kiwi

With the summer / Christmas holidays now behind us, progress has begun again on kiwitrees-nova, so time for another update. One of the first developments is the choice of the third (and final, for now at least), “standard” theme. This one is Kaponga. Its name translates commonly as just “silver fern”, instantly recognisable as the emblem of the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team, and the name of our world-beating ladies netball team the Silver Ferns.

Below is a summary of each theme, and details about their names.

Beyond that the major achievements since the last update are:

All three themes are largely “designed”. That’s not to say they can’t be changed, but the general look is as I had intended.

  • Most of the front page blocks are fully developed.
  • Most of the items under the “Lists” menu item are complete.
  • The administration area is progressing well. It is usable, but not all pages are properly designed yet.
  • You can now install a version for yourselves, but read the warnings in the details below first! I’ll add a demo site here as well, soon.
  • There is now a forum area that can be used to discuss these developments.

Three themes

So we now have three standard themes, Kahikatoa, Kopakopa, and Kaponga. Click on the images below to view a large picture of their Home pages. These images give an idea of the appearance of the home page blocks in each style.

Kahikatoa

kahikatoa_home

MeaningRed mānuka or tea-tree (Leptospermum scoparium). A common native scrub bush with aromatic, prickly leaves and many small, white, pink or red flowers.

kahikatoa

Pronunciation

Kopakopa

kopakopa_home

MeaningPonga, silver tree fern (Cyathea dealbata). A tall, native tree-fern having fronds green or yellow-green above and silver-white beneath.

Silver Fern

Pronunciation

Kaponga

kaponga_home

MeaningChatham Island forget-me-not (Myosotidium hortensia). Large, glossy leaves and bunches of blue or white forget-me-not like flowers in spring.

forget-me-not

Pronunciation

At this point, my plan is to make “Kahikatoa” the default theme. I considered using “Kaponga” instead, as it is very similar to the current “Kiwitrees” theme, but I felt that kiwitrees-nova as a new development deserves the newest design. Alternative opinions are, of course, welcome!

List pages

Most of these are complete. The general appearance and features remain as before, but with a fresh and more spacious look. Below are some examples. (click to enlarge)

 

List - Calendar

List – Calendar

 

List - Families

List – Families

 

List - Media

List – Media

 

List - Shared notes

List – Shared notes

 

List - Individuals

List – Individuals

 

List - Calendar utilities

List – Calendar utilities

 

List - Branches

List – Branches

Test it for yourself

Kiwitrees-nova can now be downloaded as a trial. You can either install it as a GitHub repository from “Kiwitrees-nova on GitHub“ or if you prefer to manually install from a zip file simply click this link: “Download zip“

BUT please remember:

  • This is still very much a “work in progress”, not even safe to be called “beta” yet.
  • Do NOT use it on your live site, or with any valuable data
  • You WILL find many parts still broken / unfinished etc. Please don’t report those as errors. Follow this blog (and re-read the earlier parts) to understand what is and is not ready for testing. If these blog posts don’t report a page as complete, then it won’t be.
  • Use the new forum area “Kiwitrees-nova discussions” to raise any issues you find, discuss things you don’t understand, etc.