Girly Themes?
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@saadahmed007
Thank you for your gracious response. :)@everyone
For all of those bloggers who want to have “girly” themes on their blogs, here’s the link to the wordpress theme viewer so you can see the selections and make choices from them http://themes.wordpress.net/ -
it’s doubtful that WP.com will enable templates with sponsored links, ever.
Just because a theme is sponsored doesn’t mean it won’t be used here. The original version of Pressrow links to a credit card site, Beccary’s themes (Ocadia, Thirteen, Almost Spring) are sponsored by Weblogs.us, and that four-column fjord theme has four or five sponsored links to hosting companies if you download it from themes.wordpress.net… I think Fleur de Lys is sponsored too, and no doubt a couple of others I can’t think of offhand. The links themselves are (in most cases) removed when the theme is installed on wordpress.com, so most people are unaware they were ever present.
I’m in two minds about this. On the one hand, if you’re going to run around preaching about the evils of selling links and saying that it would be better to make no theme at all than make a sponsored one, maybe you shouldn’t reward those who have sold out by adopting their themes on wordpress.com. (Also, banning certain themes from being promoted on .org while you’re using them on .com is ever so slightly inconsistent).
On the other, why should wordpress.com users miss out on a good theme because of open source politics?
And, on topic: I’d like JWS Common better if it wasn’t that sludgy green, and the butterflies on the dates are sort of weird, and I’m not sold on the blockquotes either. But I do like the swirls.
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Do I see a ray of hope shining on that far horizon?
Will the paypal thingee go through for my domain?
Will Frozen Garden sans sponsor links be in my future?
{on her knees praying}P.S. @wank
The green in jws common is an eye-ripper for sure. To me it looks like the leavings after a vegetarian food fight or the results of a severe attack of the trots. {Oops! did I really say that?} -
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I wonder how wp got away with removing the links….
Because Automattic can afford better lawyers than the designers and everybody knows it. They could easily find someone prepared to argue that all themes must be GPL and anyone trying to enforce mandatory linkbacks is breaking the law.
Also, having the theme available on wp.com is such good advertising, it would be silly to antagonise them by whining about how they ignored your terms of service.
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You’ve forgotten the Garland perfect storm already? I think maybe WordPress has changed operating procedures as a result; if they hadn’t they would be in for more of the same.
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The Garland guy didn’t have a legal case — the theme was GPL so Matt was legally entitled to do what he liked with it. Whether he was morally or ethically entitled is another matter entirely.
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Still, even without a legal threat, WordPress changed. That’s an indication they are not without respect for the wishes of a designer.
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There was a discussion on the mail lists recently that basically said Themes didn’t have to be covered via the GPL. While plugins and the like have to be because they “mold” into the program, the themes sit on top of it.
or something like that. It’s still early and I have no coffee money today….
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Basically, there’s no consensus on this, and unlikely to be one. I don’t think there’s even a consensus on the status of plugins, it’s just that plugin developers are happier to fall into line because GPL is, after all, a software licence.
Laws and licences are texts, like any other. There are always ambiguities, and they are always open to interpretation. And, like any text, the way you read it depends pretty much on your own vested interests and bias.
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It might be an idea for the WordPress people to set down guidelines which state what can and can’t be done be theme developers if they want their themes to be available in the MU environment here. So the developers themselves can check the do’s and don’t’s. If they agree, they can make and submit for checking, if not they don’t bother.
If the restrictions are too tight, the developers may not make their themes available here, but for other users of WordPress software hosted elsewhere. Worst case scenario is that you lose several developers will think “why bother with WordPress? It’s not the only blogging software in town”……whatever the outcome, you have a written set of rules, which prevents the need for this type of debate, as the questions are answered.
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At wordpress.com we bloggers hosted by wordpress are invited to just blog and leave the geekery to staff. At wordpress.com we have been requested not to discuss policy on the forums.
Is this really a thread for suggesting “girly” themes to Matt for inclusion at wordpress.com or has it become a hijacked thread aimed at affecting wordpress policy on themes?
It is my strong feeling that whether or not there has been a “consensus” reached at wordpress.org ought not to be the concern of bloggers here at wordpress.com.
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One of the issues here is that the theme viewer is neither in nor out of the WP / Automattic umbrella. This has a knock on effect both for the operator and the theme designers. It is a huge undertaking and a lot of work. Everybody benefits. But no one is clear how or who should pay for the work. Free theme designers obviously hope to benefit in some way – whether by traffic or by reputation. That does not seem to work; so they seek other revenue streams. Automattic on the other hand has the great luxury of running a huge business allowing them to go dot comming in Mexico using themes they get for free. But that doesn’t include the guy running the theme viewer at no charge. Or the authors. How cheap is that? The license issue is fundamental to this dialogue. And so is the WP attitude to it. A lot of people in this thread have a very proper vested interest in this subject, and many of them have found the WP stance over several years to be erratic, and inconsistent. I do not think people contributing here deserve to be dissed as *troublemakers*. It is no function of a moderator to try and censor peoples thoughts and experiences.
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I strongly believe that those bloggers who have “issues” with the Automattic Corporation ought to take them up with Matt directly.
This thread is for “girly” theme suggestions. IMO those posting ought to either suggest a “girly” theme or shove off.
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I wish i knew how to design themes.. i’d design loads of girlie ones with loads of colours and wordpress could use them all for free!
*sigh* :)
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labeled “troublemakers” or not; I guess that’s down to their contribution, and how they choose to communicate.
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