Custom Template Design

  • Hi,

    O.k., I’m totally confused so bear with me here. I want to design custom wordpress templates to sell. I have no clue how to start. Do I use a premade child theme and start with that basic code and customize from there? Do I design it in my own WordPress hosting account then copy the code and give it to my customer after they purchase it? Does that mean I can only do one design at a time since it’s attached to my personal domain name in my hosting account??? Will my domain show up in the code if I do it this way? I see a ton of people selling these templates but can’t figure out how they are doing it. What is the process? Do I start from total scratch and design a template in Dreamweaver or with another platform? Does anyone know where I can find instructions on how to go about this? I can only find basic info that is not helpful. I know how to customize the templates with CSS and HTML, so that is not the issue. I just don’t understand how to “start”. Hope this makes sense.

    Thanks

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Viewing 15 replies - 16 through 30 (of 37 total)
  • Thread Starter lisamv

    (@lisamv)

    Lol, thanks Andrew, I have a feeling your right about that!

    Thread Starter lisamv

    (@lisamv)

    So what I’ve learned so far here is that themes are for personal use only. Everyone who is selling custom template/themes where they have modified the CSS style and layout to their customers specifications are doing so illegally. Everyone selling wordpress websites/blogs must code their templates from scratch no matter what and NEVER use a free or purchased theme unless it’s for their personal use only. If this were all true I don’t think WordPress would have many users.

    That pretty much sums up what info I’ve gathered from this post and I don’t believe most of it for a minute. I don’t believe either that all the people doing this are breaking the law. I think some people have really bad attitudes that don’t want to tell you how to do something because they fear competition.

    Thread Starter lisamv

    (@lisamv)

    So, for example, if I take the wordpress Twenty Twelve template to use as a basic layout to start and customize it with graphics, content, widgets, etc. then I can’t sell that design to a customer? Is that correct??????

    That’s not at all what I said. Did you read this:

    You can use GPL free themes to make sites for clients – and yes, people do that all the time.

    Competition? Why would someone be using an open source code project and participating in the community if that’s what they are worrying about?

    Andrew Nevins

    (@anevins)

    WCLDN 2018 Contributor | Volunteer support

    Sorry, we don’t govern the license, we just use it.
    Really it is not our place to give legal advice, so we usually just throw out a link to the GPL license and leave it at that.

    Do I use a premade child theme and start with that basic code and customize from there?

    Sure, that’s how I started and I suspect many other people too.

    So, for example, if I take the wordpress Twenty Twelve template to use as a basic layout to start and customize it with graphics, content, widgets, etc. then I can’t sell that design to a customer?

    Absolutely you CAN do that – you just cannot claim that all the work (the underlying theme) is yours.

    Sorry, I hope my last post was clear – yes you CAN do that.

    Thread Starter lisamv

    (@lisamv)

    Not sure what a GPL is. I read it but didn’t really understand it so I guess I will have to find someone to explain it to me so I understand. Now I will have to figure out how to find GPL themes? Lol, alrighty then.

    Thread Starter lisamv

    (@lisamv)

    Yes, I see that you said it was o.k. as long as I figure out which theme would be GPL, no clue! Sorry, but I have a little bit of an attitude now just out of pure frustration but I do appreciate your responses, however, feel just as lost and confused as I did before I started this post.

    You don’t have to look very far for GPL themes – all the themes on this site are GPL and free – see here:

    https://www.ads-software.com/extend/themes/

    If you use a theme from someplace else, you should check on the licensing and know that these forums only support themes from here.

    This article might also be helpful if you start looking for themes in other places:
    https://www.chipbennett.net/2010/12/10/only-download-wordpress-themes-from-trusted-sources/

    Thread Starter lisamv

    (@lisamv)

    O.k., so the question now is, where do I find GPL themes to use?

    Thread Starter lisamv

    (@lisamv)

    O.k., oops, we posted at the same exact time. Thank you for the info and links, I’ll check them out!

    So to go back to your first post – there are various ways to make sites for clients – it really depends on you and the client. Some people make the site on their own server (hosted usually) and then move the site to the client’s host. Or other people have the client set up the hosting and give you the access info and you build the site there. Then once it’s done some people turn then site over to the client entirely or others stay involved for maintenance and ongoing work.

    Does that help any more?

    One other thing – if you want commercial themes, these vendors use GPL – https://www.ads-software.com/extend/themes/commercial/

    It’s still a good idea to read the licensing info on any theme you buy, just to be sure of what’s included.

    Here’s a good way to put more than one site on your (or anyone’s) server at a time: https://codex.www.ads-software.com/Giving_WordPress_Its_Own_Directory

    And this explains how to move a site:

    https://codex.www.ads-software.com/Moving_WordPress

Viewing 15 replies - 16 through 30 (of 37 total)
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