Anyone who has uploaded a theme themselves or browsed through the theme viewer to any great degree is sure to have had a number of complaints with the service. Granted it is a service, and a great one at that. But there is still a lot that could be improved upon.
My Complaints
No tagging leaves for very limited search capabilities
Tagging has nearly become standard, no matter what the purpose of the website is. There are search engines now which actually give greater value to a user tagged item than something indexed by an engine. The point is: users are the best way to categorize user generated content. Or, at least they should be a contributing factor. Right now there is no option on Theme Viewer for adding tags to themes while browsing. But consider the value of this. Users could:
- Tag a theme with the purpose they used it for, thus lending even more value to the description.
- Add helpful search terms like “SEO optimized” or “very clean code”
- Leave any other number of custom tags that could do useful things I’m not creative enough to come up with.
Sure, there could (and probably would be) abuse of the system. But should that ever be the reason (or excuse) not to push the envelope?
Broken theme images cause confusion and misunderstanding
There is a great system built there, don’t get me wrong. But I have experience a mishap or two when it comes to the automatic image that displays for each theme. In short: it was broken. How about a description of what browser is snapping those shots? Or quality control that makes sure that the images that display are correct?
Unanswered emails/requests for service
This actually goes along with the above idea. When one of the themes I collaborated on with Cory Miller showed up broken in the Theme Viewer, I emailed the Theme Viewer people. I’m not sure who this is channeled to (a member of the undersigned, perhaps?) but I never heard back. Still waiting.
No rating system in place
The closest thing to a rating system is the “most downloaded” sidebar that shows the top then most downloaded themes. But this is hardly an indicator of quality; just take a look at the themes listed. Number one is a theme called Vestered Little. It’s not crap or anything, but it’s main feature is the ability to change the background image. If you don’t get the humor of that last statement, it won’t help if I try and explain it to you.
That post is above every stinking page!
If you search with the search box up top on Theme Viewer, that dang post never leaves its position. Every page you see, you have to scroll down half a page to see anything useful! This still amazes me; it’s very anti-user friendly.
So what should be done?
The toughest and the easiest question of all. Maybe it’s something that they can change in the Theme Viewer itself. Or maybe it’s time for something new.
What would a new, improved Theme Viewer look like?
- It would be easily tag-able. Think Flickr, YouTube, Facebook—pretty much any web 2.0 that’s worth a rip.
- It would be as well thought-out as Wordpress is.
- It would have quick feedback.
- It would include a solid rating system where users’ reputation weighed into their votes.
- All of the little annoying things, like that post above everything and the messed up screenshots, would be gone.
Phew. It felt good to get that off my chest.
5 Comments
Hi Ryan, I definitely agree about the tagging, poor email response and a lack of a rating system. For example, Vistered Little can be black, white, grey or yellow (It’s skinnable), but when you update the theme, you can only pick one colour.
I don’t think a rating system should have different weights for different users (how do you determine a users reputation?), but the previous rating system was severely broken. A theme with one rating of 5 (usually cutesy of the theme author) should not be rated above a theme that has two ratings of 5 and one rating of 4.
Lastly, I would say that Vistered Little’s ability to change the background is novel, it’s hardly it’s main feature. I’m the current author of Vistered Little and I have the background switching turned off on my site. For me the main feature of Vistered Little is it’s semi-transparent design. I haven’t seen that anywhere else and when used with a simple background (like on my site), has a nice simple clean effect. Coming in a close second is how configurable Vistered Little is, making it so many themes built into one.
I appreciate your feedback. Thanks!
I would say that a rating system could work if it were weighted, and here’s how:
* The more themes you’ve added, the greater the weight your vote holds.
* The longer you’ve had an active account on the theme viewer, the more weight your vote holds.
* The higher vote total your theme gets the more weight your vote holds, and vice versa.
I don’t know, those are my ideas…thoughts?
And then Vistered Little: The transparent thing is very cool, but I have seen it elsewhere too. Check it out at http://themes.wordpress.net/columns/2-columns/2914/micfoscenic-10/ I actually did the XHTML/CSS for that one.
This would encourage a whole heap of dodgy or very similar themes, just to increase voting weights.
Those could work, but what it’s really saying is that the rating system is for theme designers and not for the general public. I don’t think people would appreciate it if their vote didn’t really count. Also, there wouldn’t be a lot of transparency in the voting. How do you convey the the theme with a rating of 4 is “higher” that a theme with a rating of 5, because the voters had higher weight.
You could do this easily with the system I proposed, by allowing the user to click details and get a count of the 5s, 4s, 3s, 2s and 1s. Basically it would be a medal tally system, instead of an average rating system.
Nice. I like how you use another image for the content background to achieve a semi-transparent effect. VL uses semi-transparent pngs, but the technique you use allows a whole heap of different effects. Intriguing.
Hey Ryan - interesting ideas here, and I’m no coder but I think most of them could be easily implemented. It seems you’re not the only one unhappy with Theme Viewer lately. Randa Clay has talked about her trouble getting themes uploaded, and the lack of response to her emails as well. Unfortunate, since I’m really trying to get some half-done themes of my own released, and was hoping to use Theme Viewer to gain some exposure. Oh how I wish I could code the functionality of the things you’re talking about myself
I’d launch a site for all of us WP themers itching for a little recognition!
Hi Ryan,
I’ve uploaded rockinsoft_3col of Nathan from http://www.rockinthemes.com but the following message appears on my wordpress local site:
Broken Themes
The following themes are installed but incomplete. Themes must have a stylesheet and a template.
Name Description
Stylesheet is missing.
Do you have any idea why?
Thanks for your help.
Maria
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