Hi iain,

Sorry for not responding more quickly. I have been wicked sick for a few days and I wanted to mull this over a bit before commenting on it.

First of all, I’m glad you brought the licensing issue to my attention. I was not aware of it. I’m also glad that my initial estimates were way off in how long it would take to complete the modifications necessary to make the control panel more 1.6.x centric. If my initial estimate was correct, I probably would have broken the license agreement albeit unintentionally.

In answer to your questions…

In my second post in this thread, I indicated that I was using the Corporate theme as a starting point. It appeared to be the easiest and quickest way to get moving.

It appears that Jesse used the ‘Fruit’ theme as a starting point for Corporate. The reason I say that is that much (but not all) of the code is identical throughout the files. Some files only have class name differences. So I think it’s safe to assume that Jesse did this and it makes total sense. To theme the CP shouldn’t require rewriting every single file from scratch. In fact, most of the changes I have made are just css value changes with some updated imagery. Very few other changes have been required to get me to a point where I was happy with the result. While I’m still not finished, I’m finding good success in this strategy so far.

I am going to also add my voice in the other thread about a more lenient approach to the licensing of code for CP themes. It really makes perfect sense that Ellislab would provide a more lenient approach to CP themes. I certainly can’t see how this would hurt them financially or otherwise. Sometimes it just takes a few squeaky wheels to effect change. If Apple can change their position on taking cash for iPads because of user complaints, I’m sure Ellislab are willing to make changes where it makes sense.

Lastly, Derek Jones asked me to email him in this very thread when I completed. Perhaps it was for the reason that I could get ‘official’ permission to post this theme. I don’t know for sure… but maybe. Even if Ellislab doesn’t change their licensing for CP themes, I don’t think getting written permission will be too difficult if I do a good job and give credit where credit is due.

My plans at this point.

Finish the theme.
Email Derek.
Do whatever else I need to do to get ‘official’ permission to post the theme.
Do some beta testing with, hopefully, some of the people in this thread.
Fix issues.
Post it.

updates?

@Todd

I’m guessing the question about selling themes have them thinking, either that or they’re simply too busy with 2.1 to even bother with the thread.

I’d be happy with a license to distribute, but not to profit off them (not my intention but was just throwing it out there).

Hopefully with the new team member on board for community interaction, we might actually get some sort of explanation soon…

This is actually a topic that we’ve been discussing internally since Nov/Dec of last year, it’s not something that you’ve surprised us with.  Your additional feedback is appreciated and we’re listening, but I want to set the expectation here: no decision, structure, or change in licensing will occur before 2.1’s release.

I’ve also got to chime in with my feelings on the themes bundled in EE2 beta. The 1.6 theme was incredibly clean, versatile, and professional. Jesse’s original theme had a polish that the Corporate EE2 theme is definitely lacking.

Default and Fruit are fine options, though I believe there are spacing issues throughout that make them inconsistent and awkward to use. Particularly in the menu drop-downs.

The administration interface is such a huge part of our workflow, and an incredible job has been done on restructuring and making life easier functionally. I hope that both themes will receive more work and attention for the release.