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Site Rules & Design Submission Guidelines (Last Updated: 30 January 2012)

(392 posts)
  • Started 5 years ago by LobsterMan
  • Latest reply from Open Designs

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  1. LobsterMan
    Key Master

    zanzibar: Any button that is part of the design, such as navigation is OK. Unrelated buttons, such as validation buttons etc. can not be used.
    Posted 4 years ago #

  2. zanzibar
    Member

    Thanks for the clarificaton Lobsterman.. I submitted my first design two days ago and it still shows as pending, but when I view the file in the admin sector it shows an error, "No design specified". The file is zipped and everything is OK on my computer. Am I doing something wrong? I have seen other posts where people have had difficulties uploading. How long does it take for a file to be accepted or rejected? Thanks anyone for your input
    Posted 4 years ago #

  3. Christopher
    Moderator

    Designs may take anything from a couple of days, to a couple of weeks, to be approved. It depends on how many are submitted before yours, generally it will take on average 4 days. However as an example, when Open Designs was first started everyone submitted their designs quite rapidly and it took a while to get through them all. This was because we have to make sure each design receives a fair amount of time of the front page, as that is where the main promotion for the templates and designers is. I'm sure you'll understand when your design hits the front page (later today :wink:) and see how long your design stays on the front page :)
    Posted 4 years ago #

  4. kirby145
    Member

    My suggestion
    Designs would not be allowed if
    1. The design itself contains inappropriate language
    2. The design links to sites with inappropriate language under the Creative Commons Attribution license (X.x), meaning that the link is not allowed to be removed by the users.
    Posted 4 years ago #

  5. graystatic
    Member

    those sound good kirby145 :bakie:
    Posted 4 years ago #

  6. null
    Member

    Why not give the administrators the right to delete/change the offending words rather than refuse the design outright?
    Posted 4 years ago #

  7. DENiAL
    Member

    Posted By: perthmetroWhy not give the administrators the right to delete/change the offending words rather than refuse the design outright?
    I think it would be better to refuse the design, and leave the decision to the author. I personally left OWD, because my designs where altered without my permission before they where downloaded, I know I'm not the only one who came to the same conclusion. Personally, My belief, is "open" source, means more then, "free". It also means, I can say, and do what I want and release it to the community, to do and what the want with it. If the language bothers you, then don't download it. Don't support it, and don't encourage it, however, ostersizing someone because they don't hold the same belief structure as you do, seems like it would be the wrong thing to do in an open community. Of course, this is all my opinion on the matter, and, as stated above, this is a community driven web site, therefore, I have to respect the wishes of the community as a whole, so what ever is decided, I will backup 100%. :D
    Posted 4 years ago #

  8. Nathan Chapman
    Member

    Ouch, no javascript. I have this nice script that makes a breadcrumb trail that looks very nice in a navbar. Oh well, rules are rules. :cry:
    Posted 4 years ago #

  9. Mike Weiss
    Member

    Posted By: prydonianOuch, no javascript. I have this nice script that makes a breadcrumb trail that looks very nice in a navbar. Oh well, rules are rules. cry
    You can always provide the script in the template, and leave it up to the end user to implement it.
    Posted 4 years ago #

  10. Nathan Chapman
    Member

    You can always provide the script in the template, and leave it up to the end user to implement it.
    Fair Point. Thanks! Nathan :surfing:
    Posted 4 years ago #

  11. arwen54
    Member

    Question: I see quite a few sites now have sponsor links in the footers and they have released the template under the CC licence. Now, I need admin to clarify that those sponsor links can be removed by anyone who downloads the template as long as the link to the template designer is left intact, correct?
    Posted 4 years ago #

  12. onebucktemplates.com
    Member

    If themes are released under CC and nothing else is specified in the template files I think you can remove everything, even designers link. For example I don't know what templates you are referring to but I have templates released under CC and have 2 links in the footer on some templates but I didn't write anywhere that you have to leave those links but it would be nice to do so :wink: Attribution (by): Licensees may copy, distribute, display and perform the work and make derivative works based on it only if they give the author or licensor the credits in the manner specified by these.
    Posted 4 years ago #

