[development] Any way to get a poll? Drupal 5.0 Default theme.

[inkfree press]

All of this theme work for the 5.0 Drupal is great. Everyone who is working
on the handful of default options for this improved Drupal should be
congratulated.

However (yes, there's a however), there is a strange tone creeping into this
discussion. I "read" that tone as one of unhealthy "me versus you"
competition and not an open, impartial dialog about what "theme"
(arggh...template!) is best for Drupal users.  Key word: Users.


Some thoughts... (with no malice, just observation from this POV)...

"Trae McCombs" wrote:

> You tell me how you can have TWO default themes for Drupal 5.0 and then I'll
> say, cool, ok.

It was quite clear that the reference to 2 default themes was intended to
imply "ships with more than one pre-installed selectable theme".

Your reply seems a bit combative and and just a bit coercive toward "your"
theme.  [Or, Farsheed's theme, IIRC.]

> What I'm trying to ascertain is, which should be the default theme.

Why are you trying to ascertain this?  Why don't you allow the community to
ascertain this, based on what they see (and not what they hear that they
will see in the future)?

I am not sure, Trae, that you can be a neutral, impartial advocate for the
will of the community (or Dries).  It seems clear -- from your
"battle"-based web site and your comments -- that you have already
"ascertained" what you want, and that is the theme you are helping with.

Let the themes speak for themselves, when they are finished.

> Oh, if anyone wants to figure out and help me find a way to make it so that
> the default theme could switch out between two different themes say ever 1min
> (cron job?) that'd be great.  That way you'd get a 50/50 chance of getting
> either istyledthis.nl theme or the DZ theme when you visited themes.net

1. Randomness in "first displayed" does not have to be related to a 1-min
changeover.

2. Time-based changes in a theme for a site a user is viewing is a really,
really, really bad thing.  Why would one want the entire view of the loaded
browser page to just change automatically when one is viewing that page?  It
makes no sense.  (Randomness in initial selection _does_ make sense and goes
toward minimizing the appearance of a pre-determined prefernce on your
part.)

> Again, my main point is to find out which theme people feel will be best as
> the DEFAULT Drupal 5.0 core theme.  :)

Yeah, we heard you the first 20 times. :)

> The good thing is, no matter which way we go, I think it's going to be a win
> for the Drupal community.

I'm not sure so much talk of "battle royale" is good for the Drupal
community.  The word community has implications of reduced conflict, yet you
seem to want to frame this as _your_ theme against others.

Certainly polls and voting are okay, but when this is done, it really should
be done in a context of equality, and not skewed toward one theme or the
other.

Drupal Users should be first and foremost in mind and _not_ Drupal theme
makers and their personal needs.

-- 
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