Themes.org Reborn at Freshmeat

GSpot writes: "While doing my weekly surf to see if there has been any change in one of my favorite websites, themes.org is being redirected to themes.freshmeat.net and seemingly has been reborn yet again. The previous incarnation had a dreadful interface that was difficult to navigate and when it worked it was painfully sssssllllllooooowwwww. The current version is upon a first impression a much more pleasant experience. I plan on visiting often." Mirotrem points out this brief history of themes.org running on the site (written by Chris D.), detailing the moves the site has made to this point. (Freshmeat, Themes.org, and Slashdot are all part of the world-controlling conspiracy under the VA Software umbrella better known as the Sinister Andover Keiretsu.)

Comments

other themes sites

[CmdrTaco (editor)]

Sunshine in a bag is a new theme site specifically for Gnome-related themes (GTK, GTK2, sawfish, metathemes, etc.)

There is also kde-look.org for all of your KDE theme needs. For those who use non-KDE desktops, still check it out for an excellent collection of wallpapers, many of which are very penguin-centric.

Re:other themes sites

[jacoplane]

Also, for people running Windows (gotta play warcraft3!) there is this site. The skins work with XP, but if you have 98/2k you can also use them by running Windowblinds. Note that this is commercial software, which is kind of a bummer.

Re:other themes sites

[Gulthek]

Also, for people running Windows (gotta play warcraft3!)

Dude, Warcraft 3 is going to be one of Transgaming's flagship games. Their library of compatible games just keeps growing, and with the recent release of a DirectX8.1 implementation it just keeps getting better and better.

Re:other themes sites

[jacoplane]

Nice, I guess I haven't been paying attention have I. Anyway, here is the correct link to wincustomize. But hopefully soon there will be no need to run windows anymore.

Why bother. Seriously.

[Bowie J. Poag]

flog(if(horse=="dead")then return horse);

Some alternatives to "Themes.org" are Deskmod, Skinz, my own site, System 26, and numerous other sites in the skinning community. They all accept and support Linux windowmanager themes, as well as KDE and GNOME themes, and have been around for quite a while now.

Cheers,

Try this other?

[Anonymous Coward]

XDM at house.cx They have docs and some themes, like those you talk about with things placed in funny areas (B5 ones, for example).

E17 is coming, watch out Microsoft & Apple

[HanzoSan]

E17 is improving drastically.

I think you all should check out a few of these pictures

http://desktopian.org/e17/screenshots/

Theres an example of themes. I'm Glad Themes.org is back, now we have a place to show off our linux desktops and help kill the whole "Linux is hard to use" myth.

Its hard to configure, but its easy to install and use, it DOES have a GUI, and the GUI is better than XP (even if its alittle bit slower due to xfree)

Mirrors of ftp.themes.org

[BiggyP]

and if you have trouble downloading several themes like i did then you can always get your themes the fastest way possible with the link below.

http://telia.dl.sourceforge.net/mirrors/themes.o rg /

Re:Left out on history

[Aaton]

First, developing for themes.org was a pain as it was. They had a VPN and wouldn't give access to new comers, even though I feel I'm a part of the community enough to be trusted.

The way we have the setup here is nothing like what VA had when t.o. was on the West coast. No shell servers or public spaces. Also after the defacement of t.o. and all the r00ted systems on the West coast there was just no way the company would set up another shell's box for t.o. Plain and simple, access had to be restricted.

So Chris (who seemed like a nice guy the couple times I talked to him) decided to develop it on his own, which took months even though it seems he's just using the freshmeat code.

Actually he did work on his own version (he showed it to me once) but as time went on there were decission made about how many different backends people/company wanted to support. A good number of OSDN site have been moving over to uses either slashcode or freshmeat code bases...

So I would like to know, why the staff was cut?

You and me both. I don't know the whole story but I have never been one to follow company politics and such things... I just disable accounts when told to.

-- Yazz (one of the OSDN BOFH's)

Some "history", DiBona....

[Bowie J. Poag]

Rather nice of Chris DiBona to neglect the people who busted their ass behind the scenes for most of Themes.org's useable lifespan (1998-2000) in his recent "history of Themes.org" article.

What about the guys who were administering wm.t.o, bb.t.o. e.t.o, kde.t.o, and other subsites? Did these sites run themselves, Chris?

For the record, I used to be one of the site maintainers during t.o's heyday. In the year and a half I contributed, DiBona was never involved in any aspect of development process, did none of the planning, none of the maintenance, none of the administration, and none of the backend coding. DiBona had nothing to do with t.o's success back then, so don't let him try and take credit for other people's work. (Gee, that sounds familliar, doesnt it?) There were alot of people who poured enormous amounts of time and energy into that project who never recieved even a passing acknowledgement from anyone at VA. In short, VA turned their back on them.

Be sure to add that lovely pattern neglect to your "history", Chris.

Re:Some butt ugly themes

[psavo]

I took a look at a few dozen themes, including the "most popular". My god there are some no talent people putting this crap together! Someone please take away their theme editors before they repeat their crimes!
Here's a very simple formula you must learn:
programmer/geek != artistic talent
Just so you don't think I am all negative. There were a few very nicely done themes, but the majority are utter crap or a clone with the basic colour changed.

In one word: Bull!

I for one don't always use themes to make things 'candy'. They are my primary way to customize my desktop to make what I want to do. If I find that I use some functionality of WM, I add it as a button to toolbar, If I find something annoying, I remove it. If I find that my eyes become restless with colors, I change them to less annoying.
So repeat after me: Themeing is not only eyecandy, and programmer/geek can design WAY more functional theme than any s.c. artist.

X Resources section is now included

[autechre]

Topic::Desktop Environment::Theme Resources

http://themes.freshmeat.net/browse/973/?topic_id =9 73

This is because someone actually wrote in to suggest/request this, instead of simply complaining about it on Slashdot. :)