<div dir="ltr"><div style>I've been getting the feeling that the move towards 'minimal options theme, everything else in plugins' has been in the wind for a while. </div><div style><br></div><div style>The 'eliminate decisions' mantra that I've seen quoted occasionally around the Wordpress community seems to indicate the direction (though googling for it right now of course I can't locate those references - ack). Also on this list we often see the words 'its plugin territory' - so the further separation of theme style from options would seem the way things are heading even if we can't get an official line on it right now.</div>
<div style><br></div><div style>Myself I've decided to a certain extent to try this approach with my latest theme, including only very simple options in the version that I'll be submitting to the repo at some stage soon, and putting all the bells and whistles into a companion plugin for people who like extra options.</div>
<div style><br></div><div style>I've released it already on my own site and my support experience with the approach has been positive. Nobody so far has got confused (I'm sure it will happen at some stage though - and I can empathize with Bryans experiences which I've also experienced in the past, but not so far with companion plugin approach). Maybe its because I'm 'prequalifying' my customers because they generally install the freely available basic theme before installing the extra options plugin.</div>
<div style><br></div><div style>So, maybe there's no official line yet, but we can maybe read between the lines of where we're headed.</div></div>