Themes Author

[Stinky666]

Like with Plugins, can there be somewhere that can say "Author" and the creators name for the theme, where it can't be edited by others?

[Ryan Roos]

We will discuss this. It certainly won't be before v5.x

The reason this doesn't exist already I can tell you is because Themes aren't creative property in the same way that a Plugin is (or at least they weren't when we started out, which is why we will discuss it). A plugin can contain a license and copyright because of the creative works that went into the code. But a theme is (was) just different combinations of settings. You can't copyright red borders for example. However with the addition of template mods we do enter into certain realms of customizing that could be warranted as such. But that is also countered by the fact that we want themes open. We want people creating and using and doing things with them. There's not really a huge reason why themes should be locked or uneditable. Especially since on different forums you need to be able to edit them to function properly. A plugin has settings that can be edited to accommodate a forum, a theme is nothing but settings. That's what you are customizing when you install it.

imagine a theme being locked and plugins that were locked. Now imagine that their was compatibility issues. You have to be able to edit one of those thing all the time to prevent conflicts. A plugin can be locked and made to work a certain way, because at the end of the day you can always go into your themes and edit things to make it work. This becomes more true the more locked plugins you add into the mix. But if themes you installed were locked and uneditable then it would quickly be inconvenient to use any that were.

On that same topic I do like the idea of Authors. We will have a theme Library at some point and I think it's important that people get credit for making things. But as far as editing prevention that comes down to the forum itself. You shouldn't have mods editing things that you don't want. Themes are a thing that are one as a whole, not many individual things like plugins are.

Anyways, I could go on and on...

Thank you.

[Stinky666]

Jan 16, 2013 12:43:24 GMT -8 Ryan Roos said:

We will discuss this. It certainly won't be before v5.x

The reason this doesn't exist already I can tell you is because Themes aren't creative property in the same way that a Plugin is (or at least they weren't when we started out, which is why we will discuss it). A plugin can contain a license and copyright because of the creative works that went into the code. But a theme is (was) just different combinations of settings. You can't copyright red borders for example. However with the addition of template mods we do enter into certain realms of customizing that could be warranted as such. But that is also countered by the fact that we want themes open. We want people creating and using and doing things with them. There's not really a huge reason why themes should be locked or uneditable. Especially since on different forums you need to be able to edit them to function properly. A plugin has settings that can be edited to accommodate a forum, a theme is nothing but settings. That's what you are customizing when you install it.

imagine a theme being locked and plugins that were locked. Now imagine that their was compatibility issues. You have to be able to edit one of those thing all the time to prevent conflicts. A plugin can be locked and made to work a certain way, because at the end of the day you can always go into your themes and edit things to make it work. This becomes more true the more locked plugins you add into the mix. But if themes you installed were locked and uneditable then it would quickly be inconvenient to use any that were.

On that same topic I do like the idea of Authors. We will have a theme Library at some point and I think it's important that people get credit for making things. But as far as editing prevention that comes down to the forum itself. You shouldn't have mods editing things that you don't want. Themes are a thing that are one as a whole, not many individual things like plugins are.

Anyways, I could go on and on...

Thank you.

Hi Ryan, I completely understand exactly what you're saying. However, I think you mis understood my suggestion.
The thing I was suggesting, was to quite literally have somewhere the author could place their name. I didn't mean for it to somehow come across that I want to "lock" a theme so that people can't edit it. That's far from it. I was purely wanting somewhere it could say "Author: My Name".

You guys have, and are still doing a great job, but what it seems like is that you are not catering for designers at all.
Having an easy theme creator/visual editor, although fantastic and can/does help a lot, isn't the "be all and end all". The fact that obviously designers create their OWN work/images and incorporate it into a theme (or themes), is a big deal, in the sense they CAN get ripped, and they DO get ripped.

As a designer yourself, I hope you can understand exactly what I am (or am trying to) saying.
They/We just deserve at least some small credit, like how coders are getting with their plugins. I understand that yes, we designers can include some form of copyright image (like how we currently/used do/to), but of course, as already mentioned, images can and do get removed and ripped. At least this way if somehow there was some issue regarding ownership of images, you can see exactly who did create the theme, and when.


Apologies if any of this is sounding a bit "grr", it genuinely isn't meaning to be. I'm just tired.

[Ryan Roos]

I understand the tired part.

I get the credit where credit is due. I think it's important that themes get Author credit. I've made a note for the future. It just might be a bit. Like i said, I definitely think it needs to be included by the time we roll out the theme library.

[Stinky666]

Ok thanks Ryan Roos, appreciated. One final question regarding this though.

I understand that obviously you wont have this planned out yet, but will there be a way to add our names to themes we made BEFORE this is implemented?

[Ryan Roos]

Jan 16, 2013 22:58:55 GMT -8 Stinky666 said:

Ok thanks Ryan Roos, appreciated. One final question regarding this though.

I understand that obviously you wont have this planned out yet, but will there be a way to add our names to themes we made BEFORE this is implemented?

No. If we were going to track the data we would show you the data. They are one and the same.