gistfile1.md

THX38

Theme Experience.

What problem(s) are you trying to solve?

• Significantly improve and re-imagine the theme browsing screens for a better user experience.
• More beautiful, visually focused, fast, and up to date with the current times of mobile ubiquitousness, flexible resolutions and retina devices.
• Make it easier and enjoyable for people to find the best and most suitable themes for their needs and tastes.

What proposal solution(s) are you interested in exploring?

• Possibly implement a Backbone.js based plugin to handle the display of themes, that takes over themes.php.
• Puts the focus on screenshots (retina and larger if we can balance it with backwards compat), removes unnecessary visual burdens from the main browsing experience.
• Make it fast, instant searches within your collection. Rethink how we deal with filters.

Some concepts:

• Remove tabbed interface. Show your current theme collection and a way to add more: http://cl.ly/image/3w2h0C0J2K12
• Alternatively, use an "add new" button: http://cl.ly/image/3Q0V0r0A3r0Q
• Simplify "current theme" block, highlight the active theme as the first theme on the gird: http://cl.ly/image/292t0y2O1i1o
• Theme info expanded-views, maybe multiple screenshots support: http://cl.ly/image/42122a3J3K3V
• Or mobile screenshot if theme has responsive-design tag: http://cl.ly/image/2y1I0W000D3C
• Another approach for multiple screenshots: http://cl.ly/image/3g1J3A0e161k

This work will also transition into revamping the .org directory with the goal that searching for and installing a theme is equally rewarding and consistent no matter where you start.

Past experiences: look at lessons learned from the WordPress.com theme showcase.

When and where is your group communicating?

To be decided.

Who has joined your group so far?

samuelsidler, matveb, melchoyce, jacobdubail, shaunandrews.

helen and DH-Shredder1 are on board for helping as well.

Definitely in favor of screenshots showing responsive design, but agree with @tarendai that the focus should be on the theme, not a particular device. Give a theme the opportunity to have 3-4 screenshots, and let the author decide if they want to use 1-2 of those screenshots to showcase how the theme looks on smaller screens, i.e. tablets and phones.