Downloads columns is only clutter.

I like this but I would put the download link right at the top of the description sicne that is all people are interested in most of the time. I am glad to see that you have kept a download link on this page though.

  ______________   _____   _____
_| latest (4.6)|_|_4.5_|_|_4.4_|________________________________
   Drupal | Modules  | Themes | Theme engines | Translations |
  
   Drupal  (Download)
   
   Drupal is an open-source platform and content management
   system for building dynamic web sites offering a broad range
   of features and services including user administration,
   publishing workflow, discussion capabilities, news aggregation,
   metadata functionalities using controlled vocabularies and XML
   publishing for content sharing purposes. Equipped with a
   powerful blend of features and configurability, Drupal can
   support a diverse range of web projects ranging from personal
   weblogs to large community-driven sites.
           
   Read more | Contribute |

Actually what I was suggesting was this:

    ________   __________   ________   _______________   ______________
 __| Drupal |_| Modules  |_| Themes |_| Theme engines |_| Translations |_____
   4.6 (Latest) | 4.5 | 4.4 | 4.3 | ...
   
   Drupal

   Drupal is an open-source platform and content management
   system for building dynamic web sites offering a broad range
   of features and services including user administration,
   publishing workflow, discussion capabilities, news aggregation,
   metadata functionalities using controlled vocabularies and XML
   publishing for content sharing purposes. Equipped with a
   powerful blend of features and configurability, Drupal can
   support a diverse range of web projects ranging from personal
   weblogs to large community-driven sites.
   
   Download | Read more | Contribute |

Note the taxonomy tabs are first, version tabs second. I think this makes more sense because the taxonomy is a hard division: no project is both a theme and a module. Thus, when you switch from one top tab to another, you are browsing a completely different list.

Version tabs on the other hand have much overlapping between them. While older versions are not that important, if we remove these tabs, then we force people to go the "projects -> project name -> older releases". This is too hidden IMO. Furthermore, by arranging the tabs in my way, we allow people to easily answer version-related questions ("Is X available for 4.6?", "How many modules are already available for 4.6?", ...). As subtabs, the version numbers are very unintrusive while still giving a very nice boost in browsing functionality.

I don't think we should put the "download" link after the project name. It makes it seem (to me) that both the project name and the word download will allow me to download (as they are on the same line). It is better to put them consistently at the bottom.

I have one other note: if we show descriptions on every browsing page, then we need to make sure the descriptions are short and to-the point. Longer descriptions can of course be displayed on the project's own page. I think we can do this simply by installing excerpt.module and enabling it for project nodes.

One important advantage is that, for themes, we can simply use a thumbnail for the short description instead of text about whether it is tableless or what theme engine it uses. This would make browsing for themes infinitely better.

Ooo, Steven, I like your suggestion. Yes, the taxonomy tabs should be the primary navigation element.

I see your point about the download link and defer to your explanation. Yes, download link should be a the bottom of the description.

Yes, we need to do some editing of the descriptions on these pages. I do not agree with Gerhard Killesreiter's response to this previous issue to improve these descriptions.

This is a task for the individual contributors. Bug reports shoul dbe filed against modules with bad descriptions.

I think we need to have some editorial control of the descriptions on this page. And yes, adding small screenshots of the themes would be a HUGE improvement. If theme garden is really going to be the official drupal theme repository/gallery then we should also provide links to the theme garden with the proper variable to enable said theme. Does that make sense? Here is what I think a theme entry should look like:

Theme Name
 ______________
|   Screen    | Theme description, emphasizing the graphic nature and feel of the theme.  Not who made it and such.
|   Shot      | Requires - Works with default Drupal install / Requires <link>PHPTemplate theme engine</link>
|             |
|             |
|_____________|

Download | View at Theme Garden (if it exists) | View Screenshot (if it exists) | Read more | Contribute

I think credits and such should be left for the description page, not on this page. People browsing for themes just need to know what it looks like, what it's design emphasis is, what other stuff they need to download to get it working and an option to view it in action before they download it.

So I guess I don't know how all of that fits into using the exceprt module.

Actually this is pretty easy with excerpt, it will just take a one-time effort to update all the themes.

I also think we need to define a policy about theme screenshots. Inside Drupal, we only have the tiny screenshots. They are good for picking a theme inside Drupal, but they are useless when you are browsing for a theme: you need a better look.

Adrian has already added some very nice full-size theme screenshots to drupal.org's gallery, but I don't think we need those if we have the theme garden.

So I suggest that for contrib, we require that themes have a larger screenshot on top of the normal screenshot.png. This screenshot should be about 30% size: enough to get a good impression of the theme. We then link the screenshot to the live version of the theme on the theme garden. People always click thumbnails automatically.

An example shot would be:

http://www.acko.net/dumpx/theme-shot.jpg

This also makes it easier to implement because we don't need to modify project.module specifically for themes: we just add all this stuff in the actual teasers. I can put the required CSS styles in Bluebeach so we only have a simple template to copy/paste.

Fixed in project.module and on drupal.org.