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Theme request: Slaty Stain, Tropical Grunge, Orange Sky and some

  1. adeleth
    Member

    Hi, I'd love if you could add these themes to the current selection. They've got more colour, more pizzazz and a different feel from the mostly mild-mannered/professional-looking ones available now.

    Slaty Stain: http://www.contact-sheet.de/blog/index.php/iroybots-stained-theme/
    Tropical Grunge: http://blog.templatemonster.com/2006/02/17/word-press-themes/
    Orange Sky: http://managedtasks.com/wpthemes/blog/index.php?wptheme=OrangeSky
    Opus 68: http://www.francey.org/preview.php?template=opus

    And if you'll allow customisation of the header image,
    Clueless, Pop Art, Vivacity, Refresh: http://lukaret.com/?page_id=164

    Breaking away for one very simple yet very tasteful
    Kiss: http://labs.oinam.com/css/kiss/

    That's a lot, I know, but if you would -- thanks! :)

  2. waffle
    Member

    Very neat themes. :D
    Would be great if some of them can be on WP.com.

  3. matt
    Staff

    Thanks for the suggestions! I'll take a look at some of these next go-round.

  4. vexterior
    Member

    Love opus 68 and kiss. They're nice

  5. ashan
    Member

    Slatystain seems to be missing now, but the others are still available. I do hope matt will add some of them!

  6. bjornf
    Member

    My vote goes to Kiss.

  7. patriotsfanblog
    Member

    why dont you get a sports theme?

  8. timethief
    Member

    If you can find a theme that is 730 pixels by 140 pixels, then it can be inserted as a header into the regulus theme.

    Why don't you see what "sports" images you can find on the net or in your own photo clollection or your friends photo collections. Maybe something can be done about creating a header that suits your needs that way - it has worked for others.

    P.S. Requests for specific themes go to feedback. As for themes that do not exist as yet they are created by theme designers and not by the folks who provide support for the forum.

    The paint program can be used to size it. I believe that photoshop maybe be used for the same purpose. In any case what have you got to lose by looking for an appropriate image?

  9. patriotsfanblog
    Member

    I would, but I REALY hate the regulus theme, I love the default one, thats the one we should be able to add a header image in.

  10. timethief
    Member

    patriotsfan please go to your web browser and type in kubrik theme limitations and read what you find there on the web. It will take you to posts by lorelle. (The Default theme is the kubrik theme.)

  11. drmike
    Member

    There actually is a fair number of generic sports themes available. MAybe they'll be added one day. :)

  12. wank
    Member

    Since we can already use custom headers on Regulus, there seems to be no technical or security-related reason why we shouldn't be able to do the same on other themes, though obviously some themes are more suited to this than others.

    What would really be useful is a very basic black-on-white theme which let you make your own header, choose an accent colour for the links and titles, and let you select one-column, two-column or three-column options. Does this exist already? If it doesn't, I may have to make it myself.

  13. ashan
    Member

    Actually, timethief, the faq blog states that the best place to request new themes is on the ideas forum. And so, here we are! I'll take your advice though, and submit a feedback form anyway. :)

    I do wish the superadmin would add some of these themes. Sigh. In the meantime, thank goodness for header customisation!

  14. wank
    Member

    The other handy thing about posting theme requests in the forum in addition to sending feedback is that it gives everyone else a chance to see the themes in question.

    We can probably conclude that since this thread is pretty old and we've had a number of other themes added in the meantime, the suggested themes have been rejected. It'd be very helpful for people planning to make future requests (not to mention for theme designers) if Matt could briefly explain why they weren't suitable.

  15. timethief
    Member

    Indeed I think hearing the reasons and rationale for saying "no" to this theme or that theme would be very helpful. If we could hear the rejection criteria then we could establish some likelihood for saying "yes" benchmarks to consider when making new theme requests. I'm so glad you brought that up.:)

  16. drmike
    Member

    Not a staff member but here's what I see right off:

    Slaty Stain (once you find it on his site since almost all of the site's internal links redirect) requires a plug in to work and requires the CC button. That would probably mean the text would also have to be CC'ed as well which would not go over with some folks including me.

    Tropical Grunge would require a link back to Template Monster, a commerical outfit that makes Templates for websites. I don't know how Matt would feel about that.

