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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. JJenZz
    Member

    Posted By: gnomeEach 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).
    I totally disagree with this rule.
    Posted By: aaroncampbellI think the rules may keep some designers from creating templates.
    And this is why.... I personally enjoy submitting templates to sites like these, not only because it makes me feel good to help others but also because it helps me earn money in the long run. If I were unable to post links that could potentially make me money, then I probably wouldn't bother submitting templates. I design for a living, I cannot afford to be making freebies with no return (as much as I would like to). The way I see it, if a template appears to be taking advantage of link farming by containing links that are unrelated to design/development... they should be removed as they have nothing to do with what this site is about IMO.. Who cares if somone is making money for adding 5 design related links to their site? Those links might help out one of our members since most are here looking for design/development.
    Posted 4 years ago #

  2. snop
    Member

    Posted By: JJenZzI totally disagree with this rule.
    Me too. I often use images in my templates that aren't mine. If I can't give a credit link to that person, then I'm not going to use the image, which will lower the quality of the template, hurting the user.
    Posted 4 years ago #

  3. zanzibar
    Member

    I agree with Snop. Not everyone is a great photographer or an ace with Photoshop. I think you should maybe extend the links to 2, one for the designer and the other to attribute only artwork or photos, which are often from free resources anyway.
    Posted 4 years ago #

  4. Mike Weiss
    Member

    How do we deal with those that are using the links for SEO? One possiblity is to append rel="nofollow" to all links in the preview. Your links would still be visible, and the downloaded version would not be modified so anyone using your template would still give you the SEO boost as long as they retain the credit link.
    Posted 4 years ago #

  5. arwen54
    Member

    The thing is there is no way you are going to be able to enforce what the end user does with your work when you release your templates or themes to the Open Source community, period. For example, a client of mine hired me for WordPress consultation and was using another theme designer's WP theme that had other links (un-related) in the footer. We kept the link to the designer intact and removed the others. Have my client and I violated the licencing agreement? No, I don't believe so because we left the credit to the theme author intact. Links to other sites should not be a pre-requisite for the end-user to utilize the template, imho.
    Posted 4 years ago #

  6. JJenZz
    Member

    Arwen, i think you have got the wrong end of the stick here... we're not talking about what people do with the links on the template after downloading them, we're talking about what TODC should do about templates that are being submitted here purely to link farm through the sites template previews :tongue: what people do with those links after downloading a template is obviously not in our control, as you say.
    Posted 4 years ago #

  7. Gnome
    Moderator

    I didn't say the rules would be perfect the second I wrote them down. That is why they will need to be edited a great deal before being added. So links to the following would be allowed (this is all theoretical at this point):
    • Credit links to author, photgraphers, free resources used, and applications used in development
    • other links to either non-profits, personal sites (must not be selling products or services directly), or quality, relevant free resources of a legal nature. (This part is hard for me to word)
    What do you guys think of those?
    Posted 4 years ago #

  8. odt
    Member

    Posted By: gnomeother links to either non-profits, personal sites (must not be selling products or services directly), or quality, relevant free resources of a legal nature. (This part is hard for me to word)
    I am not entirely sure that this is a good idea. I have recently uploaded a template because I knew that by doing so, I would not only be helping the community but would also be gaining hits to my new startup company (design/template related) that is due to launch early this year. If I were not allowed to add links to my template, I would not have submitted it... this is a template which nearly 300 people have downloaded at this point (in 2 days). I am not trying to brag, I am simply trying to point out that enforcing this rule will reduce the amount of high quality templates (which are evidently in high demand) from being submitted and I am sure I am not the only one that feels this way. The community will lose out in the long run IMO. P.S. I agree that badly coded shell templates full of links should be removed as they are not helping the community in return for their clicks. I don't think those of us that do spend time and effort creating something worth downloading should be penalised though.
    Posted 4 years ago #

  9. Christopher
    Moderator

    I am not trying to brag - pfft ;) But yeah, its a difficult subject to create rules for, as there will always be a way to get round it anyway. Which makes it pointless having a rule which will blatently fail before it kicks off... probably best to concentrate on the semantic markup and structure of designs, Jason - I'll reply to your email with details thoughts and details tomorrow on an idea I've had for that, will involved a bit of PHP scripting if you're up for it. Only other thing would be the rel="nofollow" links to every link in every template preview as suggested above.
    Posted 4 years ago #

  10. odt
    Member

    Posted By: Christopher I am not trying to brag - pfft ;)
    mowahaha :tongue::wink:
    Posted 4 years ago #

  11. arwen54
    Member

    Posted By: JJenZzArwen, i think you have got the wrong end of the stick here... we're not talking about what people do with the links on the template after downloading them, we're talking about what TODC should do about templates that are being submitted here purely to link farm through the sites template previews :tongue: what people do with those links after downloading a template is obviously not in our control, as you say.
    aha, I'm not paying attention! I didn't even think of it in terms of template previews...doh! my bad!
    Posted 4 years ago #

  12. Mike Weiss
    Member

    What if we rigged up a "Report this template for review" link that would start a discussion where the community can come to the conclusion to contact the designer to request modification or to delete the template for the good of users? (Holy run-on.)
    Posted 4 years ago #

