Look Closely When Using Free Wordpress Themes

by Michelle Strait

Posted: 14 years ago 29 replies

INTERNET MARKETING

I use free Wordpress themes because I change them often. But, sometimes free themes have links buried in the footer that you might miss. I'm not talking about links to the designer's website. I'm speaking about links to websites you might not want associated with your blog (like spam, Adsense farms, or something illegal).

The next time you use a free Wordpress theme, check the links in the footer. You should be able to delete a link by removing it from the footer.php file. Once again, I'm not speaking about legit links back to the designer's website.

Edit:
Sorry about the confusion.

Of course, you should always read the fine print before using a free Wordpress theme. All of the TOS I've read tell you EXACTLY which links you're not supposed to delete. Obviously, those aren't the links I'm talking about. I'm talking about themes that have no such TOS requirements or place links in the footer other than what you were told to expect. If you decide not to use the theme, that's fine too.

#closely #free #themes #wordpress

jazbo 14 years ago

That is a good point. Always check footer.php. you will be surprised how often there are hidden links to all sorts of rubbish in there.
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- blue_sky 14 years ago
  
  most free themes are released with the idea that you should keep the links - if you dont want the links in the templates just dont use them...
  
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thescribe 14 years ago

I always check the links in the footer of the theme. If there are links that I do not like, I simply will not use the theme.
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freudianslip27

14 years ago

Be careful, sometimes it is a requirement of using the theme that you agree to let the link in tact. Similar to the usage of ezinearticles on your site.

Matt

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Forest_Parks

14 years ago

This goes for if you purchase sites with premium themes too... Sometimes the links in the footers have been changed! Just always check it out.

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JonMills

14 years ago

Yep unless its a preimum theme just remove them as most of them are spammy crap that the guy is using.

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blue_sky

14 years ago

Yep unless its a preimum theme just remove them as most of them are spammy crap that the guy is using.

great advise - basically you tell them to violate the license agreement (its like telling people where to get the stuff you have in your sign for free - there is no difference)

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JonMills

14 years ago

Originally Posted by blue_sky

great advise - basically you tell them to violate the license agreement (its like telling people where to get the stuff you have in your sign for free - there is no difference)

Buddy 99% of free themes are rip offs of other themes, and are whipped out just so people can gain backlinks, so that license dont mean squat. Though i understand you would be pissed as you run your own free wordpress themes site lol

Plus its not 1 link to the makers site im referring to. Its usually 2 or 4 links going to casino, cell phone sites crap like that

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Denise Million 14 years ago

I heard there are other problems besides links with some free WP Themes but can't recall what the trouble was.

Have any of you had other problems with free themes? Or is this an unfounded concern?

Thanks.

Denise
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blue_sky

14 years ago

Jon,
I know hundreds of places where you can get your stuff for free - but knowing and posting something like "hey folks, dont be stupid buying jon mills stuff because you can get it here for free...." is something totally different...

like you I spent time and money to develop a product (for example the free templates in my sig)

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blue_sky

14 years ago

I heard there are other problems besides links with some free WP Themes but can't recall what the trouble was.

if you are unlucky the owner wont update them so in case there is a significant new update coming from wordpress the themes might not work anymore - but since this is wordpress you just click on a button and you will have another look..

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blue_sky

14 years ago

Ok, the reason why its a FREE theme is because people paid to put their links at the bottom of that theme. With that said Do Not Remove them! Or come around and pay $50 or so for a theme without ads.

I guess thats standard marketing...

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Groovy99

14 years ago

Originally Posted by JonMills

Encouraging people to break licenses they find to be inconvenient by justifying it with info (W.A.G. OPINION) that may or may not be accurate is not very good advice. As the other folks said, just don't use that theme. Its part of my pre-inspection before I find themes to be honest...

There are so many free theme sites out there just browse around to find a set your like or pay a devvie to put you together your own theme pack. it doesn't cost that much.

