The Ethics of WordPress Themes at a Premium

After having a chat with Matt M at the recent WordCamp South Africa, I’m even more convinced that this situation is very much a grey area. I agree that open-source ethics should play a role (and maybe take on more priority over business ideas), but the “premium” themes market is far from reaching a mature phase and the business model itself will go through a few tweaks / changes yet.

Consider Joomla for a minute… They have commercial themes (thats where WP premium themes started) and even though I’m not part of those inner-circles, it doesn’t seem like anybody else is disputing their validity & role within the community. So why should we treat commercial WP themes any differently? Both WP & Joomla are based on the same open-source principles…

Which also begs me to ask the question (sorry Ian – there’s always q’s hehe), that why am I then allowed to charge clients good amounts of money for custom WordPress work, but not allowed to take that exact same work (I wouldn’t distribute client work; only using it as an example) and release it as a commercial theme? Fact is, that I still get paid – for the custom work I get one payment of $100, whilst I get 10 payments of $10 each for a commercial theme. The work I’ve put into the themes are the same (the commercial theme actually requires more work since you deal with 10 clients instead of one); so why aren’t I allowed to make money from that work?

So back to what I said in terms of the business model not being mature… I believe in open-source, but there is space for developers to charge a fee for premium services. That is exactly how WP makes money and runs their business; by charging for the additional stuff…

Consider this: Theoretically it is only the PHP code of a WP theme that inherits the GPL license, as that uses the WP hooks & API’s. So if we had to release our themes for free (on GPL) on WooThemes, but exclude all of our images and stylesheets, you’d get a blank, but working WP theme. Reason I say this is because our images & stylesheets can never be GPL (Matt confirmed this “loophole”). We’d never consider releasing our themes (excluding images & styles) for free and asking a premium for those, since I don’t believe in releasing 2nd-rate themes for free, but this example thus illustrate the grey area and difficult questions influencing premium WP themes.

Ultimately I think the haters should get over themselves. Yes – WooThemes is a business and it keeps me busy, but we also have a passionate community of users (many of them being first-time users of WP!) who are extremely happy with their purchase. The haters are all what I’d call “WP Community Members”, whilst 90% of our users couldn’t give a damn about discussions like these, as they just needed a professional solution at an affordable cost.

I’m all for discussion, as that would allow the business model to evolve and eventually reach that point where it is considered to be fair in terms of open-source vs business. But people should at least be constructive in this regard… Premium theme developers like ourselves, Brian Gardner, Cory Miller, Jason Schuller, Darren Hoyt etc have also given back a lot to the community and we shouldn’t be stoned for making a bit of money on top of all that. So keep the discussion going and let’s figure out the best way forward…

(BTW… Sorry for the long comment… Just have a lot to say…)

@Ian – Yeah… The comment probably inspired me to put my thoughts down in a more ordered way. I generally try to stay away from this discussion, as I feel that most of the people discussing it are very biased and totally incapable of being objective.

IANAL. Until Automattic actually goes after a designer, this will never be clear. (except automattic doesn’t own the entire wordpress codebase, so it would be terribly difficult to round up all the relevant code contributors)

There’s no reason a designer can’t sell premium website templates. Making that template depend on a specific CMS can, however, run you into licensing issues.

However, Matt’s comment is legally incorrect. If using an API transferred the GPL, non-free linux software would be impossible. Reading the codex can also not be proven to transmit the GPL. Code samples in the codex, however, are licensed GPL, not GFDL, so they could theoretically transmit the license. (the reasons for which are ancient, and likely belonging solely to matt).

Plugins (small apps that cannot exist without a larger GPL app) do catch GPL from their parent. So any attempt to profit solely off the advanced features of a theme would be on shaky ground, since those options would catch GPL.

Adii is right, Stylesheets and images do not catch the GPL from their PHP templates, since they act on the resultant HTML, not the PHP itself. To that end, Child themes cannot catch the GPL from either WordPress, or their Parent theme.

The same way wordpress.com charges for extra space, custom css and the possibility of using your domain name, the same way Premium Theme Designers charge for design, css and support. I don’t see why this is a problem, since the client pays for customization.
Also I’m no lawyer… but I had a quick glimpse at the GPL license(the version that wordpress.org links to) and said some thing like this: “You may charge any price or no price for each copy that you convey, and you may offer support or warranty protection for a fee.” So even if the theme is GPL wouldn’t that mean you could sell it?

