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New Themes.org Almost Ready; Needs A Little Help
Daelin writes: "Themes.org is almost ready to re-open! They need people to write submission guidelines and then maintain the item queue for item types that people want covered, however. This is a chance for some people to help out a hub which connects several different communities."
Can't wait to try out my new windoze lookalike desktop.
This really is a great site.
Over the last few months while they've been "static" I must admit that, on occasion, i've been annoyed at nothing seemingly happening.
Knowing (personally) some of the maintainers at irc.themes.org and that they're probably as annoyed as I was helped me look at things in a different perspective though.
These guys work hard and deserve every praise they get, and no critisism (critique is ok)... they don't get paid for this remember. I know at least one person responsible at irc.themes.org was considering resigning from his position because of lack of progress... just glad he didn't. I'm just glad that things _are_ happening. Kudos to the themes.org team.
Themes.Org has to be one of the best examples to hand out to Linux newbies of the platform's advantages at its best. So many people with varying skill levels contributing their time and efforts to let people pick from hundreds of desktop configurations and appearances.
Just think about it.
Each Windowing environment has programmers writing open spec API's to allow people to customize the desktop.
Then the people who write the software to create and install the Themes. Not to mention graphics editing software and sound editing software.
Gui, Graphics and sound icon designers working on theme components.
Individuals and teams putting the peieces together to create hundreds of themes with a consistant look and feel.
All the user has to do if he/she wants to completely change the look of their desktop or make the computer an extension of their own personality is go to Themes.Org and click the download button.
Awesome. Nothing comparable comes to mind.
"God fights on the side with the best artillery." - Napoleon, Marshal of France - speaking truth to power
check out the poll on alpha.themes.org
its interesting to see which people vote for....
I'm sure they needed a lil' slashdotting to test their server too, right? Have some compassion!
limewire
1) Given the horror stories that have cropped up over the past year and a half regarding how VA treats its volunteers, people would be crazy to help this particular project.
2) The whole idea of "volunteering" for a company thats out to make a profit off your work is beyond common sense anyway.
My $0.02,
Rand
I've had the same theme for years...black background, white text.
Before that it was black background, orange text.
Long time ago it was green background, whitish green text.
And my first real theme was white background, blue lines, grey text.
Writers imply. Readers infer.
Here's wishing everyone the best of luck. BTW, I like the new "peachy" color scheme:-)
THE GOOD HUMOR MAN CAN ONLY BE PUSHED SO FAR
Bart Simpson on chalkboard in episode 2F18
I don't know about #1, but I got to disagree with you on #2.
Most of the work opensource developers will put in will directly influence whether or not the companies that produce linux distros will make a profit. If linux sucks and doesn't improve, then they don't make money. If it rocks and it's getting better, then these companies will make more money (because more people will buy their distro + tech support).
People volunteer for companies that are out to make profits all the time. If I volunteer, it's not because it's for a non-profit cause, but that it's for a good cause.
F-bacher
James Tiberius Kirk: "Spock, the women on your planet are logical. No other planet in the galaxy can make that claim."
Who's the shithead that modded this down? Assuming AWG ain't low on Karma, of course.
Seriously, though...people that fuck around with the desktop make life painful when they call asking for tech support. More so since I'm not in tech support.
I understand that we all have to be so damn unique, but developers should understand the purpose of standards.
And don't Linux dorks hate cruft? Someone please explain how themes are essential to the computing environment.
Writers imply. Readers infer.
And it's even worse when you're trying to help them fix a problem with their computer.
"Okay, now go to the StartMenu and select Run"
"The what menu"
"You know, the menu in the bottom left that says 'Start'"
"I don't have one of those"
"why not?"
"It got in the way, so I deleted it"
"Then how do you get to your programs?"
"You mean my porn?"
"Uhmm... yes"
"I don't know, that's why I was calling you"
"Do you have an icon called 'My computer' on your desktop"
"No"
"Do you have a desktop?"
"Yes, I have my laptop on it right now"
"No, on your computer."
"Why would I put my desktop ontop of my computer"
"[insert long description of what the desktop metaphor is]"
"Oh... I don't think I have one of those."
"Why not?"
"I figured if I got rid of this thing you call the 'desktop,' then I'd have more room for porn."
"[hand to forehead]"
F-bacher
James Tiberius Kirk: "Spock, the women on your planet are logical. No other planet in the galaxy can make that claim."
The problem with themes.org is that it is TOO good. Why should that be a problem? It's so good that nobody else is even trying; there's no point. Unfortunately, this makes it a single point of failure (I noticed this when attempting to find mozilla themes; when themes.org was down, it was tough to find anything worth downloading.)
Ok, so that's not a REAL problem, but I have been doing a lot more thinking about redundancy this week. Other people have mentioned this 'problem' about sourceforge, too. We need to make sure that there's not a single point of failure, and that these great sites and the themes/projects are kept going and accessible no matter what bizarre circumstances might happen.
