Regarding Theme Copyright

[Joshua Farrell]

I know theme owners can put in copyright info, whether it is a visible text field or a comment line referencing the owner of the theme and where to get support for it; what I was wondering, in the copyright area for themes, could I add a link into that area to where I want the admin of the forum to get support for the theme, without having to dig through pages on support or the theme library to find the theme in question? Would probably help make my decisions on making themes later a little bit easier if I was able to know whether or not I could include the url in the copyright of the footer of the theme.

I know, trivial question. Nothing is mentioned in the Theme Submissions Guidelines about it in particular.

[ᴘʀɪɴᴄᴇ ᴄᴜᴘɪᴅ]

i'm in no way qualified to answer this, but i don't see why not. at the bottom of all my themes in the credit (aka this theme was made by alkie blah blah) my name is a link to my site with all of my contact information. i'm sure you could do something similar if you wanted. or, if you didn't want it to be public, you could post your information/link to a support thread in the theme description.

[Retread]

A direct link to a help thread for your theme sounds like a great idea to me. The only concern might be in where it's placed. You mentioned the footer. If you mean below the forum content but above Bottom Ads 1 & 2, that doesn't seem as if it would create any problems.

If it's sandwiched between the Bottom Ads and the required links at the bottom of the page, or if it's placed at the very bottom of the page, that might be a problem. You'd need to consult a ProBoards Admin as to whether either of those locations would be legit.



Also worth noting: If your theme has a background image, it's probably a good idea to use a background color which contrasts with the required links at the bottom. Those need to be easy to identify for anyone viewing the forum.

[Joshua Farrell]

Scott, since you are the current PB Admin on, I would like to know your opinion regarding this subject.

[Scott]

Joshua Farrell, There is nothing wrong with putting a visible copyright on the theme. The question then becomes whether the user of the theme will edit this out or not (being completely honest here). So adding a visual copyright should be tastefully done so it is aesthetically part of the theme and not an in-your-face element.

Now as far a support link, if you go to the Settings tab of a theme, there already is a field for "Help Link" where the theme creator should enter the support link for the theme (currently it defaults to the Theme Library Board here on Support). Not all theme creators utilize this field, and personally I'm advocating for this to be mandatory for any library submission (themes and plugins). This is an ideal spot for the help link as it really applies only to the forum admin (or designated staff), and not the end user.

In the theme's Settings tab is the Theme Description field. In addition to any description, this would be a place to also add a copyright notice and link back to the theme's origin if it is not from the library. Such as they do for themes generated by the group at the forum: Adoxography.

[Joshua Farrell]

Ah thanks!