Rethink and rework responsive panels settings

The first bit of your issue, with regards to the warning message, is a documentation issue - the "panels layouts" CSS also drive the Gpanels that are used in Pixture Reloaded (such as the multi column footer), so these must be set - the documentation issue is the warning message is not clear enough about this and needs to include a better explanation.

All these settings do is generate a CSS file that handles layout for Panels AND Gpanels, so we need this regardless of whether you are using Panels module or not. You are using Gpanels (by default, since Pixture Reloaded uses them).

Now, the fact you even saw this warning message, and those settings are not "set", this is another issue - I will ask if you upgraded from 7.x-2.x or if this is a clean install?

The third issue I see here, which I think this is what you are saying, is that the default Media Queries are not showing? If they are empty its a bug - is that what you mean?

Panels module is not a requirement. Glad you asked, I think I need to change the labels and messages used in the theme to make this more clear.

You don't need to enable the base theme, it just need to be in the theme folder.

You did the right thing, just select an option and the message will go away.

After you reported this issue I gave this some thought and decided to revamp how this system works. I think you highlighted some key usability concerns with the panels/gpanels layout settings.

1. To much information present at once.
2. Redundant information and settings presented to the user (stuff you are not using).
3. Misunderstandings about the requirements (Panels module is not required, but you thought it was, or might be etc).
4. Instructions not clear enough.

Each one of these is a usability issue that combined could lead to mass confusion and difficulties using the system. I don't want that, it should be easy to use and not require a lot of consideration on your part, i.e. it should be intuitive and easy to follow along with what is going on.

I have made several key changes to how this system works - these changes are in RC2:

1. Contextually Aware Options

You will only see settings that are relevant to YOUR theme or site. For example if you are not using Panels, but have some Gpanels enabled the theme will only show you the settings that are for those Gpanels, and nothing more.

This new system conditionally reacts to whatever you enable - install the Panels module and it all changes, add a new Gpanel, it will update and show the settings for the new Gpanel etc. For most this should result in less information to deal with.

Note that if you do use Panels then all the responsive panels settings will show, because Panels might use any layout at any time. If you have some Gpanels as well (for example if you use Panels with Pixture Reloaded, Sky etc that do use Gpanels) the theme will tell you this, pointing out what Gpanels are being used and that you have Panels module installed and that all the settings are showing.

If you have no Gpanels and do not have Panels installed - nothing shows - just a simple help message.

2. Contextually Aware Labels and Messages

Now the theme knows if Panels or Gpanels are being used we can push different help messages to explain what is going on. These messages are simple and helpful - such as telling you which Gpanels are being used in your theme.

3. Remove warnings

I have removed the system that warns you about missing settings. While this was a nice idea, and was supposed to help users, like you it rather confused some users. This was good to find out now, other users I asked about this said the same thing - it was confusion and they were worried there site might be broken and did not know what to do.

I think its better to just remove it and service the support requests in the rare case where these settings are missing (in reality this is transitional thing - while we are moving from 7.x-2.x and there are upgrades going on this might happen from time to time, once this period is past this will be very rare issue).

Note that removing this warning will cause issues for users of Drupal 7.13 or less. If those settings are missing Drupal will throw a form validation error that is nearly un-fixable. This is why I ran the validation on these radios and set a warning message - to catch the issue before Drupal has a chance to freak out and set its validation error. Its a huge PITA and the only recourse is to upgrade Drupal core. This is NOT a bug in theme, its a Drupal core bug.

So, thanks for the bug report, I think you really helped a LOT in setting focus on these issues and helping improve the theme.