Now All Themes Cost Money?
-
I know WP has had “premium” themes for a while. But I was surprised to see that when I wanted to change my theme I was constantly told I would have to buy it. The prices ranged from $299 to $49. So, is the the future of WP? I can only change a theme now if I pay WP? If this is the case, as webmaster for the non-profit Centre Harbor Historical Society, I will recommend we move our content to another service, like SquareSpace.
Please shed some light on WP current practices for users. I’ve been with WP for five years, but perhaps it’s time for change?
Thank You,
Brian Stearns
chhistory.comThe blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
-
Where are you seeing this? If it’s a little link in the dark grey admin bar at the top of the window when you’re logged in, and on your dashboard, you can just ignore that as – to my knowledge – everyone who buy and upgrade gets a ‘suggestion’ to buy more. I do, too – I just ignore it.
As far as I know the themes are all free, apart from the Premium ones.
And anyway, you can’t install themes here, only use the ones that are available onsite.
-
When I am signed on as administrator to my account and go to change anything on my current blog (like background image or color), I’m told to purchase an upgrade. I don’t have a premium theme and already pay WP for video, extra storage, domain mapping, etc. Now, it seems, they want to charge me to change colors in my basic theme. If this is true it’s very sneaky and disappointing.
I’d send WP an email…. but I cannot find any way of contacting WP directly.
-
200++ Free Themes – Dashboard >> Appearance >> Themes
Maybe 20 Premium Themes – Max price I saw was about $ 70.–
The $ 299.– Package is a fancy package that has all sorts of things bundled in it not just themes
-
I just want to change small things on the current FREE theme I’m using… but I cannot without paying WP. I don’t understand that.
-
My theme is “retro-fitted” and when I try to change anything I get a sidebar telling me– ‘You are previewing the color features of Custom Design. Purchase to make it live.’
It feels like WP is holding my wallet ransom if I want to change something as simple as the background image– which use to be FREE a couple months ago. :(
-
This is nothing to do with premium themes.
In the ‘customizer’ screen, there is a side panel. There is a button in it that says “customize your theme using awesome color palettes” (or similar wording – it usually depends on your theme). And there is a button marked ‘Try Now’. If you click that, you will gain access to a PREVIEW of an upgrade called Custom Design. If you don’t want to buy it, then don’t click the preview button. Without clicking it, you still have access to the free functions of the Customizer that are below that button. They vary depending on the theme you are using.
The other place you will see Preview functions of the Custom Design upgrade is if you click on ‘Custom Design’ either in the Appearance menu of your dashboard or on Appearance – Themes and then click the button to the right of the Dashboard’s side panel, near the top of the screen.
What you need to know is that WordPress.com pays for the site in two ways: by advertising which appears to logged out users and which can be got rid of by purchasing a no-ads upgrade, and by offering upgrades in the first place. And because of the latter, they need to make users aware of the upgrades as much and as often as they can, which means that sometimes they place these small ‘ads’ of their own in the form of clickable buttons in various parts of the dashboard functions.
All experienced users here have learnt to ignore the ads for upgrades we don’t want to buy.
None of the upgrades are compulsory. Really.
-
I have been a WP user for well over 5 years. I have paid for all sorts of upgrades and I know that is how WP makes their income. I am an “experienced user” and it took a while, but now I see how WP has slightly tweaked the dashboard navigation. I would always go to “appearance” first and click on the customize from there. Now, you must chose options below appearance instead.
I am, however, disappointed that you cannot contact an actual WP employee for concerns. Everything seems to be forums run by peers rather than dealing with customers directly.
-
There are a lot of “crazy” volunteers with a lot of experience who answer questions for free. The response time to questions and answers in these forums is very fast because of our participation. In this thread, I see no incorrect information. And you received the information in less than half a day.
I do not understand your objection to benefiting from our volunteer advise.
edit to be sure you understand that I am a volunteer, not staff… and I believe we do an excellent job of serving this community.
- The topic ‘Now All Themes Cost Money?’ is closed to new replies.
WordPress.com Forums 