Hola! Jenn and I had a brief meetup at #rdcHQ today to review the Suffusion theme that we will be using on our site for New Artists Productions (Anita could not join us as she is busy preparing for “Mulan, Jr.” – the next show by New Artists Productions which debuts at the Sprague Theater in Bandon, OR, on July 8)!

Under the Hood: Suffusion

Suffusion is a powerful theme developed by Sayontan Sinha that is more like an application framework than what is commonly referred to as a “WordPress Theme.” Today, we introduced ourselves to Sayontan, and asked him to clarify a recent post at his site regarding Suffusion and how it will be affected by the latest WordPress upgrade. We are quite interested in the flexibility that Suffusion will provide the crew at New Artists Productions when it comes time for us to hand over the keys at the end of the program. We wanted a theme that would enable them to customize their own site without learning code. As evidenced by this diagram from the Suffusion documentation, the theme provides a lot of potential functionality right out of the box:

Obviously, not all sites require this level of customization, but to have the features in the underlying code is a boon for future expansion … and to have a serious developer supporting the code is always a major plus.

We touched on a few elements regarding the visual design, and we’ll be taking a closer look at the Suffusion admin panel to see how this will affect Jenn’s design choices. We want the layout to mesh well with the underlying theme without letting technology drive the visual design. We’ll be exploring a semi-liquid layout for the core theme to work with Suffusion customization features, and see if any of the templates within Suffusion provide any features that suit our needs (Magazine, in particular, looks interesting). There are also seventeen (!) professional-quality skins to choose from as a basis for design.

For now, we skinned our theme with Minima while Jenn works her magic -

Until next time!

Greetings! We had a highly productive MathML meetup at #rdcHQ today – Jasper has already written 150 basic equations in MathML using his editor of choice, Amaya. As predicted from the outset, this track will progress purposefully based on the expertise he brings to the mix. We covered a few issues regarding display of the equations, and how to format other identifiers such as index numbers and other textual information that is often found in the equations.

Coding Considerations

The first consideration, the display of the equations, was a relatively simple one to address as the problem is related to cross-browser rendering which will be covered later in the program. We tested a sample equation to ensure that our chosen solution solves the problem, and were met with success.

We turned our attentions to a few coding considerations that affect our workflow. Ultimately, the equations that we are coding will be embedded or copied into a document set (we are still researching what the best method is at this time). Each equation has a unique identifier, or index number, that defines its location within our document set.

Based on review of similar documents and best practices, we have decided to contain both in a series of <spans> to group the identifier with its associated equation.

<span class="display">
	<span id="equation-item[n]" class="formula">
		<span class="label">
			[EQUATION IDENTIFIER]
		</span>
		<span class="math">
			[EQUATION MathML]
		</span>
	</span>
</span>

We have also decided to include a link to all of the original images in the document set using the <math altimg> tag, as follows:

<math altimg="/lab/MathML/mosh/Page_055_02.jpg">

This will provide an important link to the image if we need to reference the original equation, and serves another useful function when we cover cross-browser rendering issues later in the program. Jasper also has some cool ideas on how to automate some of these functions, such as writing a script for the batch conversion of .xhtml (eXtensible HyperText Markup Language) to .mml (MathML) documents.

Jasper also encountered many equations that have text intermingled with the numerical information. This can easily be resolved with the <mtext> element.

MathML Metaphysics

We spent the rest of the track discussing Presentation MathML and how it relates to HTML(5) and the markup of documents. Any document has to be defined structurally before many of its elements (headers, paragraphs, ordered lists, etc.) can be addressed in CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). Mathematical equations or formulas are unique in that the symbols used in the language, and entire expressions for that matter, can have quite a different meaning depending on the context (an interesting primer to this concept is The Intent of Content Markup). An equation written in Presentation MathML may render correctly in a browser, but be mathematically incorrect for use in a construct program.

In short, there is only one way that an equation can be written in Content MathML and be understood by a particular Mathematical community. One would presume that rules are being written that would make the translation of a particular expression possible within a particular community. We are just beginning to dive into that fascinating topic at our MathML track at #rdcHQ.

We’ll be updating the repository soon with all of the new equations … Stay tuned!

Our 2011 Kickstarter Campaign is live! We spent the weekend at #rdcHQ putting together a little video about our collaboration with New Artists Productions. We are very excited to work with this group as they are a source of inspiration for the Rural Design Collective, making a difference in the quality of the arts and the lives of young people in rural Oregon.

Please back us and share our project with anyone who would be interested in our work. Our Kickstarter URL is: http://kck.st/keA505 and we created our own longer-yet-easier-to-remember URL at: http://sixes.cc/be-a-backer …

Help spread the word!

Greetings from #rdcHQ! Today we synced up on the SVG Track and covered a few Inkscape basics that are frequently used in the type of art that we are working on for the Title 24 project. We started with a very basic icon set for example purposes.

Creating A Template

The tutorial below illustrates the import of the original graphic (a .JPG in this instance) for use as a template in Inkscape:

TIP: Click on the four arrow icon in the bottom right-hand corner to view the tutorials in full screen mode.

Once the graphic has been imported, it must be moved and locked to a layer, as demonstrated above. Then the fun begins. The template can now be used as a visual reference as the illustration is composed on another layer above it.

Strokes and Compound Paths

A key element that comprises nearly all of the illustrations in the collection we are working with is the use of consistent line weights. When building production-ready vector files, it is important to create clean artwork that will scale reliably and not produce unexpected problems when it is imported or remixed in other programs. We covered two important techniques to achieve that end. The first is the “Stroke to Path” function in Inkscape (also referred to as “Outline Paths”). This is usually a final step in the production process after a graphic has been completed and is ready to be published as the line weights may need adjusting while the graphic is still in production.

TIP: Many artists save the stroke and outline version of an illustration to be prepared for revisions.

Another nifty feature is the Union tool which can merge several shapes into one compound path. This is an indispensable feature used frequently in the production of vector art graphics.