New WordPress.org theme directory
I just stopped by WordPress Extend to find a few “ideas” to rate down, which is part of my nightly routine.
Tonight, I was a bit surprised to see that there was a new WordPress Themes Directory. I was completely caught off guard as I hadn’t checked my WordPress dashboard yet. Yes, I check WordPress.org before my own site’s admin panel.
What does all this mean for current WordPress theme authors?
It’ll probably mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people.
I’m happy to see the folks over at WP.org taking some initiative with themes. It’s been a long time since we had something remotely decent with WordPress themes and the WordPress.org stamp of approval.
We’ve seen the WordPress theme market take a lot of turns in the last year or so, especially with the pay-for-use market really shaking things up. And, I hope to shake things up a little more with Project M (more on this in a coming post).
My questions for you are:
- What effect will this have on the way we currently get themes?
- Do you see this as a step in the right direction?
- How will this change (if at all) the premium theme market (I imagine this is on a few people’s minds)?
- Will this make it harder for new theme authors to get their themes out who don’t want to use the directory?
I knew this day was coming but was a bit surprised that it actually happened. One thing to note is that all themes must have a GPL-compatible license, which is sure to generate some discussion.
My initial thoughts
Will my themes start popping up in the new theme directory?
As of now: no.
I’ve thought about this for much longer than the last few minutes since I knew the theme directory would eventually get reestablished.
I’m sure I’ll lose quite a lot of potential downloads and users, but I’m planning on going a much different route with my themes. I’ve invested too much time in doing things my way.
One of the reasons for not going the theme directory route is because I believe in being able to support my themes 100%. I don’t feel like the WP.org support system will work well in this type of capacity. I’m much more inclined to run my own support forums.
Another reason, and I won’t get into it here, is the GPL license thing. I’m always riding the fence on this, and I’ll just leave it at that.
Lastly, I’m a control freak. Seriously. I like to have full control over everything, which I’ll have to give up a little with the theme directory. It does look like a good system that’ll offer a lot of control to theme authors, but it’s still not enough for me.
Ultimately, WordPress is promoted, and that’s always a good thing. It’ll make things much easier for first-time WordPress users to get their hands on a theme and start learning the system.
What are your initial thoughts?
Read the development blog release post.
Too much poor directory, I do not like, allthough is better than the old.
I threw all my themes up there first thing this morning. I’m not sure how I’ll handle support requests through the dot org forums. Small stuff I might answer there but I’d rather direct everything to my own forums. We’ll see.
1. What effect will this have on the way we currently get themes?
99% of WordPress users will get their WordPress themes from the official directory.
2. Do you see this as a step in the right direction?
Yes. This is good news for WordPress users. It makes it easier for theme to find new themes. I really like the Plugin directory. It’s rare that I use a plugin that doesn’t come from there. The same will probably hold true for themes for most people.
3. How will this change (if at all) the premium theme market (I imagine this is on a few people’s minds)?
It will probably not be good for the premium theme market.
4. Will this make it harder for new theme authors to get their themes out who don’t want to use the directory?
Probably. Will WeblogToolsCollection continue announcing new themes when I see the latest themes pop up on my WordPress dashboard (speculation)?
Oops. I mean this: It’ll make it easier for users to find new themes …
It’ll make it easier for new users to find themes and get acquainted with WP and the Community. Experienced users however are propably far more selective and have their certain places on the Internet where they are comfortable eg. justintadlock.com
It’s pretty obvious to me that you don’t need another download/support place than what you already have (the No. of downloads here makes that self evident). You would not benefit from it, but rather duplicate your work and support.
Maybe the WP-Org should rather administer “proven” WP authors and developers rather than throw a million themes in one spot. The WP-Org could thus, for the benefit of users, guide them to “safe” places for themes and plugins. An administrative hell (pardon my french) but hey, that’s just part business.
mini
Well, it just opened, so there won’t be a lot of themes there for a while.
Ian
I like to handle the support for themes on my own site, so it’ll be interesting to see how this works.
I wholeheartedly agree that this will be good for WordPress users and the community.
I also think that premium theme authors might have to really shift to making themes for small businesses, which won’t be good for those trying to get into that market. But, you know, I don’t really care that much about who’s making money. I just like to watch how these things unfold. I do think that some of the get-rich-quick sites will die away with this announcement.
