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Free Wordpress Themes not a good idea?

by Audrey Harvey
23 replies
Interesting article on the risks of using free wordpress themes:

Why You Should Never Search For Free WordPress Themes in Google or Anywhere Else - WordPress, Multisite and BuddyPress plugins, themes, news and help - WPMU.org
#free #good #idea #wordpress
  • Profile picture of the author Andyhenry
    There are reasons why it's a good idea, but usually the limitations of having your website on someone else's system (It/they could disappear one day, and you don't have 'full' access to run scripts and plugins) mean that people try to avoid it for their main site and use it to republish their content and send links to their main site.
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  • Profile picture of the author bgmacaw
    Some bits of ignorance in the article, like not knowing the difference between a url, sub-domain name and domain name, and blatant promotion of some favored WordPress 'cool kid' sites but it is good advice to check out any theme, free or paid, for hidden links, obfuscation and encryption.
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  • Profile picture of the author Istvan Horvath
    Yourt title is not saying the same as your post; conf.
    Free Wordpress not a good idea? - risks of using free wordpress themes

    WP is alwasy free, it's a free open source script.

    The themes on the wordpress.org site are safe. Always. They check them.

    Out there, most of the "free WP themes sites" are full of encrypted links... sometimes even worse stuff.
    (The same is true about the "free" themes listed in the Web Design section of this forum: all have encrypted code!)
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    • Profile picture of the author sappacis13
      I don't get it...

      Free wordpress then not good idea?

      What ahh...
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      • Profile picture of the author Audrey Harvey
        Originally Posted by Istvan Horvath View Post

        Yourt title is not saying the same as your post; conf.
        Free Wordpress not a good idea? - risks of using free wordpress themes

        WP is alwasy free, it's a free open source script.
        Ahh, very true, thanks for pointing it out, biiiig typo there. Sorry, long day..I've edited the title to correct that.

        Originally Posted by sappacis13 View Post

        I don't get it...

        Free wordpress then not good idea?

        What ahh...
        Nope, my mistake, free wordpress is fine, but the link I posted spoke about free wordpress themes.
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      • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
        Banned
        Originally Posted by sappacis13 View Post

        I don't get it...

        Free wordpress then not good idea?

        What ahh...
        Free Wordpress blogs on Wordpress domain and Blogger blogs and other free blog platforms all have strict TOS and your blogs can be deleted in a heartbeat. It's just not wise to spend the time building a blog and traffic on a free platform, IMHO.

        If you're talking about free Wordpress themes that you find all over the place, I don't use them. Embedded links and who knows what else in the code.
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    • Profile picture of the author bgmacaw
      Originally Posted by Istvan Horvath View Post

      Out there, most of the "free WP themes sites" are full of encrypted links... sometimes even worse stuff.
      (The same is true about the "free" themes listed in the Web Design section of this forum: all have encrypted code!)
      That's why I make a point of not using any encryption in my free themes and I only have a link back to my originating site. It can be removed if one prefers but their might be an advantage to leaving it in place.
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      • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
        I've been using free WP themes forever and have never had a problem.

        Well, whatever. I take these articles with a big grain of salt. The key is
        looking for the "agenda" in them.
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    • Profile picture of the author Sandor Verebi
      Originally Posted by Istvan Horvath View Post

      ...The themes on the wordpress.org site are safe. Always. They check them...
      Thanks, Istvan! This is the essence, I think.

      Greetings,

      Sandor
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  • Profile picture of the author seobro
    OK many FREE WP themes have malicious code inside that could cause you grievance. Check out all the code and make sure. I use to use word press. However, it is a resource pig. HTML all the way.
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  • Profile picture of the author Good News Now
    I've been using free WP themes for some time now and but I do use for my main site paid theme. I do feel that paid theme is a bit secure but hey free is free....
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    • Profile picture of the author AFI
      I only use one theme for most of my sites, it's a premium theme and it converts like nuts. So why fix what ain't broken?

      And the free WP themes that I have used for other sites have had base64 code in them but usually it was just so people could put their anchor text to their sites and stuff. Not all base64 code is malicious.
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      • Profile picture of the author Michael Shook
        Even if it is not malicious, it could be considered rude.

        I gave up using free themes a while ago because I did not feel like linking out to free singles websites from my site about cats.

        And it turned out for me that the time I took looking around for free themes that actually looked like I wanted them too, without a bunch of monkeying around and that were free of guest links was costing me way more than a premium theme license.

        So I bought both Theisis and Flexsqueeze. I like FlexSqueeze more becasue I am not a super duper CSS person, but I use both and have beenhappy with the results I have gotten from both of them.
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  • Profile picture of the author whiteshadow1890
    Banned
    I think it totally depends, because there are lots of free wp themes that are well done made. And regarding the base 64 encryption, that could be easly decoded.
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  • Profile picture of the author esmconcepts
    I would think the safe way would be to Google the theme’s designer and or the themes name for reviews. Bad reviews always rank higher if there is a problem.

    As some have stated above, I use a paid theme for almost all sites. If there is a problem I can get quality help or advice from fellow users.

    Like the old adage, you get what you pay for.
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    • Profile picture of the author Michael Shook
      Originally Posted by esmconcepts View Post

      I would think the safe way would be to Google the theme's designer and or the themes name for reviews. Bad reviews always rank higher if there is a problem.

      As some have stated above, I use a paid theme for almost all sites. If there is a problem I can get quality help or advice from fellow users.

      Like the old adage, you get what you pay for.
      What would stop the author of a theme that used something rude or malicious in their theme from posting an untrue review of a rival theme.
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  • Profile picture of the author Pookie
    I used to try to find free Wordpress Themes, but found that a lot of time was taken up looking for the right theme.

    I then found FlexSqueeze and have not looked back. With this theme it is as easy as clicking a couple of buttons to change the complete look of the site. I also purchased the Premium option, this gives a lot more scripts to include in the site to make it even better. Designing squeeze pages is easy with FlexSqueeze also.

    If you are serious about self hosted Wordpress I would highly recommend FlexSqueeze.
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  • Profile picture of the author Andrea Wilson
    Yeah that is why there are people buying premium themes right? If you can buy your own domain and hosting, buying a premium theme wont be a big deal.

    Andrea
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  • Profile picture of the author Alexander Sebastian
    I agree, get a premium theme....

    I use About 3 themes on rotation on all my websites..
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  • Profile picture of the author Shazia Mirza
    Not any risk actually. The worst thing a free wordpress theme does is links back to the owner site. Not so bad eh?
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  • Profile picture of the author mrsray
    I found encrypted malicious data in some free wordpres themes before, all I can say is use TAC stands for Theme Authenticity Checker wp plugin ... Scans Free WordPress Themes for Malicious Code

    Be aware of advertisements or dangerous JavaScript inserted into legitimate themes by third party theme download sites.
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  • Profile picture of the author Robert Colle
    Great post I did not know the potential damage that free word Press themes could have till I stumble upon this post. Now I think I will simple stay away from them. Even though I have not used them before I simple won't even consider them any more.

    Thanks for the heads up.
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