Title: Customizer snippet library: Initial feedback Author: Justin Tadlock Published: May 27, 2015 --- [ ](https://profiles.wordpress.org/greenshady/) [Justin Tadlock](https://profiles.wordpress.org/greenshady/) 12:33 am _on_ May 27, 2015 Tags: [Customizer API ( 5 )](https://make.wordpress.org/themes/tags/customizer-api/) # Customizer snippet library: Initial feedback One of the things we’ve been discussing is setting up a customizerCustomizer Tool built into WordPress core that hooks into most modern themes. You can use it to preview and modify many of your site’s appearance settings. snippet repository on the [TRT GitHub account](https://github.com/wptrt). Nothing is exactly set in stone just yet, but we wanted to gather some feedback before moving forward. * Should this be a library of non-coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. Controls? * Should it contain other snippets unrelated to controls? * How should things be organized? * What would you like to see? These are all really broad questions, but it’s important to get a feel for what we need to do first if we decide to go ahead with this project. We really need to start from square one and decide on exactly what we’d like the repo to be. From there, we can decide how to organize it. Then, we can put cool stuff in it. [#customizer-api](https://make.wordpress.org/themes/tags/customizer-api/) ### Share this: * [ Threads ](https://make.wordpress.org/themes/2015/05/27/customizer-snippet-library-initial-feedback/?share=threads) * [ Mastodon ](https://make.wordpress.org/themes/2015/05/27/customizer-snippet-library-initial-feedback/?share=mastodon) * [ Bluesky ](https://make.wordpress.org/themes/2015/05/27/customizer-snippet-library-initial-feedback/?share=bluesky) * [ Facebook ](https://make.wordpress.org/themes/2015/05/27/customizer-snippet-library-initial-feedback/?share=facebook) * [ X ](https://make.wordpress.org/themes/2015/05/27/customizer-snippet-library-initial-feedback/?share=x) * [ LinkedIn ](https://make.wordpress.org/themes/2015/05/27/customizer-snippet-library-initial-feedback/?share=linkedin) * [Login to Reply](https://login.wordpress.org/?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fmake.wordpress.org%2Fthemes%2F2015%2F05%2F27%2Fcustomizer-snippet-library-initial-feedback%2F%23respond&locale=en_US) 1. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/ee688e454076072936e2f07ceea1727351cda523c1c8925b90e5040a858463e1? s=32&d=mm&r=g) 2. [Carolina Nymark](https://profiles.wordpress.org/poena/) 12:37 am _on_ May 27, 2015 3. I think we should include coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. controls. Like a cheat sheet. It depends who the targeted audience is. 4. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/c8091d1ddd1fb207bb9c5015c2869bae9a2f03bd1378d11cd5ec0edc076bb2cd? s=32&d=mm&r=g) 5. [webdevmattcrom](https://profiles.wordpress.org/webdevmattcrom/) 12:53 am _on_ May 27, 2015 6. This is an excellent idea. All of the above, categorized by type: — CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. Controls — non-Core controls — Advanced Functionality (like forcing screen refreshes, or other things that are NOT controls) 7. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/26d79a720ee250d618dbbd27ef2caeb5098345ec97f2f0c8e2258d91aab8b21b? s=32&d=mm&r=g) 8. [tradesouthwest](https://profiles.wordpress.org/tradesouthwestgmailcom/) 1:04 am _on_ May 27, 2015 9. Where was this when Theme Options was around? this may be why theme options is getting a bad name: it was never supported on the coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. team/TRT side, in any repository (such as GitGit Git is a free and open source distributed version control system designed to handle everything from small to very large projects with speed and efficiency. Git is easy to learn and has a tiny footprint with lightning fast performance. Most modern plugin and theme development is being done with this version control system. [https://git-scm.com/](https://git-scm.com/)) so develops ‘copy and pasted’ snippets from all over the web, that were not valid or sanitized. 10. As to: “Should this be a library of non-core Controls?” Yes. Have a separate core hub. If you read my dialogue above you will see that the CustomizerCustomizer Tool built into WordPress core that hooks into most modern themes. You can use it to preview and modify many of your site’s appearance settings. needs to support a wide variety of extensions and Theme Option’s “Replacement components” will be “outside of the box” (core). 11. Organization: by the Default Customizer Sections (title_tag, color, header_image, background_image, nav…. ) and then by “PluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory [https://wordpress.org/plugins/](https://wordpress.org/plugins/) or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party.-Like Customizer” sections, as I call them, that are all custom callouts, or extensions or the Default Sections. 