Since my post recently about my plan to design a WordPress theme, I’ve taken some first steps in the project. I’ve learned some things and I have a question for you. I have been looking around for inspiration, and have spent lots of time on CSSbeauty.com – really nice stuff there. Char recommended I go to this well-written tutorial for direction and I’ve gotten through the first couple of pages. He recommends that you install WordPress on your computer, and I started to download all that is necessary to do that and it seemed like such a hassle when I have still 6 available MySQL databases with my hosting package. So I set up a test database, which has come in handy already as I’ve been working on customizing a theme for a client.
So, here’s my question. I see that lots of themes that are in the WordPress theme database indicate that they are based on another theme. How much do you have to change the theme you’re basing yours on to call it “new” and upload it to the database? For example, I started out on my personal blog with the really wonderful Misty Look theme by Sadish Bala, but if you compare the two, you’d never know the two were related. I’ve obviously created a custom theme there, but where is the line? Seems just slapping a different header on a theme wouldn’t be enough, but with some of them it appears that’s all they’ve done. Also, when have you gone so far in customizing it that you no longer include the “based on…” link in the footer. Help me out here.
Thanks for your comments on previous posts David, Char, Phil, Brian and Steve.
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The based-on link is usually out of either requirement or respect. Your critique of based-on themes is dead on.
In my opinion, some font and header changes are NOT enough to separate the modified theme from the original. When uploading to public databases, your goal is to contribute something different to the database (not necessarily unique).
I’ve seen based-on versions of my themes before. Some are great. But in some cases, when it’s obvious the theme modifier did not try hard enough, the based-on link is a sign disrespect. If it’s obvious to you, assume the same for other people.
Be honest with your effort when deciding whether to upload, that’s all you need.
Well I’ve been on both sides of the fence. I’ve had people download my themes, change a few css styles and then claim it as their own. IMO, that totally sucks. When I realized I wanted to start releasing themes to the public, this is what I did.
Since it’s pretty darn near impossible to write every piece of php and css from scratch, I started with the default Wordpress theme and began to modify it. I did this because I knew functionally everything was stable.
I rewrote how the css appeared in the file, as well as how the php was laid out as well. Then I obliterated the style sheet so that my theme was no longer able to be compared to the original one.
Now when I make themes, I will basically take an existing one of mine (which now I feel is totally my work) and then modify it. If you can believe it, the Blue Zinfandel theme is really my Vertigo theme, but heavily modified.
This input so far from two experts in this area is really valuable to me. I think I’m going to go with Brian’s process of starting with the default WordPress theme. I had the same thought as he did about it being stable. Seems MANY of the themes out there have problems in one browser or another and there’s no need to compound those problems by adding more of my own!
Based on themes are often just a standard theme with a new header image and 10 minutes of find and replace of the hex code colours in the CSS. As Brian says, that totally sucks.
I refer to these as ‘pimped themes’ rather than new themes. Think west coast customs polishing up an old car.
When it becomes a new theme is when it either fixes problems with the original (invalid xhtml for instance) or it implements something genuinely new (more flexibility on single article pages) in code. I wouldn’t object to someone extending an existing theme if it makes for a quicker, better result.
Saying that, no one can argue with Brians approach, love the results!
Great conversation and topic!
Brian has personally helped me a ton on working through doing my own themes, so I’m very thankful to him for his excellent insight …
And so, I’ve also been on both sides of the fence. Loving certain themes and then tweaking them like Brian’s, Small Potato’s or Chris Pearson’s … but every time I did that I kept their links on those themes, because I felt it still wasn’t my creation … and my tweaks didn’t warrant a “new creation.”
I also knew that if I couldn’t have made it work without their code in place. So I was dependent on their work.
But there are two things I’d throw my opinion out on, though, in this conversation …
1. As a theme designer now, I don’t like seeing something REALLY similar to my theme being copied without attribution. But there’s gotta be a line between stealing and taking a pot and making it into a frisbee. For instance, if the new product is truly a new product, it’ll be different. In other words, the average onlooker wouldn’t put the two together as one. Not the designer, but the average onlooker …
2. Saying all this though …. I need to make this follow-up statement. On the web, we designers have basically 6 fonts, maybe less or more, to work with … and it irritates the fire out of me when designers think they OWN “Arial Bold” or “Georgia.” If the web font palette wasn’t so limited, maybe I’d be OK with this … but it ain’t. So just because one designer’s favorite and “signature” font is Helvetica … and you use Helvetica in your themes … does NOT mean you have copied their design. For designers, I’d say … get over it.
Just my two cents …
Steve,
I love your term – “pimped themes”. Thanks for your input- some good clarification.
Cory! I pimped one of your themes for a client very recently- okay I’m still in the midst of pimping it: http://joannapeck.net/ It’s really closer to a “based on” rather than a pimp- I just wanted to use that word. You can tell me what you think-if you’d prefer I changed the wording in the footer. Thanks for your visit.
[...] this can be found on a comment I left on my friend Randa’s blog, when she posted about the First Steps of Designing a WordPress Theme: Since it’s pretty darn near impossible to write every piece of php and css from scratch, I [...]
Whenever i design a theme, i always seem to have been inspired by another, to either improve it or just because i like it. Ive yet to release any of them, but instead of putting based on… i put inspired by. That way the link and respect are still there, but it fits in better if what you have made doesnt look anything like the ‘based on’ theme.
Think of Picaso, he was inspired by stuff, but his paintings didnt really look exactly like what he was inspired by.
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[...] In March, as I began to fully realize the power of WordPress, I realized I wanted to create a free WordPress theme. I got some great comments in the process, and made some friends like Cory and Brian who were a [...]
Hi Randa! I just wanted you to know that I love your Bluebird layout. It’s currently on my site [and I "pimped" it out - lol], but I also left all the credits at the footer because all I did was just add my name to the header and change the font style. I change my layouts up a lot, so I’ll probably have a new one next week, but just wanted you to know that I absolutely LOVE this layout! Simplicity is the key, and you nailed it with this particular one. Thanks!
Inga
Thanks Inga!! I appreciate your kind comments.
I like how with k2 you can do a lot of “custom styles” … what I do really isn’t re-writing a theme, it’s designing a custom style.
those are my inexperienced thoughts
-ma
I like working with K2 all right, but this K2 Redux Klein that I’m using was pretty difficult to work with at first. Some themes, like Brian Gardner’s, are easy to step into and tweak, but this one took me a little time.