Theme site and obsolete themes?

[lurkalot]

Just curious.  Isn't it about time some of the old themes were archived or removed from the themes site?  While perusing I notice the random theme section is bringing up themes compatible with SMF 1.0 which ended life on December 31, 2012.  Wouldn't the random feature be better served displaying stuff that's current and usable?

*Also notice some of these are showing in the most popular themes stat box on the right of the page.

Anyway, a  couple of the themes showing for me right now in the Random Themes section as an example.

*Name:Salava
Last Modified:May 05, 2006
Compatible With:1.0.6

*Name:Darkness
Last Modified:May 05, 2006
Compatible With:1.0.6

Your thoughts on this please. 

[Illori]

we usually dont move themes or mods to an archived category, usually the authors do. but it seems with themes there is no similar category to put them into. the cust team has a lot on their plates and i dont think has the time to keep up with themes or mods that are outdated or not supported and to move them to another category.

[Deaks]

would not take anytime for a team memberto send Gaia a message asking her to archive her themes, she was active this year, and does visit on a semi regular basis just never posts.

http://custom.simplemachines.org/themes/index.php?action=profile;u=9356

To make it easier

But out of curiosity what are cus team busy on?  Their have been no themes approved sinca last year and mods seem to be getting approved on average of 1 a week,  so I cannot imagine based on this that their are too many waiting to be looked at, and assume most are waiting on user responses.  Then their is providing support, yet again seems to be the same people doing the support that have been doing most of it for over a year, yes Illori this includes you (see I can give compliments)

[Bloc]

They/he/she was rather swift dealing with a theme I submitted recently(which didn't get approved, but thats beside the point) so it seems to be time for it?

Really, and I am probably not the only one saying it either, the whole theme site is old and outdated, both in terms of how it looks/performs and having the team go through all themes submitted/uploaded. It would make much more sense to have a theme site where theme authors themselves took responsibility for errors in themes. If its malicious code in them or even code that by the team's standard don't belong there, there would surely be ways to report it so that the author HAVE to deal with code that create errors, at least. And it could all be automatic.

IMO the best way to rate a theme is by the feedback from users.

To elaborate..a theme could have uploaded versions which could not be erased, only archived. So if a theme author posts a new version where feedback is negative, users can still choose the earlier version. A rating scheme based on negative/positive feedback for each version and where the layout showed the best rated on top. There could be a "recommended by author" version there too, but overall the feedback should determine the placement in the download list. If the team feel a version is less desireable they could add "not recommend by team" tag to any version - to have some control if feel like it. And it would only show the last 5 versions, the rest ipon further clicking into the "archives".

A aging mechanism too, if a version is getting old, without updates, tag it with "not updated in xxx days". If a whole theme isn't accessed in a year, add "possibly abanded theme" to it. Updates to themes should send out PM's to subscribers, and comments should be taken from topics, as now. The first post in a comment topic should really be JUST the link to the themesite, not a copy of the items description, the author cannot change that first post at all.

Each theme should have variables for demo-site(possibly several), descriptions and category-tags of course. The front of the site could simply list the latest submitted, the top downloaded and the tags themselves. A random theme feature perhaps, and certainly the best rated(+/- feedback and total feedbacks combined)

I don't know if more people will create themes if such a site existed, as it should been done years ago when SMF theme scene was more active - but at least it would make the theme site more inviting for both users and authors. IMHO anyway.

(reminder to self: perhaps create something similar on my own site, as a proof of concept)

[JBlaze]

They/he/she was rather swift dealing with a theme I submitted recently(which didn't get approved, but thats beside the point) so it seems to be time for it?

That would be me

Really, and I am probably not the only one saying it either, the whole theme site is old and outdated, both in terms of how it looks/performs and having the team go through all themes submitted/uploaded. It would make much more sense to have a theme site where theme authors themselves took responsibility for errors in themes. If its malicious code in them or even code that by the team's standard don't belong there, there would surely be ways to report it so that the author HAVE to deal with code that create errors, at least. And it could all be automatic.

I agree, and we're all working on overhauling both the theme and mod sites. It's going to take time, though. It's not a simple overhaul by any means.

IMO the best way to rate a theme is by the feedback from users.

Of course. A rating system and improved reporting system are on the list for the overhaul.

To elaborate..a theme could have uploaded versions which could not be erased, only archived. So if a theme author posts a new version where feedback is negative, users can still choose the earlier version. A rating scheme based on negative/positive feedback for each version and where the layout showed the best rated on top. There could be a "recommended by author" version there too, but overall the feedback should determine the placement in the download list. If the team feel a version is less desireable they could add "not recommend by team" tag to any version - to have some control if feel like it. And it would only show the last 5 versions, the rest ipon further clicking into the "archives".

Also on the list.

A aging mechanism too, if a version is getting old, without updates, tag it with "not updated in xxx days". If a whole theme isn't accessed in a year, add "possibly abanded theme" to it. Updates to themes should send out PM's to subscribers, and comments should be taken from topics, as now. The first post in a comment topic should really be JUST the link to the themesite, not a copy of the items description, the author cannot change that first post at all.

Also on the list, similar to how a warning on topics that haven't been replied to in "x" days is displayed in SMF.

Each theme should have variables for demo-site(possibly several), descriptions and category-tags of course.

Custom fields

The front of the site could simply list the latest submitted, the top downloaded and the tags themselves. A random theme feature perhaps, and certainly the best rated(+/- feedback and total feedbacks combined)

Possibly. This is something that will be worked out as the overhaul progresses.

I don't know if more people will create themes if such a site existed, as it should been done years ago when SMF theme scene was more active - but at least it would make the theme site more inviting for both users and authors. IMHO anyway.

You know as well as I do that an overhaul has been started and stagnated many times by many different people due to lack of motivation and help, people leaving the team due to real life obligations and situations, disagreements on what should or shouldn't be done, or general disinterest in continuing. That's the beauty of a volunteer open source software.

[Antes]

@Bryan

Let me clear something for you, at this point there is no theme awaiting approval. We rejected some of the themes because their author didn't comply with our guidelines.

[Deaks]

Thanks Antes

how many mods? (welcome to pm me the details )

But if their are no themes, why can a team member not either send a message to the author or archive themes themselves, it would be quicker than reading this and responding   Took me less than a minute to see every theme for the author mentioned was for no longer supported versions of SMF, and less than a minute to make a template message up thats posted in the cus team board to be sent to the author.  End of day spending those few minutes would save topics like this coming back up   Not having a go at anyone.