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+1. As evidence that this is the right move, there is a comment on that developer page asking, "Where is the documentation on preprocess functions?" -- and then another comment referring to this page.

I think also the inclusion of Lee's suggested Intro sentence and help divert anyone off this page to save them some time- no matter where this page ends up. "If you are developing your own module, you can make it easy for others to theme your content."

Hm, i made a page comment, but should this be inthe sticky instead? Copying my comment here... Whoa, I agree with dvessel here. This is *theming* info that a themer needs to know if they want to implement in their template.php. The devs have their own guide from the module side already. Removing this from the theme guide would be a *horrible* decision. Yes, we can change the text to orient people more, but srsly, this *is* for themes, not modules.

Yes, most of this, maybe all, should be moved. If we're leaving some of this here, there should be a clearer introductory sentence. Something like "If you are developing your own module, you can make it easy for others to theme your content." (I don't know if that's what this page is about, but something like that would allow someone like me to say "Ok this page is something I don't need to read")

OK, summarizing - first impression from many was this is way-deep module-developer's stuff and it should be moved to the developer's guide, perhaps http://drupal.org/node/165706. dvessel and addi strongly differed, so we're leaving it here. However IMO the idea of preprocess functions needs to be introduced from a more-noob POV with relevant mainstream examples, with the more-advanced stuff moved to a clearly labeled section or sub-page. Plus the whole idea is D6-specific, except for Zen, right?

Past comments: Hans Move (most of this?) to the Developer's guide, relevant to creating modules, not end-user theming. Although there should be docs here on how to override using preprocess - applies to D5 using Zen and some others, otherwise just D6. Lee Yes, most of this, maybe all, should be moved. If we're leaving some of this here, there should be a clearer introductory sentence. Something like "If you are developing your own module, you can make it easy for others to theme your content." (I don't know if that's what this page is about, but something like that would allow someone like me to say "Ok this page is something I don't need to read") Shai +1. As evidence that this is the right move, there is a comment on that developer page asking, "Where is the documentation on preprocess functions?" -- and then another comment referring to this page. heather I think also the inclusion of Lee's suggested Intro sentence and help divert anyone off this page to save them some time- no matter where this page ends up. "If you are developing your own module, you can make it easy for others to theme your content." dvessel This is very specific to *theming* so it should stay in the theming handbook. Let's not dumb this down. It's a very important topic to grasp for themers. Addi Whoa, I agree with dvessel here. This is *theming* info that a themer needs to know if they want to implement in their template.php. The devs have their own guide from the module side already. Removing this from the theme guide would be a *horrible* decision. Yes, we can change the text to orient people more, but srsly, this *is* for themes, not modules.

dvessel - re dumbing it down - agree, but IMO the main "spine" needs to be accessible to people that are brand new users of Drupal, otherwise they won't even try to climb that steep learning curve and bail out of Drupal. We need to make the docs complete, but anyone who's capable of understanding this page as it stands now ain't finding his way by clicking through the nav hierarchy, she already knows google's site:drupal.org :)

Re: searching through google.. I don't buy it. It can be changed so it's more accessible but all the information should be there in full. I've seen many situations where someone has no clue as to where a piece of information comes from. It's the theming layer and they should be aware of the underlying function to solve their problems. Common question.. How do I change $primary_links? If they knew that "template_preprocess_page" pulls all the page template data then it would be easier to track down. So yeah, change the text so it's easier to understand but let's not remove it preventing others from learning.

From dvessel 's page-level comment (only visible from the sidebar - I reckon it's easier to see things all together in a sticky) Re: searching through google.. I don't buy it. It can be changed so it's more accessible but all the information should be there in full. I've seen many situations where someone has no clue as to where a piece of information comes from. It's the theming layer and they should be aware of the underlying function to solve their problems. Common question.. How do I change $primary_links? If they knew that "template_preprocess_page" pulls all the page template data then it would be easier to track down. So yeah, change the text so it's easier to understand but let's not remove it preventing others from learning.

Can we please standardize on floating sticky's except when commenting on specific text? If I have time, I'll summarize and start a new one when a threads gotten too long, but I can't actually delete it until everyone deleted their old posts (after they've been summarized)

@dvessel - sorry if I'm not being clear, no one's saying move it out anywhere, in fact we're bringing *everything* relating to a topic together as it hasn't been before. It's just that there should be intro/overview pages that are "parents" to the more advanced ones (eg talk about coding), which should help frame the topic for the non-coders, rather than them being thrown right into the deep end without a clue. The complex content will be right there e.g. intro "about pre-process functions", containing info as to how a noob could use them e.g. Zen theme's template.php. This would be a parent of: "details on pre-process functions" and "example pre-process snippets" and "module development and pre-process functions" and a series of step-by-step HowTos on pre-process functions and links to API docs, etc etc. Bringing it all together so it's easy to find via the navigation for everyone, setting the tone of the intro/overview nodes so they are accessible, give the noob a chance to get up to speed.

Great example here http://drupal.org/node/295346

http://drupal.org/node/201587 D5 specific to come here

I think moving it into a sub-page is fine. At first the discussion was about moving it completely out of the theming handbook and that's a bad idea. Sorry about not posting into the right section. This diigo is new to me. Not completely sure how to use it. :)

NP devessel, we're all Diigo noobs, that's why we'll need to define practices as we go. I think these stickies work well, basically a topic thread, start a new one for a different topic or when the old one's got too long, summarizing the old one at the top of the new, along with decisions. D* versioning group tags coming soon.