The View Version Details Link in Theme Updates Doesn't Show Version Details

[jeffr0]

When an update for a theme is available and a user browses to wp-admin/themes.php and clicks the Theme Details button, an Update Available notice is displayed such as the one in the screenshot below.

The URL says View Version# Details. However, when clicking on it, it loads the theme's page from the WordPress.theme directory. Or, if the theme is distributed via Easy Digitial Downloads, a Download: Archives page is displayed instead. No details related to the new version are displayed.

As a user, I expect the link to show a changelog inline or within an iframe of what's changed in the theme, similar to plugins. This is an issue that potentially affects ALL Theme Authors. The way it currently works is a terrible user experience.

I was hopeful that https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/31074 from 10 years ago would have inspired the creation of displaying changelogs in themes similar to plugins, but that hasn't been the case.

If the View Version Details link does not display a changelog, the link text should be changed to reflect that. Maybe something like View Theme Details or something that's not tied to a new release.

Ultimately, displaying a theme's changelog inline or in an iframe is the best possible outcome.

[jeffr0]

An example of a Theme Update Notice

[mmcalister]

I can confirm this has been a source of frustration for users for some time now. Besides the confusing "view version" link, once the theme's wp.org page is shown, it is very difficult to find any info about the theme's update or historical changelog.

Showing the changelog like we see in plugin updates makes the most sense here.

[zodiac1978]

This is already reported in #36971 and in #22810

And these meta tickets as well:
​https://meta.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/45
​https://meta.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/215

Priority is high but already 11 years old …

I wouldn’t hold my breath.

I suggest closing this as duplicate.

[poena]

Hi
While I too would love changelog and readme, creating duplicate tickets is not a helpful way to get more attention to an issue. When the information is in multiple places, the problem only becomes more difficult to manage.

If the View Version Details link does not display a changelog, the link text should be changed to reflect that.

It does not mention a changelog. Yes, I understand the need for a changelog, but the perception that this link leads to a changelog and not the theme details, is the readers.

Edit: I have double checked and the plugin page details link also does not go directly to the changelog, and that is despite the changelog being available for plugins.

Edit 2: So, the plugin page has TWO "details" links. My first edit was incorrect. - One leads to the changelog tab, one does not.

[kasparsd]

The challenge here is that themes don't use the theme_information lightbox with the details from the Theme API, and instead render an external URL:

while plugins use locally rendered iframes with data from the API response:

There are three things that need to happen to fix this:

1. Update the api.wordpress.org/themes/info/1.2/?action=theme_information endpoint to return all sections of the theme readme.txt. Somewhat covered by ​https://meta.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/215. Currently ​the response doesn't include the changelog section (compare to ​a plugin response):

{
	"name": "Twenty Twenty-Four",
	"slug": "twentytwentyfour",
	"sections": {
		"description": "Twenty Twenty-Four is..."
	}
}

2. Update wp-admin/theme-install.php to support ?tab=theme-information&theme=theme-slug&section=changelog payload and rendering ​similar to `install_plugin_information()` in plugin-install.php.

3. Update ​relevant WP update/theme UI parts to use the wp-admin/theme-install.php?tab=theme-information&theme=theme-slug&section=changelog lightbox URLs similar to ​how plugins do it.

Overall, this is relatively large task impacting many areas of the codebase and none of the existing tasks seem to cover the full user story of this feature.

[kasparsd]

Built ​a prototype to check the amount of changes required to make the theme details popup match the plugin lightbox:

1. Update install_theme_information() in wp-admin/includes/theme-install.php to match the plugin ​install_plugin_information().

2. Introduce install_theme_install_status() and wp_get_theme_action_button() to match the plugin counterparts ​install_plugin_install_status() and. ​wp_get_plugin_action_button().

Considering that theme and plugin detail views during install and update are radically different, I'm wondering if we should simply append the readme sections to the existing detail views instead?