Substitute for sandbox?

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  mrpeteh · Member · Nov 29, 2009 at 9:24 pm

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  The Sandbox theme is no longer being improved and is now quite dated. It has no support for any of the 2.7 or 2.8 features. Most glaring: threaded comments are not supported.

  What’s the closest thing to Sandbox in the existing WP.com theme selection?

  And, can we start asking WP.com to introduce a replacement for Sandbox? I’ve heard Thematic is pretty good: http://themeshaper.com/thematic/

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  thesacredpath · Member · Nov 29, 2009 at 11:02 pm

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  The current version of Sandbox is 1.6.1 which was released on 2009-06-19 (hardly abandoned) according to the website and the authors. It does support threaded comments and all other features here. I’m using it on my blog here, and I know a lot of other people here that are as well. See http://opposablethumbz.wordpress.com/ .

  Sandbox skins that have been made for previous versions of Sandbox may not have been updated to support the new wordpress features such as threaded comments. It is up to the skin authors to update their CSS skins.

  If you want the latest base CSS files for Sandbox 1.6.1, you have to download it either from wordpress.ORG/extend/themes or from the original theme website at http://www.plaintxt.org/themes/sandbox/ and then pull the CSS file you want to start with out of the “examples” folder. There are a number of base files with left, right, left and right, and bottom sidebars to start with.

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  mrpeteh · Member · Nov 30, 2009 at 1:11 am

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  Hmmm… something’s confusing. I downloaded Sandbox 1.6.1 directly off a google search… it doesn’t have comment threads.

  I’ve downloaded from where you linked, and will keep digging.

  Thanks!

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  mrpeteh · Member · Nov 30, 2009 at 1:39 am

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  a) I think what I saw earlier was the originators of Sandbox who no longer are involved.

  b) No wonder I was confused. The downloadable version (plaintxt.org) and the WP.com version are both marked as 1.6.1. However, the downloadable version generates different code. Specifically (for example) it does not generate <ul class='children'> … in fact, searching its codebase for ‘children’ shows it is in the style.css but is not generated. I’m not an expert, but the comments.php code appears to still be pre-2.7

  I must be missing something here!

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  thesacredpath · Member · Nov 30, 2009 at 1:44 am

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  I’m using it here and it supports threaded comments. Check out this post on my blog: http://opposablethumbz.wordpress.com/2009/11/17/follow-up-on-wordpress-automatic-upgrade/#comments .

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  thesacredpath · Member · Nov 30, 2009 at 1:57 am

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  Here is the thing you have to remember: This is wordpress.COM. Whenever any new feature is added here, themes are modified to support it. There are a number of themes here that were abandoned by the creators back around 2.3, and they all support threaded comments here because staff modified them to support that feature – as well as many others. The themes here are always updated by staff to support any new features that show up here.

  1.6.1 here supports threaded comments. If the CSS in the downloaded version does not, it is just a matter of adding the necessary stuff to the CSS and presto, it supports threaded comments.

  Themes here are NOT dependent on the original theme designers for updating. Staff takes care of all that.

  The original Kubrick – the default theme here – was abandoned back around wordpress 2.2, but it works just fine with all the features here.

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  mrpeteh · Member · Nov 30, 2009 at 2:40 am

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  I’m saying the downloadable theme code doesn’t support threaded comments.

  What this means is, I cannot load up sandbox locally for fast and efficient testing. The only way to test is painstaking: modify code locally, upload a new css file, save it and test out on WP.com

  With other themes, I can directly edit the CSS on my local machine, click “save”, then redraw the page in my browser.

  They really should make their mods available to users for download and local use.

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  mrpeteh · Member · Nov 30, 2009 at 2:41 am

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  So this isn’t REALLY Sandbox 1.6.1 … it is Sandbox 1.6.1-enhanced-by-WP-staff :)

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  thesacredpath · Member · Nov 30, 2009 at 2:52 am

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  Yes, all themes here have been modified from the original to work with the version of wordpress used here, to accommodate the wordpress.COM specific features, and to work within the restrictions here. That is one of the reasons we cannot upload themes here. Changes have to be made to them for them to work properly here.

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  raincoaster · Member · Nov 30, 2009 at 4:38 am

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  The downloadable theme has nothing to do with WordPress.Com and questions and issues about it should be directed over to WordPress.org instead.

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  mrpeteh · Member · Nov 30, 2009 at 6:28 pm

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  Or alternatively, all questions and issues about the WordPress.com themes must be raised with tech support. :-D

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  thesacredpath · Member · Nov 30, 2009 at 6:48 pm

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  The thing is you have to consider Sandbox for just what it is, a kit or a blank canvas. Batteries not included, some assembly required, some accessories sold separately.

  I mentioned getting the Sandbox download for the CSS examples they have which give you the building blocks for a number of different configurations. It doesn’t mean that those CSS stylesheets are complete by any means nor does it mean that they will work out of the box here at wordpress.COM. You have to add things to them. Again, they are “kits.”

  As far as contacting staff on CSS issues, they do not provide any official support for the CSS upgrade and you should figure you are on your own. There are about three people here in the forums with more than a passing understanding of CSS, so you might not get much help in the forums either especially since I’ll be taking a hiatus shortly for a move. That takes the number of CSS people here down to 2 who only show up randomly.