Meet Gavern - Bootstrap override and component consistency

Hi,
I have a few questions that to me are rather interrelated and that I just can’t get my head around so please help.

• When looking at the \meet_gavern\bootstrap\less files I do not understand what is vanilla Bootstrap 2.3.2 and what is added by Gavick?
• Why is Bootstrap included in the template and not just linked to a CDN so we always get the latest version of Bootstrap? I’m lacking BS 3 for example.
• Many components also relay on Bootstrap and include all the files in them. This leads to many declarations on top of each other and endless overwrites. I would like to set different basic stuff like colors in one place (i.e. /less/variables.less) and then should these be respected globally on the site. What is your idea of how this should be done? Is there a way to make sure that the css files from Meet Gavern are loaded after the components?
• My thinking would be that Bootstrap should be loaded once (preferably from CDN or the visitors’ cache) and then both in site template as well as in components, only add overwrites for what is needed, and not load everything again.
• Am I missing something vital?

Kind Regards
Pierre

If bootstrap changes - then some or most things might stop working - specially if you use CDN to download latest version.
If you need to keep care on your code and make sure that 3rd party solution change will not crash it - then using offline methods is the only logical solution.

Hi,
OK, I understand that some things get depreciated in later versions. You could however load it from a CDN anyhow, just specify the specific version. But more importantly, what is your thinking on the other questions?

• What is added and what is vanilla?
• I have customized my colors in an easy and few declarations in less/variables.less which changes the whole color theme in a nice way. How do I get this to be consistent in other components? I guess the problem is that the components also loads Bootstrap, which probably happens after the template has been rendered. The tricky thing about cascading... or?
• If other components need BS3, would it in a simple way be possible to add that to the Meet Gavern Template (and then remove it from the component), so my colors will be respected when the Less is compiled to CSS?

Kind Regards
Pierre

1. Decision on using CDN vs locally loaded was made by devTeam and changes in CDN was one of the concerns.
2. I don't have any informations about added vs vanilla .
3,4. I'll ask more advanced developers to look onto those questions.

When looking at the \meet_gavern\bootstrap\less files I do not understand what is vanilla Bootstrap 2.3.2 and what is added by Gavick?

Our version of bootstrap is recompiled from LESS files which is impossible if you use default Joomla Bootstrap styles - they are provided only in .css format

Why is Bootstrap included in the template and not just linked to a CDN so we always get the latest version of Bootstrap? I’m lacking BS 3 for example.

First of all BS 3 is not compatible with v2.3.2. Our template like Joomla use v.2.3.2 and due to incompatibility between v2 and v3 we don't provide new version. As a template provider we can't load this from CDN because this is critical CSS for our product - if you don't have internet connection with CDN loaded styles you can't event test them on localhost

Many components also relay on Bootstrap and include all the files in them. This leads to many declarations on top of each other and endless overwrites. I would like to set different basic stuff like colors in one place (i.e. /less/variables.less) and then should these be respected globally on the site. What is your idea of how this should be done? Is there a way to make sure that the css files from Meet Gavern are loaded after the components?

Template is always loaded in Joomla firstly and it is not meet gavern issue. If you want to change this order you should modify Joomla render process. Our styles are created with LESS so template you can customize using variables.less and then recompile files. The way how 3rd party extensions handle with styles is not template problem. In my opinion they should check whether BS is loaded or not but this is not our issue…

My thinking would be that Bootstrap should be loaded once (preferably from CDN or the visitors’ cache) and then both in site template as well as in components, only add overwrites for what is needed, and not load everything again.

With this case you need to contact with the extension providers, we can't create bootstrap based template relaying of fact that 3rd party extension will include it, but component developers may check whether BS is already loaded.