No we haven’t removed the generation of themes from the exampleSite. Only the content directory is inherited from the hugoBasicExample.
- Configuration
- Static images
- Data files
are still inherited by a theme’s exampleSite.
Your arguments are valid, but unfortunately that is how it has to be from now.
We simply do not have the means to police what content gets pushed whenever a theme is updated and we had instances of inappropriate content that was discovered months after it was pushed to the Hugo website.
Note that the update is not done yet. I know about the missing hero image and copy in your theme demo. It is possible to have them back by entering the parameters in the relevant content files of the hugoBasicExample.
Also note that we indeed encourage site designs and architecture. If a theme is truly outstanding we can white list its demo so that it uses its own content directory. However also we have noticed that theme authors use old patterns. Most submissions do not use newer features like Image Processing and Page Bundles so when the refactoring cycle of the HugoBasicExample content is done these will be strongly recommended because the default content will be structured in such a way.
Also to speed things up if you want feel free to send a PR to include the missing image and text parameters for your theme’s demo.