I remember seeing the team add a massive load of themes that were lost in the mix for up to 5 months back into the queue ahead of others which then pushed current themes back about 2 months. I was like, WTF! But then you realize these are authors who were left way behind due to reviewers abandoning the review, so you can't help but feel sorry for them waiting so long. On a good note, the review team picked up steam in November to go through that backlog and went through them all.

I am definitely looking forward to the auto updates, because I hated telling people, sorry, you have to wait for the update to go live.

The Handbook is getting better, but I still believe many authors don't really use it as often as they should...one of many reasons why there are so many themes submitted that are not ready.

I know the review team hated this idea, but I mentioned before that design quality is something that needs attention on reviews. I see too many themes submitted, reviewed, and go live that really should not have been. I know it's subjective and hard to review design quality, but reviews are only "code" based. I bet I could submit a 1990 FrontPage developed design with animated gifs, neon colours everywhere, falling snowflakes, and flashing banners.....as long as the code is 100% it would end up in the directory. Hmmm...I should try that, lol :)

However, on a more serious note, I can definitely say that for the last year or two, we're beginning to see a lot more professional looking themes with great design and style that are getting into the directory. One can see this as an opportunity to challenge theme authors to create and submit better looking themes.

I'm looking forward to what happens this year, because I plan on submitting a lot more themes to the directory...at least 12 more for 2016.