    Orange Sky (Link included to the author's site just for reference) is WP 1.5. Don't know if it would work with 2.0/MU.

    Opus 68 isn't GPL'ed and is listed as non-commerical only.

    Clueless, Pop Art, Vivacity, Refresh is all CC'ed and non-commerical.

    Don't know about Kiss. I personally really really hate thin themes though.

    I've asked Podz to fix the "Theme requests into the Ideas forum" issue because Matt has stated before that theme requests should be sent in via feedback since they are keeping track of which themes get requested. I don't mind the thread here though so we can discuss the themes in question though and it allows others to cast their own votes for the ones they like as well.

  17. jb510
    Member

    I really like Orange Sky, I love the way the sidebar starts at the top of the page even with the top of the banner.

    FWIW, This is a cool theme browser (obviously with lots of themes not available on WP.COM). It does have some of the WP.COM themes though that you can look at.

    From the orange sky theme page above comes the link:
    http://www.alexking.org/software/wordpress/theme_browser.php

  18. maximilion
    Member

    I liked Opus 68 a lot, just wish I could replace the header image ;)

  19. wank
    Member

    Ah, it's the old 'linkbacks are eeeevil unless they are to WP developers' policy.

    I've always felt that specifying non-commercial licences on free themes is fair enough; why shouldn't businesses pay for something they're going to profit from? Same thing with linkbacks -- this person has spent time and skill making something from which you're benefiting, and a link is really not too much to ask for in lieu of payment. But the WP developers have always had a problem with these practices, seeing them as insufficiently 'open'. It's a clash of cultures between coders and graphic designers, and it does seem to be narrowing the range of themes available to wp.com.

    (On the principle that businesses should pay for what they're making money out of, there's a good case to be made for Automattic doing what Google did with Blogger: hiring professional designers to come up with professional-quality designs. This won't happen, because it would cost money and the community would get stroppy, but I wish it would.)

  20. drmike
    Member

    Wank, I agree with leaving in the linkbacks and I leave them in with the themes I install for my clients. heck, I'm even putting them into themes that don't already have them now.

    I do note that I am seeing more and more themes with links back to their "sponsers" in the footers that go to some sort of business. There's one theme over at themes.wordpress.net that looks like it goes back to a spammer's outfit. I don't know how I feel about that.

    If I could drop a check in the mail for every open source project I've dealt with over the years, I'd do it in a heartbeat. Probably never going to happen though. :(

  21. wholeshebang
    Member

    @wank:

    What about the lot of us who are not blogging for business? WordPress.com is free, and it attracts many of us.

    I think a good policy would be to:

    1) Have a page to link to preview all themes installed on WordPress.com without changing our own blog. If "live" previews aren't doable, then the thumbnails should at least link to large screenshot, and a text link to the author's download site (so we can preview the live version if they have it on their site, or ask them questions).

    2) Have a link or button at the top of the Themes page to "Commercial and Restricted Themes". Therefore, allow people on WordPress.com to easily find commercial themes if they want them, but keep them seperate from the rest.

    3) Resolve the money issue by allowing people to "buy" the use of a theme with the Update Credits they have purchased. WordPress' policy would be that WordPress.com does not pay for install, but that users on WordPress.com pay as they go. This would also provide a low-price high-volume alternate revenue stream in addition to however the author markets and sells their theme themselves. Everybody wins.

  22. drmike
    Member

    1) Staff has mentioned many times that they won't do this. There are plenty of theme review sites on the net that already do this where themes can be seen. The feedback I've gotten back from staff was that they want folks trying out the themes for themselves instead of just reading off a review sheet or seeing how demo content looks.

    Gotta admit though I do it on my own WPMU site.

    2) We have "Commercial and Restricted Themes?" First I've heard about them...

    If folks want a specific theme that is not available here, they are free to grab a copy of WordPress themselves. Hosting now a days is less than the cost of a lunch out every month and there are plenty of free hosts out there.
    And heck, there are other WPMU hosts out there, some of them who will pretty much drop everything to help folks.

    3) Already in place. Also remember that the software that is in place here does not allow for individual themes like you think it does. This is a shared environment where when one thing changes, it affects everybody here.

    For someone who's only been here a week, you may want to take a few minutes and read the FAQs and float though the forums. You're making a lot of assumtions and suggestions that do not work here.

    Regards,
    -drmike

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