@Adii – Thanks for pointing that out. I’m curious of what the outcome of this will be. In the end the only thing that can’t fall under the GPL license is css and images since they are not software… I guess one ca release the theme as GPL and just put a more restrictive license inside the images folder and the css. In the end I think people who buy them do so for the looks, quality and support, not as much for how many widgets the theme can have.

I know there are implications on this but this kind of gray areas will always exist.

@Cristi – Reality is that 99% of our users on WooThemes aren’t even aware of any GPL grey area and couldn’t be less bothered. In their eyes, they’ve bought a nice theme, with some nice support & modification help – so why would they worry about whether the theme should be GPL or not!?

Again – that doesn’t justify the business model in its current state, but it does make all those premium theme haters look kinda stupid.

@Ian – Dunno whether we can expect an “official” stance from the WP peeps on this issue… And I think we’re definitely going to move away from premium and label our themes as “commercial” as well.

As soon as Magnus (my partner on Woo) returns from his Alaskan fishing trip that is…

Every professional lawyer that has looked at the issue agrees at the very least the PHP of themes is covered by the GPL. If people want to go through packaging gymnastics to avoid the GPL of course they can, but they’re missing the point and disrespecting the community.

@Matt – It’s not packaging gymnastics, as much there’s also a fine line of respecting the platform and being fair to the designers. I maintain the exact same stance I did in our conversation when you were out there, and that is that the current business model is far from perfect, but it is not yet ready to go 100% open-source. I do however believe that there are good intentions in this regard and that the model will eventually grow into something more “open-source-appropriate”.

@Ian – Thanks for sharing that Habari link. I especially love the following quote from one of the comments re: Joomla:

“In the Joomla! community, many commercial extensions have encouraged open-source counterparts. These have thrived and even eclipsed the original commercial offerings. This kind of competition will be good for the project.”

It is not the theme you pay for a premium, it is the work of labor, which in terms of economics, the “Economic base”.

To Chase Sagum:
Yeah because you dont want to pay.

To Matt:
Because IT IS A WORDPRESS Theme…

To Jon Soroko:
Basically, nothing is “as is original” in this big wild world.
Don’t you know the “theory of evolution”?
We all came from the same orgin.
Not even Vincent Van Gogh can tell his work is not from anywhere…
Can you sue some artist drawing your gardening work?
“Man my young brother look just like Justin Timberlake, will he sue me because I try to act like him?”

We are having a lot of fun talking about the orginality, copyrights/patent and etc.

Ian and All,
It was my understanding that you can’t package GPL and non-GPL compatible software together without the entire thing inheriting the GPL (including images and CSS).
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#FSWithNFLibs

And by the way, CSS can be GPLd as well. It offers no benefit, since CSS is visible to users, but there is absolutely no reason whatsoever why CSS can’t be GPLd. It’s code, so the GPL was made for that kind of thing.

@Adam
What about this?
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#GPLInProprietarySystem

I say this again… 99% of our users on WooThemes aren’t bothered even the slightest about discussions like these. They’re the one’s that are supposedly losing out by paying for a product that should be available free, yet they are pretty happy with their decision and theme. I also don’t think they’d want to give anyone the theme for free (i.e. redistribute it) if they’ve paid for it.

This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t discuss this topic, but maybe we do need to see it in a whole different light? Or at least try consider other factors that’s being influenced by a bunch of happy users!?

I also don’t think they’d want to give anyone the theme for free (i.e. redistribute it) if they’ve paid for it.

I see a lot of customers buying themes and asking webdesign to make them unique. So they give these guys their themes to work on it and then who knows what the designer will do with it…

Regarding the GPL, I don’t understand everything here. Some are saying that Premium Themes are “illegal” because non-GPL and some are talking about redistributing the themes. One comment about wp.com was really interesting. You can pay for customizing your theme’s CSS. So why couldn’t you sell a theme? That GPL thing seems really ambiguous to me and even if WordPress is GPL, there is a big business market from which Automattic takes advantages too…

Essentially it seems that some kind of statement from the source would be helpful, focussing on two issues:

1) Do the WordPress founders genuinely feel that people who sell themes are “disrespecting the community”? If so, how? [ethical concerns]
2) Are paid theme developers breaking the terms of the GPL? If so, how? [legal concerns]

Should it turn out that the answer to 1) is yes, then it’s simply a matter of personal morality and whether or not an official statement against paid theme developers shapes public demand for their products. If the answer to 2) is also yes, then it becomes a legal issue, and developers have to weigh up the likelihood and associated risks of being prosecuted. But, without those answers, this debate will run on for a while.

