After a bit of investigation, the nature of my original question has changed dramatically.
Following on from other problems I've encountered by being located in Australia, I had a nasty suspicion that my inability to see the author- nominated categories may have been due to my iGoogle settings and, sure enough, I was right. I'm located in Australia, but I'm accessing the theme directory using the URL: http://www.google.com/ig/directory?type=themes With my iGoogle Language set to English (UK) and my location set to Australia-Sydney, I can't see the extra categories: http://picasaweb.google.com/bluequoll/ScreenShots#5469970386142077890 Changing my Language to English (US) and my location to United States, the extra categories are there: http://picasaweb.google.com/bluequoll/ScreenShots#5469970384360504274 The URL for the Theme Directory appears the same in both cases. As a theme developer, I'm concerned why the author-nominated categories are missing from the directory with the normal Language and Location settings for Australia? In fact, a quick check of a few country portals suggests that these categories may only be available to USA users speaking US English. Why? Bug? Oversight? I'd appreciate somebody looking into this odd state of affairs. Dave On May 8, 1:07 pm, BlueQuoll <[email protected]> wrote: > 12 months ago, in the Google Themes API Group, Kathleen announced > author-nominated categories for iGoogle themes in this > thread:http://groups.google.com/group/google-themes-api/browse_thread/thread... > > > "... I was just about to announce -- we have created a set of categories > > now for developers to add their themes to. You can add your own theme to a > > category (or categories) by adding the following categories tag to your > > theme XML with the category names comma separated: > > <categories>animals,entertainment</categories> > > > "This should be placed within the ConfigMap that lists all your metadata > > attributes. > > "The standard categories are: > > * Animals > * Nature > * Sports > * Destinations > * Abstract > * Trendy > > There was initially some confusion about the coding, but this was > worked out by themers through trial and error. The categories appeared > in the theme directory briefly and disappeared again. > > As was the norm with Themes API Group posts, follow up from themers on > the subject of Theme Categories was never answered by a Googler, and > the whole concept seemed to drift into oblivion. > > I'm still coding a category into my theme XMLs, and searching for the > above categories works using the > URL:http://www.google.com/ig/directory?type=themes&cat=destinations > or similar. > > Has the idea of author-nominated theme categories been abandoned > completely, or just never followed through? > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "iGoogle Developer Forum" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group > athttp://groups.google.com/group/Google-Gadgets-API?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "iGoogle Developer Forum" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Google-Gadgets-API?hl=en.