I think WLTC will probably continue announcing new themes as they’ve done with plugins, and that’s been a question on my mind too. They definitely drive a lot of traffic to my site when I release a new theme.
It’ll be interesting to see what theme authors take advantage of the new directory as a lot of them have already established how they do things with their themes.
Maybe I ought to find a decent comment editor. I make that mistake all the time — “theme” instead of “them.”
The Elder
I definitely couldn’t handle support questions popping up all over the place.
The one thing I’m afraid of, as an established theme author, is of losing exposure as new theme users might not be as aware of the other side of the WP theme community. Of course, only time will tell how this plays out. I’m sure a lot of us are going to have to rethink our strategies.
Going back to what Ian said above, WLTC might have a huge impact on this. I’m assuming they’ll still do their theme releases, which would help tremendously.
I just think that the directory could get a bit crazy if support questions are being handled there with anything other than basic themes.
Me too. There must be something wrong with us.
It’ll serve as a central place for dot org users to get their themes with confidence and that the themes are clean (security wise) and been through a screening process. This would also probably be the start of automattic theme upgrades like plugins. I think this would develop into a huge chuck of traffic for Theme Authors as the Plugin directory is for Plugin Authors.
Of course. Easier way to find (hopefully) great themes.
I’d imagine it would probably ‘weed’ out a lot of so called ‘premium theme’ authors to only those who figure out a way to deal with this central theme directory.
I’d say, if premium theme authors take this with a positive light, they’ll probably release some more ‘freemium’ themes to market their premium themes.
So it can either be a good thing or a bad. Oh, and then there’s ugly which would totally erase them of them map.
I’d say it will be a problem when new wordpress dot org users don’t know any of the rockstars who’ve been pushing theming to a higher level (Options!). But I wouldn’t worry just yet, it all depends on the quality of free themes that enters in the directory. Hopefully it won’t turn out like the last one.
One of my biggest pet peeves with the old WP Theme Gallery, was the inability to search by date. I didn’t/don’t want an old theme, or an incomptabible theme.
Hopefully this NEW! gallery, allows for much better searching.
I think this is very good for people who are new to WordPress. Finding a quality theme when you are new to everything WordPress is, or at least it was for me, challenging and somewhat disheartening. Google “WordPress themes” and you get back millions of results. That is a bit much for a lot of people to deal with when they don’t have enough knowledge to help them sift through it all.
I would expect that more experienced WordPress users will still find the best themes, whether at the new directory or elsewhere.
I am not sure whether I am liking the GPL license or not.
It is surely a great place for distribution, but then again there are quite many regulations to comply.
I’ve submitted my Rainbow Feather theme, however I just released that is says “CC 3.0″ in the footer and style.css - wonder what their reaction will be.
I am not overly sure that the GPL is the right way to go.
If we, as designers, are to release our hard-unpaid work for free, we surely do want some credit for it?
@Jez
I’m not sure what regulations you are talking about. GPL only handles distribution and you can still sell GPL code. The only problem is that once the other person has that theme, he can then resell it. So I mean, you’ll have to have a license clause, which might violate the GPL, that they acknowledge that they can’t resell the theme with your pictures and styles or as is. You won’t be able to protect your code, that is immediately GPL, but you can still protect your images, custom JS, and maybe CSS.
All themes used by WordPress are immediately GPL or GPL compatible. This is from most themes using the Template Tags API, you have a part of WordPress inside your theme therefore you inherit the license. If you were to create your own API and be completely separated from the WordPress API, then you would not be required to be GPL.
1. What effect will this have on the way we currently get themes?
In my opinion this will not make any great effect on the way users get themes. It may effect, however, the future WP theme users.
There’re only 9 themes as the time of writing. No more old theme authors hurried on there.
2. Do you see this as a step in the right direction?
Of course, yes. WordPress should take this step long ago.
3. How will this change (if at all) the premium theme market (I imagine this is on a few people’s minds)?
Not sure… Let’s see it.
4. Will this make it harder for new theme authors to get their themes out who don’t want to use the directory?
Yes… This will make them obey GPL and will force them put their works on WP.org
Ian
It’s quite possible.
Ptah Dunbar
I’m thinking of maybe releasing some nicely designed themes for the directory now. It’ll be great to get the possible traffic from those users and kind of push them toward the more advanced themes.
