Seems opinion is pretty divided on this one (which is totally expected). A little more context:
We debated whether or not to call it Neptune any more given it has changed quite a lot, so you're spot on pointing that out. The name Triton was thrown around for a bit but that sucks. As usual some more communication would have helped, though the madness of SenchaCon and extreme sleep deprivation made that difficult.
More broadly, though, I detest being linked to a single theme. Even if Neptune turns out to be the most beloved theme the world has ever seen I want to offer you a number of these things, and far more importantly make it easy to make your own. That's the real goal.
The thing that worries me is the required Ext override file needed to currently use the theme and the pain Sencha appears to be having getting it to work in IE.
The override file is just a quick hack for the 4.1 Performance Preview. We will have a proper fix for this in the 4.1 GA release.
As for legacy browser support, they were not a goal for us in the 4.1 Performance Preview. I'm not sure where your reference to "pain" comes from...
It is good to hear that the overrides are just temporary. That the overrides were needed at all could be considered "pain".
As for legacy browser support, they were not a goal for us in the 4.1 Performance Preview. I'm not sure where your reference to "pain" comes from...
I may have misspoke when I said IE was causing the pain.
I thought I had heard you say a few times that it was somewhat difficult getting themes to look good when panels and components are nested. I assumed this was due to lack of CSS3 support in older browsers.
Either way I am loving Neptune so far. Its development is only going to make creating custom themes easier.
I thought I had heard you say a few times that it was somewhat difficult getting themes to look good when panels and components are nested. I assumed this was due to lack of CSS3 support in older browsers.
Either way I am loving Neptune so far. Its development is only going to make creating custom themes easier.
It is definitely 'challenging', but that is our job.
Maybe it is just me but I do feel like something is a bit off with the form validation themeing. I know its early so hopefully this is still a work in progress. However I will not miss the squiggly underlining.
Is the current 4.1 preview release actualy indicative of the final Neptune theme?
I have some significant concerns about the design and overall usability of this theme. However, I certainly understand that it's a work in progress. Should we expect substantial changes to Neptune before 4.1 is released?
I'm very impressed with the pace of development Sencha is maintaining. You all are doing a top notch job. And great conference!
Could you help me understand something about the theming in Ext JS 4? In Ext JS 3, the DOM markup was pretty much the same in all browsers (i.e. 9-cell tables for buttons). In Ext JS 4.0.2a however, I noticed that in modern browsers the markup was modern (i.e. divs for buttons) but in IE the older "9-cell table button" markup was generated.
Is it true that in Ext JS 4, the plan is to have the old Ext JS 3-style markup generated in older browsers, and modern markup in modern browsers? Because these two types of markup are vastly different, it will require essentially maintaining two sets of styles to achieve the same theme across all browsers in Ext JS 4. I just want to make sure I understand before I get to work on theming in 4.
@jaydge yes we use a split DOM technique to only deliver the markup that each browser needs (so for modern browsers it renders far fewer elements than for older ones). We actually have a guide on theming Ext JS 4, which I suggest you check out