Matt Mullenweg & Joseph Scott Theme Directory Interview @ Themeshaper

Matt Mullenweg & Joseph Scott agreed to do an interview over at Themeshaper regarding the return of the Wordpress Theme Directory

Definitely worth reading.

I was particularly interested in why they felt the need to bring back the directory.

1. Themes were scattered across the web, searching for them was frustrating, it was easy to miss good ones, and each site had its own UI for downloading and testing.
2. Many of the theme directories seemed more interested in promoting paid themes they got affiliate revenue from than highlighting the amazing free GPL themes out there.
3. There were some fake theme directories set up that were distributing malware, if you installed one of their themes (often copies of legit themes) it would hack your blog.
4. Themes were of varying quality, and it was difficult to tell which themes supported which WordPress features.

Read the rest of the interview here

Related Resources:

ThemeShaper
Wordpress Theme Directory

August 16th, 2008