[wp-hackers] theme manager like plugin manager

[Mark Jaquith]

On a related note, it would be cool if a logged in WP user could "apply" 
a theme so that they could see it, without activating it globally.  It 
could store the theme name in their cookie.  That way, people could do 
"one-click" theme installs as Tara suggested, but without risking taking 
down their site or making for a bizarre user experience as they browse 
through themes.  It would be also great from a developer's standpoint, 
as you would be able to try out custom themes on your live blog, without 
lots of PHP errors thrown at your users.

Tara Star wrote:

> You probably all know by now how enthusiastic I am about Dave's plugin 
> manager (http://wp-plugins.net/) and the possibility to install new 
> plugins in a single click.
>
> The same thing for themes would be great. I mean, I've seen some 
> beautiful themes out there, but for the moment, changing themes 
> requires (a) hunting down the theme on the web, (b) downloading it to 
> the server, (c) activating it. Wouldn't a theme manager functioning a 
> bit like Dave's plugin manager be a nice thing? View a page with 
> screenshots and info of all registered themes in a central DB, and 
> one-click install the theme of your choice. I'm certain a lot of the 
> plugin manager code could be re-used for this.
>
> The theme manager could be a plugin (like the plugin manager is), or 
> why not, someday, included in the core? (I've vaguely heard talk about 
> including the plugin manager but I don't know where things are -- and 
> honestly, it's not that important.)
>
> What do you think?
>
> Steph
> PS: I'm aware there are still lots of bugs to be squashed and that 
> this is an "inessential feature" -- but I think it can really help 
> make WP easier for the less-techy masses
> -- 
> http://climbtothestars.org/
>
>
>