Steven Hodson is reporting that there is a new version, which is completely redesigned with a new layout and features.  As of now, there haven’t been many reports of other people able to see it, as I also can’t.  However, more than months have passed since Matt Mullenweg announced that a new version was to be released with more security features and a new Subversion-backed database.

In addition, it appears from the screenshots, from WinExtra, that the number of themes has been reduced in the database by more than a third, from approximately 1,320 to 440.  This either means that the redesign isn’t complete, the themes without download files have been removed, or the release isn’t completely true. 

Simply from the screenshots, I don’t want to criticize the new theme too in-depth until it has been proven that it will be released/until I see it.  However, I like the ability for multiple views of themes, such as the slideshow view and filmstrip view.  I don’t know what the individual post view looks like, or if it still exists (moved to the slideshow area), as there are no screenshots visibly showing an area to comment. 

I also like the simplified view (in terms of less details, and theme thumbnails added to the right) of the theme page in the slideshow view – containing the theme name (download link), author (site link), description, and files included in the download.  There also appears to be an overlay image for the preview and download link on the theme screenshot.

Views

Main Screen

Slideshow View

Filmstrip/”Flickr” View

Larger View of Overlay Images

What are your thoughts on the redesign, based on the screenshots? Does it solve some of the problems the previous design was lacking? I definitely think that it is possible that the new version will be released soon, around the release of WordPress 2.5.