Should it emerge that selling any file (or zipped package) containing a WordPress function is illegal, it would put a great deal of WordPress developers in an incredibly tricky situation. Here’s why:

It’s surprisingly difficult for WP developers to build a business model that doesn’t depend upon code sales or downloads, and instead focusses on a service or advertising offering only. What’s more, many WordPress developers are former service-only web people who are attracted to WordPress precisely because it supposedly allows them to shift their businesses into a product-based model to create more free time and a better quality of working life, as ‘lifestyle design’ champions like Tim Ferriss’ are currently advocating.

Faced with the sudden loss of a product-based business, developers who wish to earn a living via WP are left with five options:

1) Give away themes and plugins and provide add-on support and customisation services, or do custom design only;
2) Give away themes and plugins and drive traffic to create advertising revenue;
3) Give away themes and plugins for the warm glow alone;
4) Jump ship to another platform or build their own;
5) Get a new job.

From my experience so far, I feel that 1) and 2) are probably not viable business models (can you name 5 people making a living this way?). Solution 3) is probably what the WP founders would like to see, which may also have a bearing on the quality of some of the existing free themes. My feeling is that, to attract seasoned theme developers and talented graphic designers, WordPress needs to openly support and promote them (on a commission model such as the iPhone App Store) and not bash them publicly by saying that they are ‘disrespecting the community’ or ‘focusing on the short-term’.

If no support is forthcoming, I fear that they’ll be left with options 4 and 5, neither of which would be good for the ‘community’ in the long-term.

So, perhaps the question should be reframed: not “is it right to sell paid themes loosely derived from GPL code?”, but “how can we all work together to make WordPress better, whilst acknowledging the relative merits and confines of the GPL?”

Finally, should it emerge that it’s illegal to offer paid theme downloads, another tricky question emerges: “Do developers who are paid to build one-off custom sites using WordPress have to make their theme files available to anyone who asks for them?” If not, what makes them special? They’re still profiting from GPL-derived code. If all developers were suddenly forced to make their code for individual projects available, I suspect that many companies will be put off using WP for commercial sites altogether, and that it could become a publishing platform solely for not-for-profit individuals and organisations. (As a blogger with a unique self-built custom theme at http://putthingsoff.com this would also put me off using WP.)

I think it’s an interesting debate, but one that needs higher input to further. Thanks for sparking it off, Ian, and sorry for the lengthy comment!

Regarding Nick’s question in the penultimate paragraph of his comment:

“Do developers who are paid to build one-off custom sites using WordPress have to make their theme files available to anyone who asks for them?”

Luckily, there is a clear answer here: No.

See the following FAQs from the GNU Project’s (GPL) site:
Does the GPL require that source code of modified versions be posted to the public?
If I know someone has a copy of a GPL-covered program, can I demand he give me a copy?
If I distribute GPL’d software for a fee, am I required to also make it available to the public without a charge?

Essentially you’re the gatekeeper. If you distribute your GPL code then anyone can do whatever they want with it. If you keep it to yourself then no one can do anything with it; or demand that you give it to them. So you’re safe when making custom sites for clients.

Finally, keep in mind that I am not a lawyer (IANAL)!

BTW, for everyone who is wondering … it is NOT ILLEGAL to sell GPL software. So Premium theme developers are not “violating the GPL” by selling themes:
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#DoesTheGPLAllowMoney

@David — thanks for the clarification about custom one-off themes. Phew!

@Nathan — you’re right, of course. The main GPL-related issue that WP theme developers should be wary of is the question of redistribution rights. Under the licence:

‘if someone pays your fee and gets a copy, the GPL gives them the freedom to release it to the public, with or without a fee. For example, someone could pay your fee, and then put her copy on a web site for the general public.’

This represents a threat to paid theme developers, because the GPL-linked code (the PHP files) are free for a purchaser to redistribute. Of course, most theme developers could try to circumnavigate what they would deem to be ‘illegal’ distribution by claiming that they own the rights to the CSS files and images.

