Things learnt during APEX5 Universal Theme seminar by Shakeeb

Tonight I stayed up way past my bedtime (well, in the days of writing a book and Kscope presentations, midnight isn't that late).

I watched and listened to Shakeeb Rahman from the APEX team on an ODTUG webinar, which was recorded and available for ODTUG members.

I did, however, take some notes. I thought I'd share:

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Introduction

No need for css/javascript, or design

Not shy about reference to Douglas Adams.

Theme can be left locked & untouched, managed by APEX team for future version upgrades.

Vector based, will work on any screen size from smartphone to super dooper tv.

Template options make for fewer templates but more consistent yet customisable.

Accessible, keyboard friendly.

Top 5 Features

Enhanced Grid Layout

Addressing concerns from Theme 25, for better responsive applications.
eg: Attribute for label column span.

Show/hide grid got it's mojo back, and then some.

Template options are brilliant.

Region layout, using Grid Layout editor. Based on a few recent discussions I've seen on the forums, I wonder if people will change their tune one they start building some new apps in APEX 5.

Improved Navigation

Navigation lists, navigation bars, all behaving just like we wanted back in 3.x.
Many options, all declarative. App (interface) and page level.

icon-only css options found around - are these going to be published anywhere in documentation, not blog? Post seminar response was: that's the plan, in conjunction with theme sample app.

Template attributes a1-a10 coupled closer within builder so it's easy to reference what the values mean.

Font Awesome

Font Awesome now integrated. All classes to be found are integrated in select lists, with iconic previews. Great way to add polish.

Template Options

Scrolling/maximise options available out of box in region templates.

Carousel of regions. What a great idea.

Tweaking any templates easy using template options. Packaged application for Theme 42 shows all template features very well.

ThemeRoller

ThemeRoller. Change colour/look/feel of theme live. No CSS.
Built into developer toolbar.
Can save back into theme selections.
So easy to style your entire application. Theme styles available to kickstart re-design - Google, Metro...

Conclusion

Responsive behaviour easily much better than Theme 25. Time will tell when it comes to customisations in real projects, particularly for projects targeting specific size.

Universal theme is very impressive, I can't wait to use it for a dashboard project we have coming up.

White paper is coming to help migrate migrate to Universal Theme, which I applaud.

Alta UI theme style to be available as Vista.

APEX Team will have a Hangout next week on April 15.
http://www.inside-oracle-apex.com/ask-the-apex-development-team/

Questions

Theme style shareable across applications via JSON. What a cool move.
Don't have to use Universal Theme to use Font Awesome.
CSS calendar included in 5.0
Chrome/Firefox/Safari recommended for development.
IE9+ for some customers

#letswreckthistogether

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I can't even watch webinars without some pain. When lots going on the screen my audio dropped out. At least I think it was my end.

How awesome is APEX5 going to be?!