I also hope it doesn’t turn out like the last one. Even when I began using WordPress back in ‘05, I rarely downloaded themes from there. Of course, I’ve always been much more inclined to create my own themes.
Missy
I think this theme directory will have its benefits when it comes to finding themes that are incompatible.
There’s the built-in tagging system (if it doesn’t get abused as these things so often do) and there’s a little spot on the side that shows when the theme was last updated.
Matthew
I never google “WordPress themes.” It hurts my brain.
I’m also thinking that once users get acquainted with WordPress, they might branch out and start looking for themes outside of the directory.
jez
I’m actually a supporter of the WordPress.org theme directory forcing the themes to be GPL-compatible. This isn’t because I believe themes must be GPL though. I think it’s the best way to regulate the use of the directory and keep out themes with sponsored links.
It’s worked well with the plugins directory, but I don’t know how it’ll carry over into the theme community, which seems to have established a different set of standards for itself.
Jacob Santos
I agree with most of what you said, and most themes should probably carry a GPL-compatible license. Heck, many are just reworkings of the Default theme.
The main reason I didn’t go into it into in the post is that I don’t believe that all themes must follow this GPL guideline and I’d rather focus on some of the brigther sides of the theme directory.
Since we’re on the subject…
The API thing is a good place to start, but let’s break it down to even simpler terms. Let’s suppose one were to create a basic template. This basic template (no WP code) that does nothing except look pretty. The author of this template has full copyright over this and can do as he or she pleases.
Now, let’s further suppose that the author decides to port this template to WordPress and distribute it. All this would take is plugging in a few functions and possibly renaming some files, and he’d have himself a spiffy new WordPress theme.
Then, let’s suppose the author wanted to port this thing over to Movable Type (we hope not, but it’s his template). Or, maybe any other system.
This is the reason I don’t like the GPL thing. It’s basically telling theme authors that they have to license a theme one way, while another system may need, or allow, an author to license it in another way. And, we can’t have all these different licenses attached to this one, basic template.
And yes, I can produce a basic HTML/PHP template for any of my themes. Furthermore, I could probably write an API to handle posts and such, so I could plug in a few functions, but I’d much rather work with WordPress.
Of course, I’m completely building my new WordPress business with the idea that it’s quite possible that themes must inherit the GPL.
J Mehmett
I asked Mark over at WLTC if they’d continue their theme release posts, and he said they would. So, even new users will still be exposed to themes not in the directory via the WP dashboard.
I think we might just have to give this thing a couple of months before we see who hops on the theme-directory bandwagon. Of course, early adopters of the system may stand to gain more because their themes will show in the “most popular” section, which might make it hard for newcomers to get their theme out.
1. What effect will this have on the way we currently get themes?
Very little. Newbie Wordpress users will go there the same as I did in the beginning. They will take what is available and be happy. If (big if) they stay around for any appreciable amount of time I think most serious bloggers end up searching out the “Jusitn Tadlocks” out there for themes that look good, are functional, have real support.
2. Do I see it as a step in the right direction?
Sure. Why not? In the spirit of open source it does give a central “trusted” space for the newbie to get their themes, give burgeoning theme developers a place to get immediate feedback on their work.
3. How will this change (if at all) the premium theme market (I imagine this is on a few people’s minds)?
Competition is competition. Premium themes are for folks like myself that are serious bloggers that have blogged for more than one year. Comparitively speaking the market for premium is rather small. Free Blogger or Wordpress suit most wannabe bloggers. Those that try to make the leap to managing their own system hang around long enough for their webhost subscription to go away. I did not go premium till “my favorite” theme was broke by needs and upgrades. Need is the primary reason people buy premium. Define that need and you will become a rich man.
4. Will this make it harder for new theme authors to get their themes out who don’t want to use the directory?
Yup
1. What effect will this have on the way we currently get themes?
A lot of the previous comments has nailed this I think. The group should be separated into new users, and experienced users. It’s a fantastic resource for the new users right of the bat, and it can evolve into a fantastic resources for experienced users.