  13. Gnome
    Moderator

    (this is not official, just what I think based on my knowledge of copyright laws and licenses ) You must leave the link to the author. Always lean on the safe side, and email the author for details if you are unsure. If you are using a CC License and not clearly specifying your method of credit, this site's FAQ will specify the manner of attribution (a link in the footer) at some time in the future. Some people use the CC license, but don't actually understand it, and really should be using public domain if they don't care, because that gives corporate users here the freedom they need to use templates.
    Posted 4 years ago #

  14. onebucktemplates.com
    Member

    may copy, distribute, display and perform the work and make derivative works based on it only if they give the author or licensor the credits in the manner specified by these. It is kind of tricky :wink: I apply CC license so no one can say it is their work like it happens with public domain ... If there is no link in the footer I don't mind but I will mind if someone says it is designed by Them.
    Posted 4 years ago #

  15. Christopher
    Moderator

    It also depends on what version and type of Creatives Commons licensing is used. Without specific information like that it is impossible to advise on the exact terms of use.
    Posted 4 years ago #

  16. Gnome
    Moderator

    The basic premise of the licensing scheme used here is this: PD work does not require attribution, although it is courteous to attribute the template maker; CC work does require attribution, and is a good bit stronger, since the creator holds copyrights; GPL is for those who really want their work protected, and know what the GPL is all about. EDIT: I sound like a broken record.
    Posted 4 years ago #

  17. Matt-Kern
    Member

    I have often wondered who sets the licensing scheme for each template here. Some templates specifically say "no commercial work" but the general vibe of OD is creative commons attribution. Which one wins?
    Posted 4 years ago #

  18. CMG Technologies
    Member

    Posted By: gnome(this is not official, just what I think based on my knowledge of copyright laws and licenses ) You must leave the link to the author . Always lean on the safe side, and email the author for details if you are unsure. If you are using a CC License and not clearly specifying your method of credit, this site's FAQ will specify the manner of attribution (a link in the footer) at some time in the future. Some people use the CC license, but don't actually understand it, and really should be using public domain if they don't care, because that gives corporate users here the freedom they need to use templates.
    I completely agree, it is always a good idea to leave the designed by or designers link somewhere.
    Posted 4 years ago #

  19. Gnome
    Moderator

    Given the new templates by csgraduate, I think we need to state that semantics are VERY important, and that not considering them can result in designs not being accepted, because the only tags used in that person's designs are the div tag, the img tag, the a tag, and the br tag. I am not just hating all machine-coded designs, because dreamweaver and NVU can pull off semantic code. Photoshop however, can't do anything right. The design supports neither vertical stretching or internal scrolling to accommodate large amounts of content. The CSS is redundant and inefficient, and the absolute positioning makes editing difficult. I would like to request that once a decision is reached (regarding whether or not semantics is grounds for removal), csgraduate's designs be removed on grounds of poor code quality.
    Posted 4 years ago #

  20. LobsterMan
    Key Master

    Posted By: gnomeGiven the new templates by csgraduate , I think we need to state that semantics are VERY important, and that not considering them can result in designs not being accepted
    I agree. Also, styling the details is what makes a good design. I'm starting to notice more and more "design shells" with a cute image on top, different colors for the areas of the page, but not much style beyond that. Maybe we should ad a rule about that.
    Posted 4 years ago #

  21. yugnats
    Member

    Posted By: LobsterManMaybe we should ad a rule about that.
    i think its a good idea as well :)
    Posted 4 years ago #

  22. JJenZz
    Member

    I second the semantics thing! It's not helping the web if we're allowing people to download badly written XHTML & CSS. It would also help people like csgraduate to learn and improve if their submissions were declined as you can explain to them that they're semantics are not up to standard, at which point you'd hope they'd try and improve. I would anyway.
    Posted 4 years ago #

  23. JJenZz
    Member

    Posted By: SyukPersonally it does not bother me at all, and I am sure that 99% of people are familiar with the language, and it is a very common phrase here in the UK.
    I agree.
    Posted By: DENiALIf the language bothers you, then don't download it. Don't support it, and don't encourage it, however, ostersizing someone because they don't hold the same belief structure as you do, seems like it would be the wrong thing to do in an open community.
    Totally agree with this one too... I generally don't like seeing religious templates/discussions but I wouldn't expect anyone to remove them. Freedom of speech and all that jazz (although it's not so free nowadays lol).
    Posted 4 years ago #