I suspect that, for all the fuss and furore, probably nothing much will happen in the short term, and that paid theme developers will continue to support and encourage WordPress use whilst building healthy, perfectly-entitled businesses around it, unless a case is made against one of them, the legal basis for which appears to be non-existent right now, and the action of which would prove incredibly bad for publicity.

In the longer-term, it would be great to see a healthy paid themes community develop at a central location with the support of and benefit to the whole WordPress community.

@Tim Grahl – Well, the merch isn’t stolen… All I was suggesting that the users don’t mind that they have to pay for the theme and they’re not fussed about the possibility that the theme could be GPL’ed.

@Adam – 100%. Until however the issue – of whether our images & CSS is GPL’ed – is solved, there’s no reason to change the model. Plus, even if whoever decides that the images & CSS inherits the GPL from WordPress via the theme’s PHP, then Nick still raises a few tough questions which needs to be considered.

Under a GPL licence, you can sell any code but you have to provide the source code to it so others may use that code and advance it, if necessary. Your design, which is primarily images, CSS and XHTML, doesn’t fall under GPL and that’s why this is such a grey area.

Given what I’ve just said, if you took the images, css and xhtml out of your theme, you’re left with some pretty boring code that doesn’t do much.

So, with that in mind, licence your CSS, XHTML and images however you want and you end up with something sellable.

Ethics doesn’t come into play here. As All4Data pointed out above, we all have a choice to pay for something or not, to give something away for free or not. You can discuss ethics till you’re blue in the face but that’s never going to change each person’s own right to choose whatever they want to do with their time and money.

If this ever becomes a problem and people start trying to sue other people for selling themes, you’ll find that the opensource community will quickly react by releasing a GPL library of hooks that can be abstracted from the theme itself, enabling selling of your code totally doable. Heck, if you wanted to, you could do this right now.

Argh man, all this GPL talk makes me feel like I’m in church. Fundamentalists and religious people also always talk about what is right, according to their holy scriptures. In this case, the holy scripture is the GPL! But why be so religious about it? Rules are not meant to be hard and never flexible.

It also kills me to constantly see businesses being threatened because in this wonderful new web 2.0 world, everything has to be free. Free as in beer.

Nobody wants to pay for anything that is intangible.

Does premium themes hurt the Wordpress community? No. They can download free themes. It’s a free choice. Does premium themes hurt the platform? No! I think it is part of an ecosystem.

Stop all this open source hippie crap. Open source works, but there also has to be some energy and commerce in it. As long as choice is free.

Should great designers and coders earn money from their efforts, and be able to make a decent living? YES!

@Matt Somehow this is not the answer I was looking for… You’ve responded to those accusation (if I can call them that) but made no effort toward solving this mess. I’m sure you are right regarding what Nick and That Girl Again said but that’s not why there are so many comments. Somehow I believe that it’s going to remain like this(meaning there won’t be any repercussions on “premium” theme designers) no mater what’s the outcome of this!

The funny thing is that the most interesting thing I found out from all these comments was habari.

Nick,
You raise a good point. I know many many WordPress theme developers in the community, and every one that is making enough money to do it full time are selling themes. It seems that, at the moment, the only way to release high-quality themes and make a living is to sell those themes.

Here’s the current problem with the “free themes” market right now. There are the occasional renegade developers who released a high quality free theme. But take a look at their sites. How often do these guys release new themes? How often do they innovate with new features? Very rarely.

Why? Because they can’t. They’re too busy providing free support to the users of their themes, and working a full-time job, and doing “side work” to make some extra income. They simply don’t have the time to keep pushing forward at the same pace as the premium designers.

So, unless someone comes up with a way to eliminate the need for free theme developers to work that full-time job, there’s just no way they can compete (in terms of features, design, and pace) with the premium designers. Period.

@nick: I don’t know if what I earn every month for WP is what you would call “a living” but I make good money with WP without having yet released a public theme, free or paid. And I know several people around me that do the same. You can make business around WP without having to sell themes…
…don’t know if it does answer your question !
… and sorry for my bad english… that is not my native language !

Adam,
I’m not saying people can’t make a living around WordPress … it is possible and it happens all the time. But we’re talking about quality GPL themes getting released on a regular basis. Find me one theme designer who doesn’t sell their themes who has released more than 1 or 2 high quality free, GPL WordPress themes in the last 6 months.

