"Jeff Eaton" wrote:
The default theme is, like it or not, 'the look of Drupal.' What identity it projects has a nontrivial impact on how the platform itself is perceived and used.
A fine point. Well said. To address that point, or rather to add to it, since it is central and meaningful... I would amend that to say that it is the "first look" of Drupal rather than "the look" of Drupal. And, because it is the important first look, it should be entirely functional and skeletal. There should be little or no "color, theme, scheme, artiness" going on. The user must add -- or choose -- that in a purposeful way. To do that, there should be a handful of pre-installed ready to go templates, with styles attached (i.e., 'themes') that the first-time installing user can switch to -- to get a sense of the range of possibility. So, I would propose, for lots of reasons (including a real "Oooh!" moment when the new first-time installing user can see the exact content they are looking at [the initial first page view immediately after an install]. Then, in the 'templates and themes' section of that first-page content, where there is already discussion of and links to template admin and downloads, we add a "Experiment with different templates and themes right here" drop-down menu, so the user can -- while looking at their first front page -- see the site change by selection. That would be truly inspiring for the first-time installing user. -- inkfree