#19816 – Multiple screenshots per theme

There are some improvements in the works for the themes screens in 3.4 (see #19815, #19816, and #19853). #19816 needs some help from the UIUI UI is an acronym for User Interface - the layout of the page the user interacts with. Think ‘how are they doing that’ and less about what they are doing. group.

Ideas proposed so far include having a slider inline with the current placement of the screenshot (not great, linear nav only can be frustrating), a photo stack that displays in a light box when clicked, or a div/layer that slides open to show the screenshots. If screenshots can be included in larger sizes as opposed to the current 300×225 size, which is actually squeezed down to 240×180 by CSSCSS CSS is an acronym for cascading style sheets. This is what controls the design or look and feel of a site. in the admin, a lightbox of some sort would be nice.

If anybody has some ideas, please post them and/or comps in the comments. Note that the themes screens will likely look more similar to those on WordPress.comWordPress.com An online implementation of WordPress code that lets you immediately access a new WordPress environment to publish your content. WordPress.com is a private company owned by Automattic that hosts the largest multisite in the world. This is arguably the best place to start blogging if you have never touched WordPress before. https://wordpress.com/, with most details hidden and a real focus on the screenshots, title, and author – working patch on #19853 if you’re so inclined.

Jane Wells 5:37 pm on January 25, 2012

No slider, please. Stack is preferred (suggests gallery) , and slidedown div/layer is probably better than lightbox, so that everything else is still visible. Actually, since we agreed with infinite scroll to remove some of the descriptive stuff, there could be a Details link that also triggered layer reveal, which would show extra screenshots (when available) as well as description/tags. Expanded listing, basically.
- Helen Hou-Sandi 5:48 pm on January 25, 2012
  
  there could be a Details link that also triggered layer reveal
  
  +1. Taking advantage of the details link that is already there seems like a great idea, especially since I added it to installed themes with that patch. Perhaps also having a stack indicator for themes with multiple screenshots would be good, so it’s clear that there’s more to see. And then I suppose clicking on the screenshot should also expand the details.
  - Jane Wells 7:15 pm on January 25, 2012
    
    Yes, I’m thinking Details link and clicking stack would both trigger the same thing.
Chip Bennett 12:24 am on January 26, 2012

Please keep the WPTRT in the loopLoop The Loop is PHP code used by WordPress to display posts. Using The Loop, WordPress processes each post to be displayed on the current page, and formats it according to how it matches specified criteria within The Loop tags. Any HTML or PHP code in the Loop will be processed on each post. https://codex.wordpress.org/The_Loop. on these changes, as it would appear that they will impact the Theme Review Guidelines with respect to Theme screenshots. Personally, I welcome such changes, as it will give developers considerably more flexibility in demonstrating their Themes through the screenshots!
- Jane Wells 5:22 am on January 26, 2012
  
  Agreed, we need to be in sync. That said, there are a number of contributor groups separate from coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. (TRT, forum mods, docs) that should all be abreast of what’s going on with core, and taking to each other as well. One of the things I want to do over the next month or two is identify a lead for each contributor group and do monthly irc chats or google hangouts for all the leads to touch base, raise any concerns from their team, hear about the activity/progress/issues of other teams, and have a direct line to core. I’ll be reaching out to each team individually to figure out the best way to arrange this. I also want to try and organize a contributor summit sometime this year — not WCSF, but an invite-based event to bring the regular contributors together in one place without distraction for a few days. Between all this and meetups, this is the year of organizing our community, especially among contributors.
  
  In the meantime, maybe subscribing to the themes component on tracTrac Trac is the place where contributors create issues for bugs or feature requests much like GitHub.https://core.trac.wordpress.org/. would help fill the gap.
  - Edward Caissie 1:06 pm on January 26, 2012
    
    Bringing in “leads” from the various “contributor groups” is a great idea! Opening up lines of communications can only bring more benefits to those groups and the coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. groups alike.
  - Chip Bennett 4:02 am on February 16, 2012
    
    Whoops; thought I was subscribed… anyway, I’m really glad to hear of these developments for the contributor groups. Some oversight/collaboration with other groups will be good for us. Sometimes it feels like the WPTRT are off just doing our own thing.
Edward Caissie 1:04 pm on January 26, 2012

Multiple screenshots would be most welcome as this would have specifically addressed a recent theme submission wanting to show both a “standard” screen view and a “mobile” screen view. A reasonable compromise was made for the final single screenshot used but having multiple screenshots available would have been much better for both the theme author and the end-user.
Helen Hou-Sandi 7:04 pm on February 15, 2012

First pass in Photoshop at a stack background (would conditionally appear only if multiple screenshots are available): http://cl.ly/002y2n2o0a42311G0L01
- Brandon Dove 9:33 pm on February 15, 2012
  
  Helen, I’m not sure that the stack background indicates that their are multiple screenshots. It seems more to imply that there are multiple themes, or perhaps that it’s a child themeChild theme A Child Theme is a customized theme based upon a Parent Theme. It’s considered best practice to create a child theme if you want to modify the CSS of your theme. https://developer.wordpress.org/themes/advanced-topics/child-themes/..
  
  What are your thoughts on the comps that I posted to the ticket?
  
  https://core.trac.wordpress.org/attachment/ticket/19816/radio-button-slider-or-slideshow.jpg
  https://core.trac.wordpress.org/attachment/ticket/19816/arrows-slider-or-slideshow.jpg
Adam W. Warner 7:36 pm on February 15, 2012

Helen, I hope it’s OK for me to give my simple feedback even though I’m not involved at all with development of coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress.. If not, please let me know, but I follow all the dev stuff to keep up to date on what may, or may not, be coming.

That said, the stack effect in your comp looks really great as an indicator that there is more to see. However, I really had to look for it. Perhaps the layers behind the main could be somewhat darker or drop-shadowed to make them more apparent?

Just my two cents as a WordPress enthusiast and daily user 🙂
kaiser 10:00 am on February 16, 2012

OK, to be honest: This is a lot of data that gets transferred for a task that will happen ~1 time á year á blog. We already got pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party screenshots that are no helpful inside your installation. Why do we need to take even more disk space with screenshots, when we got a theme preview too?
Helen Hou-Sandi 3:09 am on February 17, 2012

Unrotated stack: http://cl.ly/2H3A3K1O2x0h0T432w2y

Same, with slight drop shadow: http://cl.ly/0o2z3u2d0x433M0w1f0l
Justin Tadlock 6:30 am on February 29, 2012

Will the theme screenshots be housed in the top level of the theme directory? Or, will there be a “/themename/screenshots” directory, or at least an option to filterFilter Filters are one of the two types of Hooks https://codex.wordpress.org/Plugin_API/Hooks. They provide a way for functions to modify data of other functions. They are the counterpart to Actions. Unlike Actions, filters are meant to work in an isolated manner, and should never have side effects such as affecting global variables and output. it to do so? I ask because themes already get so cluttered with multiple files.