X-Themes: Supporting Design-by-Example

Design-by-example enables users with little technical knowledge to develop web sites by reusing all or parts of existing sites. In CMS such as WordPress, themes essentially offer example designs for all-or-nothing reuse. We propose an extension to the theme concept that allows web sites to be designed by reusing and combining components of different themes. In contrast to previous research advocating design-by-example, we do not restrict ourselves to static web pages, but also support the reuse of dynamic content including functionality for animations and database access. Our approach is to provide a theme generator that structures the themes that it generates in terms of reusable components which can then be reused in future themes. We present a first prototype tool, called the X-Themes Editor, developed to demonstrate the viability of the approach and investigate requirements and issues. We describe how the X-Themes Editor has been integrated into the WordPress platform as well as discussing the outcomes of these initial investigations.