If there are any, I can give you the names of 2 premium theme designers who have released more than 1 high quality theme for every 1 free theme designer you can name.

My point isn’t to play “gotcha” … I’m just trying to illustrate that the bulk innovation is coming from the premium guys. Why? Because they make money from the themes they develop. Like it or not, if there’s no monetary benefit to releasing a theme, then the themes just won’t every be developed. (just take a look at 95% of the themes in the /extend/themes/ repository).

You are right Nathan, innovation comes form the guys who do premium themes. They invest more time because they know they are going to sell them. I did not see a really good quality free WP theme for a long long time…

Again, I don’t buy it. I haven’t seen a single feature of a Premium Theme that didn’t exist in a free theme first.

Nathan and Adam >
They are popular because getting paid means that professional designers can devote time to do professional quality themes.

Only recently we were discussing why some on vB.org were so uptight but maybe it is a developer/coder thing

the comments are somewhat touching on personal angst relating to haves and have nots

Author: Adam
Comment: Again, I don’t buy it. I haven’t seen a single feature of a Premium Theme that didn’t exist in a free theme first.

I for one would never buy a free theme

As someone who isn’t really part of the WP design world, I find it a bit odd to hear all this debate over innovation. When I went looking for a theme, innovation was the last thing on my mind. I simply wanted a theme that looked good, worked out-of-the-box, made it easy for me to tweak, was optimized for the search engines, and was going to be maintained for the foreseeable future so I wouldn’t have to be looking for a new theme any time soon. Now, if that’s what you call “innovation”, then I guess that’s what I wanted. But to me that sounds more like service, support and stability. And that’s what I was willing to pay money to get.

Come on guys… 74 comments and this whole situation isn’t anywhere closer to any so-called truth!

We had the same kind of discussions around this so-called WordPress community last year and everyone was predicting the end of the premium theme, because it is GPL code and bla-bla-bla, but a year later, there’s just more premium theme developers (which means there’s more people buying the themes). All of this just comes down to the point I’ve made a few times already: irrespective of whether the WP community wants these themes or not, most of the users aren’t fussed about what the WP community wants.

So until this situation is sorted out (do I need to mention images & CSS again?), premium theme developers will continue doing what they’re doing now, since they’re supplying to a demand.

Irrespective of right or wrong; we’re going in circles and next year this time, we’ll be discussing this again.

@Ian
That is the question indeed. I don’t, however, think it’s just a matter of just the CSS and images. You have to take into account the custom PHP that a lot of these themes include as well. I’m not talking about WP-interfacing PHP either. I’m talking about some heavy-duty PHP functions that were written and included in these themes.

So, if someone wanted to download Thesis, strip out all the CSS, images, and custom PHP that didn’t use WordPress functions, then I suppose maybe you could argue that. Good luck making the theme work as good as it did though.

Whether or not premium developers would be ok with that … I very much doubt it. Not to mention the fact that one little DMCA takedown notice is enough to scare most people away from even trying it.

I think Ian and Nathan’s last two comments pretty much sum up the crux of the issue.

As Ian said:

Does everyone sort of agree in an I-am-not-a-lawyer-ish way that images and CSS are not GPL but the PHP is? It seems like as long as commercial theme developers release their themes in a manner that makes that clear everything is above board.

See, as another IANAL, and as someone who is not emotionally involved in the issue in any way (other than sheer interest in licensing and copyright law – but I got into law school, I didn’t go), this is how I have always understood the whole GPL thing. Packaging might be become about semantics and it might be as simple as putting stuff in different folders, I’m not sure how it would have to work, but while I agree that CSS and images aren’t what the GPL was designed for, it isn’t clear that the CSS anyway doesn’t fall under the GPL in some way.

In regards to any PHP outside of the WordPress hooks — keep in mind that as far as I can tell, PHP-based stuff (at least PHP 4 stuff) has to include the PHP license. There is an option exception in the GPL for PHP, but anyone wanting to get around not making their PHP stuff available by way of a non-WordPress hook loophole will want to keep that in mind (or at the very least investigate what requirements the PHP license holds one to).

Nathan said:

Whether or not premium developers would be ok with that … I very much doubt it. Not to mention the fact that one little DMCA takedown notice is enough to scare most people away from even trying it.