Allot of the most popular sites are ran by the target audience. Slashdot gets its content from user submissions, the moderation is done by the users, the posts are the largest part of slashdot.
Some of my favorite sites are all user driver, blues news, betanews, slashdot, planetsites, freshmeat, themes, infoanarchy, kuro5hin, netctarine and tribalwar. And most of the news sites I read get their submissions and comments from users.
The only problem I had when Themes went down, its about the only place I know for icewm themes and theme screenshots.
If I had one thing I could take away, it would be the ability to change the cursor. How did something so heinous evolve from the need to put trails on your mouse for your laptop? Look, it's an arrow. Now it's a castle. Now it's a racecar! Vroom Vroom!
Maybe that's why mice remind me of the ball and chain of yore. Here's a sound for you, Whoosh, Whoosh, Whoosh, SMACK!
Angry White Guy
You think that I'm crazy, you should see this guy!
am i the only one that thinks the layout and color of the old site look better than the one at alpha.themes.org?
themes.org is cool.. i've been getting stuff from them even though they are officially not open or whatever, but it just seems to me the other site design worked better and was easier on the eyes..
count me in for helpign thsee guys out. once i sober up a bit.
alright. for those w/o a sense of humor. my point is, even a drunk oss fan is an oss fan, and wants to help progess htings.
http://alpha.themes.org
:)
wasn't that hard to find was it?
Is there a place for collections of icons and bitmaps for use in applications and themes? I couldn't find any sets of icons on themes.org.
-- Ed Avis ed@membled.com
Is there some way to automatically generate RPMs or dpkgs for window manager themes? Linux distributions could include a few hundred popular themes and a way to switch between them: that might get more new users addicted to the whole theming and eyecandy thing. Hmm, maybe not such a good idea ;-).
-- Ed Avis ed@membled.com
Entries were judged on the following criteria:
You see, many linux geeks are terribly overweight. Installing the winner theme makes them throw up all the time, so the reach normal weight in a few months. This is much better than any weight watchers stuff and - most important - it works.
So, the winner theme is a so called "health theme" or "digital bulemia". IBM doesn't only bring you good computers, they also keep you in shape.
http://alpha.themes.org
:)
wasn't that hard to find was it?
We can only hope that it will be adequatly explained to the user that allowing open access is a Bad Thing.
--
Evan
"$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
It's a bit curious that you mention sound. The content in themes.org is very graphics-centric. Lately I've been thinking why it is so.
Maybe the problem is software. Sure there are lots of GNU/Linux audio software, but none of it has really reached the same level of sophistication and integration as Gimp.
What they really need are volunteer lawyers; to defend them from the likes of Apple, MS, and everyone else who claims to 'own' themes...
I won't let anyone have an open telnet to my box, and neither should they
Angry White Guy
You think that I'm crazy, you should see this guy!
I guess people didnt stop making themes just
because themes.org where down... anyone know som
other sites, especially looking for kde2 themes.
Does that mean that if you run colo'd servers, you can't connect to them in any way? Of course, by "the distros will have to supply a system", I mean some sort of ssh style layer of encryption, many warnings, and the user telling a support tech their password over the phone.
I would imagine that that is much less dangerous than the current system of blindly telling someone with low mousing skills to go muck about in their control panel or registry.
--
Evan
"$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
and running a submission que would be fun, mine would always get in
blackbox themes & screenshots
-------
"don't smoke, don't drink, don't fuck
at least i can fucking think"
Minor Threat
Themes.org was better 2 years ago what happened. Also miss the adult themes.
Your art is great. I just grabbed a few for my desktop. What design software do you use?
"God fights on the side with the best artillery." - Napoleon, Marshal of France - speaking truth to power
http://www.google.com/search?q=css
sans-serif fonts and no colors on a themes site. idiots.
Most of these creators of the themes.org come off as rude and having an elitist attitude. The times ive been on irc.openprojects.net, ive been disgusted at how people are treated that dont "belong" to certain channels. This is the kind of thing that happens in irc servers all over the place, but it should not be happening on openprojects.net. The problem with it is, osdn is run by these same people. Its not a matter of "just leave the channel if you dont like how you are treated", because it goes further than that. It reaches into responses to comments and emails. These people do an excellent job maintaining osdn, but they need to learn how to deal with people. Being a "computer geek" (call it what you will) is no excuse for being an asshole.
ok ok mao it is then! does my jizzum qualify as a special birthday gifft? ill give it to u in ur mouth pussy or ass wherver u want!! u like it on your boobies? face? in ur hair? all over ur body? sweet!!
-- j'raxis 271045
I had PC Anywhere installed on all the Execs' machines at my last job. If they ran in trouble, often while at another site, I'd have them start it in "host" mode. Then I could dial or VPN in and see what they're seeing within a minute or two.
It was a lifesaver. They were usually impressed too.