2. Do you see this as a step in the right direction?
Yep, it will be nice to see the theme part evolve in the same direction as the plugins have, with auto-update. Now we just need to do something about localization, since not all sites on the big internet is in English
3. How will this change (if at all) the premium theme market (I imagine this is on a few people’s minds)?
Not much I gather. Especially if the cool freemium themebuilders like yourself don’t put the themes up in the theme directory. Don’t get me wrong, I understand your stance, and I love coming here on this site, but on the other hand it’s a free outlet for your very cool themes, and it would also drive alot of traffic to your site.
I actually don’t see why you couldn’t say that all support-issues should be answered in your forum, that’s what a lot of the plugin-authors do.
4. Will this make it harder for new theme authors to get their themes out who don’t want to use the directory?
Yes I think so, the directory will serve as a de facto standard of Wordpress themes which will make it even harder for newcomers to enter the market.
Justin,
I am not yet digging the GPL license- what is the principle it operates on?
So far what I have read is that images, css and javascript as well as custom code can be “claimed as one’s creative property”, while the wordpress functions (such as listing pages, the loop, etc) is GPL and not ‘owned’ (so to say) by anyone?
For instance, if I were to release a theme under GPL, wouldnt that mean people could just rip and sell it without giving me a chance of getting back to them at all?
I can understand the argument that themes, as a ‘inherited product of wordpress’ must be licensed as GPL, however as a designer without any great knowledge of licensing I am stumbling to grasp “what exactly” this means.
Maybe someone can put it dead-stupid in a single sentence.
I see no great point in spending numerous of hours working on a free design (which I loved to do for the community) if someone can just come around and “claim it”, do stuff and re-sell it.
I didn’t mean to kill the discussion here, so can anyone simply it?
Squawk
I would like to be a rich man.
I’m working on filling those needs that bloggers have and definitely hope to do so with my new site.
Thanks for the input.
trendminders
I’m thinking of adding a few less advanced themes to the directory at some point. Put focus on design instead of all the extras with my main themes. Then, send support questions and users to my new site. It could be a great traffic builder and a way to introduce new WordPress users to my current theme collection.
I have a few ideas about how to make open-source, GPL themes very profitable, which I’ll be unleashing with Project M.
jez
Sorry, I’ve been meaning to reply. I’ve just been a bit busy this week.
Yes, if you license the entire theme as GPL, others can redistribute it and take credit for it. Then, there’s nothing you can do about it because you would have licensed it that way. I think the guys over at WP.org would help out with the policing of copying themes on their site, but there’s not much they can outside of that.
The best way to be sure that your stuff (images/css/scripts) aren’t GPL licensed is to add them as separate download packages (might annoy or confuse users). Or, create them for a different system first, then port them over to WordPress. Or, as I mentioned above, create basic HTML templates that work with your code and plug in the WP functions afterward.
Of course, if you’re adding it to the directory, then everything has to be GPL.
I’m opening a new site in the next week (my current Project M I’ve been blogging about), which will show what kind of things you can do with some of these ideas. Sorry, that’s kind of a vague description, but I think it’ll change a few things in how we think about WordPress themes.
thanks for your reply justin.
Currently I see no point in putting much effort in launching additional free themes to the community (e.g. my past themes were downloaded 225,000+ times) if people can just come around, copy and redistribute them on “premium” sites while I intended to have them spread for free.
I believe that with this license either little “upper segment and ‘made with love’” themes will appear in the wordpress theme repository (thus quality will suffer and wordpress will become similar to ‘blogger’(com)) or only designers with “additional income” or that are total angels to society will be posting there.
That’s my take on the situation and I am probably not the only one believing that for simplicity and attribution sake themes should not be GPL but CC (SA-BY and/or ND).
spot on Justin. What you have established here is a benchmark for other providers that needs to be followed not diluted.
@groovy totally agree!
What effect will this have on the way we currently get themes?
Judging by the download numbers it’ll be the only repository,
however the no1, Tarski works buggy, so you can’t tell for sure.
Do you see this as a step in the right direction?
Yes, it was time to do so after themes.wordpress.net died,
however I have no clue why they just don’t take all my themes over it… (themes.wordpress.net/author/milo317/)
How will this change (if at all) the premium theme market?
Premium will last, but Collis might kill them with his new FlashDen alike theme market. Just think of the followers of his other sites and check FlashDen, then you might have an idea.
Will this make it harder for new theme authors to get their themes out who don’t want to use the directory?
Yepp, definitely, if you don’t have a “name”, but then again there is WLTC for PR work.