Frankly, it really doesn’t matter if they are OK with it or not. It also doesn’t matter what the DMCA does – because as this very discussion is proving, the arguments are grey enough and murky enough on both sides that I know if I were served with a takedown notice for something that was trying to claim copyright or IP on something it couldn’t make that claim on (like a PHP template, which is essentially what we are getting at), I’d fight it. Armed with the knowledge of the whole debate, I doubt too many hosts would get involved enough to shut someone down for a perceived copyright violation, or an “unauthorized” use of a theme.

Right now, the real problem I think that theme developers are going to face are over their own licensing terms like “developer” and “personal” that put arbitrary restrictions over footer links and how many times something can be used. It’s going to be really hard, if not impossible, to enforce any kind of limit like that. The GPL and even Creative Commons is pretty clear about what “attribution” means and it does not mean you have to have a physical link in the footer and the limits on how many servers an individual can put a theme on (assuming they paid for a license or whatever we are calling this) is completely tied up in the greater mess.

I think if theme developers are honest with themselves, that is their biggest problem with the idea of accepting or even openly licensing their stuff under GPL. If they do that, they can’t put license limits on a theme (you could do support limits, not physical limits) and they certainly couldn’t file a DMCA against someone who released a slightly modified stylesheet and theme for free or for payment of their own. Right now, theme developers are at a risk if they do try to file a legal claim, because unless you want to spend a lot of money defending your position (and the FSF and companies dedicated to supporting the GPL have more resources than you do), you probably aren’t going to get the outcome you want.

I really don’t think this is about users or customers. People will buy something for support, for convenience, for lots of reasons. I think the right product or the right product with the accompanying service can make money regardless of the license structure. And while I’m actually not a huge fan of the GPL or Richard Stallman in general, if you are going to develop an add-on for a product that IS GPL, you need to take the licensing issues seriously.

The reason that the market keeps getting bigger is because there hasn’t been a test case. WordPress probably won’t go after theme developers because it isn’t worth it to them. The action comes when a theme developer takes on another developer or a user for violating the terms of the license as they see it. That’s the only way we’ll probably ever get a definitive answer to this entire mess.

Interesting discussion! As a new user, i think the idea of paying for a theme is really one of choice. I personally will continue to pay for those themes i think fit my interests. And btw, premium themes in my experience come in all ‘grades’. The advantages of using the themes to new users i think make economic sense most of the time e.g. shortening the turnaround period, ease of use and support. These may not be a big deal to experienced users but for me they make WP a brilliant CMS (IMH short experience ofcourse).
However, the redistribution issue is one that can not be ignored. I should think not many users are going to buy a theme for redistribution purposes but how do you balance the incentive for developer innovation and the need to encourage wider WP usership and experimentation? How do you get flexible on users creating derivatives of your works without compromising your efforts? When you look at the numbers from say theme clubs, at what levels would you consider lifting restrictions on derivative themes and/or ensuring partner user partnership on derivative works for say 2nd tier theme income? What about limited theme developments for users who can then decide how they redistribute and/or use more flexibly (paying more ofcourse per theme)?
I think the bigger picture is importnt; there is the other 3B of the world that is yet to get web2.0 going, and my guess is it will be some market? How do you position your expertise, through easing the use of WP through your themes, and making them more accessible (and usable on mobile devices). I think the time is now to start looking at business models that take the longer term into account. The users need you, you need the users and you need to make WP even more ‘dummy user friendly and everybody wins. Otherwise the idea that the users simply ain’t aware of the issues isn’t exactly a smart of doing things. Just my 2 cents as new user!

While I’m glad that the best themes Matt’s seen this year have been GPL, it would have substantially helped his argument if he could have brought himself to name them. Perhaps their creators have yet to email him begging for ’significant promotion’.

The reason why this topic comes up for debate every few months is because there is simply no definitive answer. It is not illegal to sell WordPress themes and as long as it’s a lucrative pursuit for designers, the premium theme market will live on.

What is hard to accept is that for every premium theme put up for sale there is usually another equally as good free theme released under GPL or near equivalent license. There are still some folks out there who release high quality themes at zero cost with no back link obligation and not for the purposes of a sales gimmick.