  24. Mike Weiss
    Member

    One thing I notice in a lot of the templtes that stick out to me is that a few of them are putting a number of links that are not relevant to web design or a template theme (Like this one). It worries me that these people, and not only Templates Maker, are trying to use us for link distribution more than they are trying to pump out nice designs. Is there a way we could limit promotional links to one designer link? Does anyone else see any value in this?
    Posted 4 years ago #

  25. Christopher
    Moderator

    75% of approved templates seem to have at least 1 "sponsered" link in them, and for some people the only reason they submit templates is so they can fill it with links they sell. So my thoughts are certainly yes, we should limit it somehow!
    Posted 4 years ago #

  26. Sean
    Founding Member

    @Christopher: Didn't we already cover this? It's sort of reminds me of the whole inserting links in the footers without permission from designers. Granted, these links are being placed by the designers, but this might open up a whole new can of worms allowing people to sell links to be in the footers of designs on OD which brings up another question... the licensing of each design and removing link credits. Do these "sold" links fall into any sort of licensing agreement? Also if people continue to game OD for SEO links like this, it could hurt us as well over time. OD isn't a link farm but it could turn into one as it's starting to seem with design links not being related to the design or the person who created the designs.
    Posted 4 years ago #

  27. Christopher
    Moderator

    I'm sure it has been covered at some point in general, but cannot remember what was decided. Dependant upon other people's opinions I'm all for limiting the extra links it templates, the only problem is I know people will either complain, or find a way to get round it... For example, we restrict all unrelated links, such as "Make Money Online" but them what constitutes as unrelated, could a template with an image of a bank then be seen as related to making money? However links for design sites would normally always be related, so people would just aim to sell links to design orientated companies. Urgh, where will this end?! And more importantly, what can we - Open Designs - do about this?
    Posted 4 years ago #

  28. Gnome
    Moderator

    My suggestions: (these may will need to be edited)
    • Each template will be checked for quality before submission. If it appears to only be a shell, or is not semantically coded, it will be declined, and a message will be sent to the designer telling them that they need to use block tags other than <div>
    • Each template is permitted one functional external link, to the designer's own site. (no linkfarming our template resources). If a template is found containing more than one such link, all external links may be rendered #. I realize that designers will complain, but that is the best way I can see this working (good for users, not good for designers).
    • Templates listed here as under the creative commons license, and either specifying another non-CC license, or specifying no license at all, is under the CC Attribution license. (this will involve an email to ALL designers explaining this, and how their rights have changed).
    • If the first rule isn't used, than this also applies: any template requiring that a link to the author be maintained does not protect links to the sponsors. They may be left alone, mutilated, or removed as the end user sees fit.
    My rules are brutal, but effective. We need to protect the rights of the end-user, because not one person will use a template in which they have to leave a full battery of links in.
    Posted 4 years ago #

  29. CMG Technologies
    Member

    Sounds like a plan gnome. I will have to modify some of my templates' outgoing links and submit them again. But definitely a great idea and something that needed to be done. Is this rule applicable for everybody's old templates as well (not that I have any here), or would it only be applicable to new submissions ? Just some food for thought.
    Posted 4 years ago #

  30. Aaron D. Campbell
    Member

    The problem with the rules is that not one user will use a template that isn't created either. I think the rules may keep some designers from creating templates. I only have one design here, because I'm really not much of a designer. It has extremely clean code, and people can use it as a base to build off of. Is it a shell? If so, I would not have "fixed" it, it would just be one less design here (471 people have downloaded it, and I have seen it being used on multiple sites). Also, my template is released as Public Domain, but some have kept my link anyway. Even so, I probably wouldn't have submitted it if I couldn't have linked to some of the causes that I support (Invisible Children, Acholi Beads, and even Surviving America which is a blog by James Pearson who works for Invisible Children and founded Acholi Beads). I'm not trying to be rude, but that was one of the motivating factors for me to finish the design, package it, and upload it. If those links are to be removed, I'd rather have the design removed.
    Posted 4 years ago #

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