[Digital Jedi]

Originally Posted by KTBleeding

Jedi, I both see and understand where you are coming from with that, but I don't personally think that it should be the case. I also have to disagree with this:

If whoever they hire for this job is skilled enough, can come up with very clean and semantic markup, and knows what they're doing with CSS, then there is no doubt in my mind that I could create an entirely different looking layout without ever having to touch the markup once.

I'm not saying that will be the case every single time, but most template changes will simply be to put in additional features that are desired and not there by default.

I see what you're saying about most people not being ready for a big change like that.. but I would never let that hold me back as a business owner. If people want the old style, then they can use an older version of vBulletin. I don't feel that a web development company should hold itself back from advancing because some people may not want to learn how to use CSS correctly.

At least, AT LEAST offer two variations.. maybe keep the tables alive for people who will flip out, and also offer a clean, semantic, and tableless design for people who are ready to move forward as the internet does.

I think the one and only downside of it would be third party addons / plugins. Let's face it, the majority of programmers are not the best html developers in the world.. and vice verca. There would probably need to be two developers per addon most of the time. One for markup, the other for programming. That will never stick in this community.

I should a be little more clear on what I was saying. I wasn't suggesting that vB is holding back because people where not mentally prepared to handle big change, I mean they where being patient because people may not be physically prepared to handle sudden change.

It's like why countries like the US have a transition period where the next President has to wait several months before the final transition of power takes place, both for reasons of national security and for the mental progression it will take for the country to grasp it. Complex systems usually develop at a pace, rather then just when change is first available. In this case, the complex system isn't just vBulletin core script, but the entire community as a whole (plugin/mod developers, style designers, veteran administrators, novice vB owners, business sites that rely on third party scripts, non-business sites with a dedicated fan-base, etc). I don't think it would be wise for any business, just for the sake of a new technology, to disregard their market base as whole for any one component. Sure, it may mean that they have to rely on some older technology for a while. But in the meantime, their process remains structured, everything continues to function efficiently, and their customer base doesn't feel their being left behind.