Adding a logo to your theme
When FileMaker, Inc. released the new theming system for FileMaker Pro a while back, they made one of the best decisions possible for a development platform. They chose to go with an industry standard instead of rolling their own solution.
The standard they chose to use was CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). While their implementation was specific to the platform, and the whole "cascading" part didn't really apply, the choice was a good one.
Today, the upside is the fact that it's the same language of the web. The same which is used to provide ultimate control over how everything looks on a given web page. Essentially, full power and control to the designer or developer. The downside, in FileMaker's case, is they can only expose certain aspects of the CSS as their internal development resources allow. They have to keep moving the product forward in other areas as well as the user interface.
So, knowing that CSS is behind the scenes, there are certain things we can do to modify the look and feel beyond what FileMaker's Inspector palette exposes. This video is about a certain insider trick which can make your use of a company logo infinitely easier when it comes time to make a simple change down the road. Check it out!
Comments
amazing, but...
I still prefer having a container field in the preferences, so users can change the logo without developer interaction.
And more: using a related table, you can keep track of previous logo so that only new records get new logo.
It's a very different approach!
Yes, if you need user control over the logo.
I would definitely suggest that any solution needing user control over the logo use a container as you mention. All you have to do is put the container on each layout. It's the same concept, but one allows for user control versus developer control.
It just all depends on who you want to be able to change the logo! ;) Thanks for the comment!
-- Matt Petrowsky - ISO FileMaker Magazine Editor
clever, but why
Would this create inconsistency in the DB from a UI. If you went to FB and different photos you loaded showed the logo facebook was rocking at the time you published that photo. Is that just a distraction? Does it help? Maybe best to do a ui user preference flag for a timeline logo or standard. I guess it depends on what kind of data you are playing with. Great idea! Great video Matt and way to get us thinking outside the Container Field Box Box. :0:
CSS Fonts
Hi Matt, I'm very impressed with the ability to edit the CSS so I am wondering do you think it would be possible to take this one step further and embed fonts into a theme? I share my solution via webdirect and currently if the font is not installed on the users computer then filemaker defaults to another standard font. It would be great if we could use css to pick up a font url?
Adding logo header to my "Themes Layout"
In this video “Adding a logo to your theme” Matt works in the header area to add the logo.
I have started a solution with Matts brilliant starter “(Re)Theming Solutions” and in the header area there are the labels for the types of fields within the theme.
It is not possible to add 2 headers to a layout.
So my question is If I already have the overall theme layout where should I add the Logo header.
Please excuse me if Im being completely dumb.
A problem is just a solution is disguise
Stil working in FM19?
Dear Matt, is this still working in FM19? It seems as a style can no longer be pasted to a background. Any ideas of how to overcome this?
Your video shows such a nice technique! It would be a pity if it could not be used anymore...
Gerf
Stil working in FM19?
Dear Matt, is this still working in FM19? It seems as a style can no longer be pasted to a background. Any ideas of how to overcome this?
Your video shows such a nice technique! It would be a pity if it could not be used anymore...
Gerf