I’ve long thought that there should be a definitive WordPress theme gallery, endorsed and possibly run by the folks at Autommatic and made up of the top free WordPress themes. I’m talking about a gallery that would be peer reviewed and each theme would need to pass stingent criteria to be accepted. Criteria based on coding standards, aesthetic standards and usability etc. This would become the WordPress theme flagship and would run parallel to WordPress.org. It would be the first port of call for anyone looking for a WordPress theme. All paid themes would become a secondary option.

I’m aware that such a resource would take substantial time, money and manpower to build and maintain, but given the WordPress trajectory, the aims and ethos that it has followed over the years, it seems like a logicall and hnourable step. I’d be willing to chip in on such a venture and I’m sure many others would too.

Open Source is what it is, and adding value is a skill not necessarily all of us have, so some people are prepared to pay for a premium theme vs. laying out for custom web development. It really makes sound fiscal sense, and the constant stream of WordPress updates will ensure that your expensive website isn’t obsolete in a year’s time. People like Adii and Woothemes really add value, and I can only see premium themes becoming more and more poular….and divers, of course. Exciting stuff!

I was going to respond, but Samuel basically said everything I was thinking.

I don’t think anyone is making the rational argument that commercial themes don’t have value (whether through service, support or a quickly made, quality base), it is just about how it is licensed. The CSS’s linkage is debatable, I don’t think images are, realistically, but that doesn’t preclude a theme from being sold.

I understand theme developers fearing that their work will be undercut or given away for free, but as I said before, that’s a trade-off of contributing to an open source project. In most open source project,, releasing the source code doesn’t necessarily have a huge impact on the commercial viability of a project, because people still have to compile the code, modify it to work on their systems, etc. CentOS is a few weeks behind RHEL for that reason, it takes time to take the source code and make it easy for end users to install, but plenty of people, businesses especially who need support, will buy RHEL licenses. With WordPress and PHP based stuff, it’s a bit different because the source code IS already completed. The end user just has to upload the file. So I understand why commercial themers worry about losing business; it is a valid concern. But its validity doesn’t change the terms of the licensing structure associated with the project.

I also agree that had the theme API been released LGPL, though I’m unsure how much b2’s legacy impacted that decision.

I believe that quality commercial themes add value to an open source project, they don’t detract from it. The only real debate is about licensing. I think that if the theme developers and WordPress could continue to discuss these sorts of issues in a forum that isn’t a blog post (not that this isn’t great, Ian) and the GPL requirements were better outlined, much of this would be cleared up.

Whilst I agree with the general consensus that professionally coded premium themes bring ‘value’ (however subjective a term that may be) to the WordPress platform, I still think there needs to be more work done to elevate non-premium yet equally as professional themes to a higher level. The problem is largely one of accessibility. Free WordPress themes are in abundance. Free professional grade WordPress themes are of course few in numbers and disparate by location.

It takes the likes of mashup sites such as mashable, smashing magazine etc to create round up posts listing the best of the crop to centralise the free themes worthy of showcasing. There is clearly a demand for a permanent official WordPress theme gallery.

Unlike @ThatGirlAgain, I disagree that it would take a team of several people to maintain the gallery. If it was the case of accepting all free WordPress themes in the pick, then yes it probably would. However if you reduced it to high quality themes only (and it doesn’t take too much forensic work to separate the chaff from the wheat) the task would be managable.

Hi.

i see that point pretty easy: making your buisness with work, based on another work is ok. you simply can´t work without the work of others. sometimes you have to pay for that work and sometimes not. on the one hand: the point i would really think about is paying royalty to the creator of the original work. if you could ever manag paying royalty to the creator who pays royalty to the creator and so on…
on the other hand i see it as a must to publish under the same (gpl) license, that made your work possible. that generates one wonderful effect: much faster development and much more perfection in detail of the “community work”.

it´s so clear and easy that you should charge for your work as long as you find someone who pays for it. but if there´s always someone who can make your work a little better, the development will be going on and the result will evolve with every step.

wish you all best!

its simple to understand – I am a professional designer and if you want my work, then you pay for it.
I have to earn a living regardless of whether you want free wordpress themes – and no one is forcing you to buy anything.

Just because the platform is free doesnt mean my time or creativity is.

If I do make free themes then its to drive traffic to my site to get paid work and you can use themes as to what I grant you – but even giving templates for free has issues with people removing copyright text – see, people even steal free stuff or claim it as their own.