12. I still think Customizer is not a good fit for theme options. Customizer does not support a broad enough spectrum for end-users to be able to control the UIUI UI is an acronym for User Interface - the layout of the page the user interacts with. Think ‘how are they doing that’ and less about what they are doing.-UXUX UX is an acronym for User Experience - the way the user uses the UI. Think ‘what they are doing’ and less about how they do it.. And it’s too page-physically small as well as full of scripts that eat up bandwidth. 13. No reply to last para.; I am just remaining vigilant on my stance against Customizer: poor Method to develop or to become creative with. Maybe this snippet hub will provide a solution for theme options as well, by providing standardized, clean code to work with and TO will come back to life. 14. * ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/8013a62d7397c006bae48b96d6832a573ea71a7d5d3597fe584210567b508c05? s=32&d=mm&r=g) * [Justin Tadlock](https://profiles.wordpress.org/greenshady/) 1:44 am _on_ May 27, 2015 * This isn’t the place to discuss whether the customizerCustomizer Tool built into WordPress core that hooks into most modern themes. You can use it to preview and modify many of your site’s appearance settings. is good for theme options. We have other threads for that. Let’s stay on topic. 🙂 * Can you give us some specifics about the “replacement components” you’re talking about? 15. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/54a25d2575c011125ec5ea1e6c6e2f8e4325156aa67c0b74be20b771832e133d? s=32&d=mm&r=g) 16. [Harish Chouhan](https://profiles.wordpress.org/hchouhan/) 3:28 am _on_ May 27, 2015 17. It should be somewhat along these lines [https://github.com/devinsays/customizer-library](https://github.com/devinsays/customizer-library). While this may be too extensive, if the snippet covers the mostly widely used options then it would be a good start. 18. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/18976976723d48b71e04b7e6d11d65ef2e4b065cd410b27b803e0d2b823c88e3? s=32&d=mm&r=g) 19. [Nilambar Sharma](https://profiles.wordpress.org/rabmalin/) 5:38 am _on_ May 27, 2015 20. Snippets library for Controls would be great idea. We can include several Control classes which could be copied and easily implemented in theme. This could be one useful resource for educating CustomizerCustomizer Tool built into WordPress core that hooks into most modern themes. You can use it to preview and modify many of your site’s appearance settings. APIAPI An API or Application Programming Interface is a software intermediary that allows programs to interact with each other and share data in limited, clearly defined ways.. 21. Assets arrangement: I think it is better to make each Controls independent to each other. Eg. Radio Image controls will have PHPPHP PHP (recursive acronym for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) is a widely-used open source general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for web development and can be embedded into HTML. [https://www.php.net/manual/en/index.php](https://www.php.net/manual/en/index.php) class along with few styling. We could put both files in separate folder. JS file may also be need to advanced controls. 22. Putting coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. controls in library: I dont find any benefit keeping core controls here. Anyone could simply core control directly. Lets make this repo lean n thin and only keep this as great reference of different types of Controls. 23. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d8c2fa7c41948f5681df5a1696d3cf9654b75fd6fd5904eeb818e3ed7c4b2628? s=32&d=mm&r=g) 24. [janhenckens](https://profiles.wordpress.org/janhenckens/) 7:24 am _on_ May 27, 2015 25. I think coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. controls can (and should) have a place there, they can serve as a starting point for people who are trying to understand how the controls work. 26. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/88befd8b3fe378b751c57bc121c351d7d16e2a79ab25999f3fe813895f165422? s=32&d=mm&r=g) 27. [Giorgos](https://profiles.wordpress.org/gsarig/) 8:16 am _on_ May 27, 2015 28. I agree with the existence of both coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. and non-core controls examples. Non-core for obvious reasons but core controls too, because some of them might not be so well know (like range slider select for example). Also, I believe it would be nice to have sanitization examples for each one of them, as well as more complex examples for conditionals. 29. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/e54047e3b07fe6d1722c2edbccf8978192b77d640112abd19258a572c20a7bb7? s=32&d=mm&r=g) 30. [jancbeck](https://profiles.wordpress.org/jancbeck/) 8:46 am _on_ May 27, 2015 31. Will this be a reading resource or rather a fully functional pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory [https://wordpress.org/plugins/](https://wordpress.org/plugins/) or can be cost- based plugin from a third-party. repository? What I want to say: the text snippets could be very abstract like a coding reference and separately placed inside categorized file structure or they could be a practical plugin that actually works and everybody can install. For example the plugin would give me a Google Fonts picker or logo uploader. 