  13. JJenZz
    Member

    "Report this template" sounds like a great solution! two thumbs up from me :bigsmile: The only thing I'd be concerned about is people abusing the link. It could end up creating a lot of extra work for the admins meaning less time for template approvals. I do like the idea though... hmmm. What do you think admins?
    Posted 4 years ago #

  14. greg
    Member

    Posted By: JJenZzThe only thing I'd be concerned about is people abusing the link. It could end up creating a lot of extra work for the admins meaning less time for template approvals.
    if it is a simple button which just requires a user to click on it to send a report, then abuse will happen - but if it is made too much trouble for some loser to click it for no reason, eg. image verification, comments on why it should be reported, etc. then abuse will be less likely. it could also be tied in with the logon system - a user's login name is submitted with each report, and anyone abusing the system could be blocked from submitting further reports.
    Posted 4 years ago #

  15. JJenZz
    Member

    good ideas there greg.... i'm all for it :bigsmile:
    Posted 4 years ago #

  16. arwen54
    Member

    I like that idea too, Greg!
    Posted 4 years ago #

  17. Mike Weiss
    Member

    What if it started a discussion like Wikipedia does when an article comes into question?
    Posted 4 years ago #

  18. null
    Member

    I can see everyone's point here in theory (catching out the bad guys), but do we want this site's role to be that of template police as well? If we go down down this road of then it could impact negatively on the site. For me, I'd rather see this concept have it's own site outside of OD and leave OD as purely that of template designs and discussion without the vigilance part. Pete
    Posted 4 years ago #

  19. greg
    Member

    i've noticed a few templates that don't adhere to the 200kb limit rule - this really should be something that's enforced, as excessive filesizes could chew through the bandwidth of an unsuspecting template user. this is something that could automatically be tested when the design is submitted, so it wouldn't be a lot of trouble for whoever does the approving.
    Posted 3 years ago #

  20. XSQueen
    Member

    @Perth - having a link to report a template that violates the rules, and having that require a user to be specific about WHAT the violation is (copycat, invalid xhtml, excessive size) would make the site look better since it would eventually cull out the people who are either intentionally abusing the site to gain traffic to their own domains, or who simply don't care to follow the rules. Perhaps once x amount of complaints have been received about a site (by logged in users, filling out a detail form) that design is removed and the user is emailed/notified about the removal, and why. If its just a simple mistake (large size, etc) it can be fixed and updated/resubmitted, but if its a habitual abuser (like several users we have discussed here) they can be blocked from submitting or at least anything they post will be given a more thorough review. It stinks that a few bad apples are making it worse for others ... but would you rather have a site that is bogged down with bad copycat templates that can't even be bothered to update the typoes in their text? Just my 2 pence ;)
    Posted 3 years ago #

  21. bakercad
    Moderator

    Posted By: perthmetroIf we go down down this road of then it could impact negatively on the site.
    But, if we allow people to submit designs that are "rip offs", it'll impact us negatively as well. Being able to report these things, IMHO, shows that we're serious about the quality and legitimacy of the designs submitted to this site.
    Posted 3 years ago #

  22. Sean
    Founding Member

    Right now the design side of the OD is powered using a modified version of WordPress, not modified core files but custom function and theme files, so as things stand, we would need to write a custom plugin to handle this feature, unless someone else has an idea or maybe even an existing plugin we could mold to work for this purpose.
    Posted 3 years ago #

  23. bakercad
    Moderator

    Instead of a plugin, doesn't WP allow you (or at least have an existing plugin that allows you) to run custom PHP scripts? If so, it shouldn't be too difficult to do this sort of thing.
    Posted 3 years ago #

  24. greg
    Member

    a report feature is necessary imho- just look at all the recent threads about template ripoffs. and implementing a system to restrict filesize is not worth bothering with unless others think that the filesize limit is important enough to enforce - is 200kb a guideline or an actual hard limit?
    Posted 3 years ago #

  25. Sean
    Founding Member

    @bakercad: Indeed, there is a plugin to allow using PHP code within WordPress but I'll need to track it down. If you know of a good one, please let me know either via email or in the thread. Thanks.
    Posted 3 years ago #

  26. pogy366
    Member

    ease up on the iron grip and if not, at least be consistent with it
    Posted 3 years ago #

  27. Sean
    Founding Member

    @pogy366: "ease up on the iron grip"? what are you talking about?
    Posted 3 years ago #

  28. null
    Member

    My point of view from my last post has changed somewhat (re: template copiers). We do need to police the bad guys but I still maintain it should be done without bringing too much attention to them. By all means report them and have that function there for everyone to use (hopefully it won't be abused, which is why maybe one needs approval to be able to report templates - like a mod)but Ideally i think it would be good to get rid of the bad guys without to much fanfair. Pete
    Posted 3 years ago #

  29. Sean
    Founding Member

    @perthmetro: I agree with you 100%.
    Posted 3 years ago #

  30. Aaron D. Campbell
    Member

    All great stuff. If there is a need for programming, just contact me: opendesigns@xavisys.com
    Posted 3 years ago #

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