I can't change my theme on my win7 rigs but my husband can on his MAC...

[kat]

Looks worth working on, mate.

Kudos and all that stuff!

[Antechinus]

Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy, I just had an idea. How does this sound just for fun? I make it like those screenshots (content arranged like standard sidebar menu) but fixed in place at the left side of your screen. The height would be set to 100% of your screen height, with scrollable content within the actual menu so the entire menu can be found even on smallish screens. Menu is collapsible of course.

Advantage of this is you get the familiar menu layout, but it is accessible no matter where you are on an admin page, without taking up room all the time. Might be worth messing with just to see how it goes.

[Aleksi "Lex" Kilpinen]

What I think would change in the current admin menu, if nothing was moved around and the actual admin side remained the same.

You know, now that you click admin in the forum menu, you get a whole new menu bar under forum's own menu in the admin section, and it is yet further divided in to main sections like Configuration and sub-sections like Features and Options - why are the main sections not already in the forum menu admin dropwdown? If they were, I could get to the right section of the admin panel with one click.

[Antechinus]

Worth thinking about for sure.

[Antechinus]

Subs-Packages.php

Code (find) Select Expand

// Nothing?
if (empty($packageInfo))
return 'package_get_error_is_zero';


Code (replace with) Select Expand

// Nothing?
if (empty($packageInfo))
{
// It could be a theme, so better tell him.
$packageInfo = read_tgz_file($boarddir . '/Packages/' . $gzfilename, '*/theme_info.xml', true);
if (!empty($packageInfo))
return 'package_get_error_is_theme';
else
return 'package_get_error_is_zero';
}


PackageGet.php

Code (find) Select Expand


fatal_lang_error('package_upload_error_broken', false, $txt[$context['package']]);


Code (add before) Select Expand


$txt[$context['package']] = str_replace('{MANAGETHEMEURL}', $scripturl . '?action=admin;area=theme;sa=admin;' . $context['session_var'] . '=' . $context['session_id'], $txt[$context['package']]);



Errors.english.php

Code (find) Select Expand


$txt['package_get_error_packageinfo_corrupt'] = 'SMF was unable to find any valid information within the package-info.xml file included within the Package. There may be an error with the modification, or the package may be corrupt.';


Code (add before) Select Expand

$txt['package_get_error_is_theme'] = 'The package you are trying to install is a theme and not a mod, please use the <a href="{MANAGETHEMEURL}">Themes and Layout</a> management page to upload it';


This basically looks great and should be committed, but I'd make a couple of minor changes to the wording of the text strings.

Code (find) Select Expand


$txt['package_get_error_packageinfo_corrupt'] = 'SMF was unable to find any valid information within the package-info.xml file of the package. There may be an error with the modification, or the package may be corrupt.';


Code (add before) Select Expand

$txt['package_get_error_is_theme'] = 'The package you are trying to install is a theme and not a mod. Please use the <a href="{MANAGETHEMEURL}">Themes and Layout</a> management page to upload it';


And one extra idea here: if we add an anchor to the relevant section header, the link could take people straight to the upload section. Something like this:

Themes.template.php:

Find:

Code Select Expand

// Warn them if theme creation isn't possible!
if (!$context['can_create_new'])
echo '
<div class="errorbox">', $txt['theme_install_writable'], '</div>';

echo '
<form action="', $scripturl, '?action=admin;area=theme;sa=install" method="post" accept-charset="', $context['character_set'], '" enctype="multipart/form-data" onsubmit="return confirm(\'', $txt['theme_install_new_confirm'], '\');">
<div class="cat_bar">
<h3 class="catbg">
<span class="ie6_header floatleft"><a href="', $scripturl, '?action=helpadmin;help=theme_install" onclick="return reqWin(this.href);" class="help"><img src="', $settings['images_url'], '/helptopics.png" class="icon" alt="', $txt['help'], '" /></a> ', $txt['theme_install'], '</span>

Replace:

Code Select Expand

// Warn them if theme creation isn't possible!
if (!$context['can_create_new'])
echo '
<div class="errorbox">', $txt['theme_install_writable'], '</div>';

echo '
<form action="', $scripturl, '?action=admin;area=theme;sa=install" method="post" accept-charset="', $context['character_set'], '" enctype="multipart/form-data" onsubmit="return confirm(\'', $txt['theme_install_new_confirm'], '\');">
<div class="cat_bar">
<h3 class="catbg">
<a href="', $scripturl, '?action=helpadmin;help=theme_install" onclick="return reqWin(this.href);" class="help" id="hey_use_this_bit"><img src="', $settings['images_url'], '/helptopics.png" class="icon" alt="', $txt['help'], '" /></a> ', $txt['theme_install'], '

Then the text string becomes something like:

Code (add before) Select Expand

$txt['package_get_error_is_theme'] = 'The package you are trying to install is a theme and not a mod. Please use the <a href="http://whatever.com/index.php?action=admin;area=theme;sa=admin;#hey_use_this_bit">Themes and Layout</a> management page to upload it';


Which is dodgey url syntax that I can't be bothered figuring out right now, but I'm sure you get the idea.

ETA: Another thought. It may be best to reverse the order of two of the sections on the theme management page. Really, I think what most people will want is the sections that actually manage their forum on top, with the supposedly "Latest and greatest themes" at the bottom.

If the page is laid out like:

Themes and Layout Settings

Install a New Theme

Latest and Greatest Themes

I think that would be more useful. Once someone is already looking at the installation form, then they can scroll down a bit and check out the latest themes if they want to.
 

[emanuele]

Applied all the code Ant.

ETA: Another thought. It may be best to reverse the order of two of the sections on the theme management page. Really, I think what most people will want is the sections that actually manage their forum on top, with the supposedly "Latest and greatest themes" at the bottom.

If the page is laid out like:

Themes and Layout Settings

Install a New Theme

Latest and Greatest Themes

I think that would be more useful. Once someone is already looking at the installation form, then they can scroll down a bit and check out the latest themes if they want to.

Then let's move this and the latest packages to the end of the main admin area?