10:45 pm

Yes one is possible and in fact I do like much of template #8 as a base, but a single template would not satisfy everyone's needs. However, a single set of stock, customizable templates would be the better method and indeed possible if Telnic were to allow for dynamic style control via use of the .tsm record. The .tsm record is used to select templates, colours, styles, for all Tel sites and now even background images for Telnames. It is read each time a site is rendered. I believe extending .tsm for style control (not layout changes) would allow for gradual changes to fonts, caption control, width control and other design features to be implemented in the existing template themes. This requires much consideration but certainly is doable given demand. Certainly would be more effective in the long run than creating dozens of templates.
Mark