32. I would prefer the latter because I remember my non-programming background when I did not read into code a lot but simply wanted things to look and feel right in the browser. I think beginners would benefit a lot from a working code base where one could simply change a few values to get vastly different results. Or one could simply see it as a demo for the possibilities of the customizerCustomizer Tool built into WordPress core that hooks into most modern themes. You can use it to preview and modify many of your site’s appearance settings. in general. 33. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/7d256f7b605361e4dc402138e2896ff727d2a13d669f1420a8644d12a90bb7af? s=32&d=mm&r=g) 34. [Chip Bennett](https://profiles.wordpress.org/chipbennett/) 1:44 pm _on_ May 27, 2015 35. I don’t see a benefit to trying to maintain coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. controls in this library, when we can simply point people to core itself. I think we should be encouraging people to dig into core code when necessary, because that’s one of the greatest educational tools there is. The learning curve becomes so much less steep once one realizes that digging into core isn’t as daunting as first believed. 36. As for content: 37. 1. Snippets for basic integration of core features: panels, sections, and settings 2. Snippets (and output code examples) for settings that use each of the core control types 3. Snippets (and output code examples) for custom controls 4. Snippets for extending the core APIAPI An API or Application Programming Interface is a software intermediary that allows programs to interact with each other and share data in limited, clearly defined ways. 38. * ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/53e4b03f3c1de7281c778b7c2ca36277669fa8697979504ef0c02ba3ddec73a6? s=32&d=mm&r=g) * [Zane Matthew](https://profiles.wordpress.org/zanematthew/) 8:47 pm _on_ May 27, 2015 * To most this might seem like a great idea, but I think it will add to more confusion as to where togo for developer snippets/help/etc. in the end it would just be another area to maintain. * I’m with [@chip](https://profiles.wordpress.org/chip/) on this one, but possibly for different reasons. * Considering that the codex is being phased out, the theme customizerCustomizer Tool built into WordPress core that hooks into most modern themes. You can use it to preview and modify many of your site’s appearance settings. section of the codex ([https://codex.wordpress.org/Theme_Customization_API](https://codex.wordpress.org/Theme_Customization_API)) will/is obsolete. Will this tie into the developer site for theme customizer is up ([https://developer.wordpress.org/themes/advanced-topics/customizer-api/](https://developer.wordpress.org/themes/advanced-topics/customizer-api/)), perhaps embed snippets from the GitHubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged by the repository owner. [https://github.com/](https://github.com/) account there? * In the end, why not just put all snippets/documentation in one place? - ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/7d256f7b605361e4dc402138e2896ff727d2a13d669f1420a8644d12a90bb7af? s=32&d=mm&r=g) - [Chip Bennett](https://profiles.wordpress.org/chipbennett/) 9:18 pm _on_ May 27, 2015 - I agree that having code in one place is ideal. If the library that we create ends up being more useful somewhere else, I don’t think anyone will be opposed to it moving wherever it’s needed. At this point, what is needed is having the library _somewhere_, so that it can be useful as an educational resource for developers. 39. ![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/0608b540c7da83b396fd9a453ad1ac0298152522bc3a06888d41649e4024a089? s=32&d=mm&r=g) 40. [Ahmad Awais](https://profiles.wordpress.org/mrahmadawais/) 3:11 pm _on_ May 27, 2015 41. I think it is a good idea. This snippet directory could be the standard way of defining customizerCustomizer Tool built into WordPress core that hooks into most modern themes. You can use it to preview and modify many of your site’s appearance settings. elements. I think this snippet library should be based/arranged through fields. 42. Cat#1: Fields (Post about all different fields) 43. Cat#2: Non-CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress./Core Fields ### Leave a Reply 󠀁[Cancel reply](https://make.wordpress.org/themes/2015/05/27/customizer-snippet-library-initial-feedback/?output_format=md#respond)󠁿 You must be [logged in](https://login.wordpress.org/?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fmake.wordpress.org%2Fthemes%2F2015%2F05%2F27%2Fcustomizer-snippet-library-initial-feedback%2F&locale=en_US) to post a comment. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. 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