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Anup Mahajan 14 years ago

Yes it is a good idea to read the fine print and check the links before installing the theme, some of them do link to suspicious sites
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SeanSupplee 14 years ago

Ok, the reason why its a FREE theme is because people paid to put their links at the bottom of that theme. With that said Do Not Remove them! Or come around and pay $50 or so for a theme without ads.
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JoeHughes 14 years ago

I was not aware of this and was about to use my first free theme so thanks for the heads up!
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James Jewett 14 years ago

I am just wondering. How do you know that you are NOT deleting legit links that the free theme designer may have allowed to be posted in the footer?

At any rate, before deleting links on a free wordpress theme it would be a good
idea to read the TOS.

Regards,
James
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I.M.Retired 14 years ago

I have recently discover coded links in headers, sidebars, functions and other files within free templates, as well. The theme stops functioning if you try to remove the links. I really dislike free themes these days having had my site hacked after installing one of them - not to mention an increase in spam and other undesirable results.

Here's the code in the header of one of the themes I actually like, but refuse to use because of this:

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><?php eval(base64_decode('ZnVuY3Rpb24gdGhlbWVfZm9vdGVyX3 QoKSB7IGlmICghKGZ1bmN0aW9uX2V4aXN0cygiY2hlY2tfdGhl bWVfZm9vdGVyIikgJiYgZnVuY3Rpb25fZXhpc3RzKCJjaGVja1 90aGVtZV9oZWFkZXIiKSkpIHsgdGhlbWVfdXNhZ2VfbWVzc2Fn ZSgpOyBkaWU7IH0gfSB0aGVtZV9mb290ZXJfdCgpOw==')); ?>
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" <?php language_attributes(); ?>>

<head profile="http://gmpg.org/xfn/11">

<title><?php wp_title(''); ?><?php if(wp_title('', false)) { echo ' |'; } ?> <?php bloginfo('name'); ?></title>

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The same theme has encrypted code on the functions page:

}
eval(base64_decode('aWYgKCFlbXB0eSgkX1JFUVVFU1RbIn RoZW1lX2xpY2Vuc2UiXSkpIHsgdGhlbWVfdXNhZ2VfbWVzc2Fn ZSgpOyBleGl0KCk7IH0gZnVuY3Rpb24gdGhlbWVfdXNhZ2VfbW Vzc2FnZSgpIHsgaWYgKGVtcHR5KCRfUkVRVUVTVFsidGhlbWVf bGljZW5zZSJdKSkgeyAkdGhlbWVfbGljZW5zZV9mYWxzZSA9IG dldF9ibG9naW5mbygidXJsIikgLiAiL2luZGV4LnBocD90aGVt ZV9saWNlbnNlPXRydWUiOyBlY2hvICI8bWV0YSBodHRwLWVxdW l2PVwicmVmcmVzaFwiIGNvbnRlbnQ9XCIwO3VybD0kdGhlbWVf bGljZW5zZV9mYWxzZVwiPiI7IGV4aXQoKTsgfSBlbHNlIHsgZW NobyAoIjxwIHN0eWxlPVwicGFkZGluZzoxMHB4OyBtYXJnaW46 IDEwcHg7IHRleHQtYWxpZ246Y2VudGVyOyBib3JkZXI6IDJweC BkYXNoZWQgUmVkOyBmb250LWZhbWlseTphcmlhbDsgZm9udC13 ZWlnaHQ6Ym9sZDsgYmFja2dyb3VuZDogI2ZmZjsgY29sb3I6IC MwMDA7XCI+VGhpcyB0aGVtZSBpcyByZWxlYXNlZCBmcmVlIGZv ciB1c2UgdW5kZXIgY3JlYXRpdmUgY29tbW9ucyBsaWNlbmNlLi BBbGwgbGlua3MgaW4gdGhlIGZvb3RlciBzaG91bGQgcmVtYWlu IGludGFjdC4gVGhlc2UgbGlua3MgYXJlIGFsbCBmYW1pbHkgZn JpZW5kbHkgYW5kIHdpbGwgbm90IGh1cnQgeW91ciBzaXRlIGlu IGFueSB3YXkuIFRoaXMgZ3JlYXQgdGhlbWUgaXMgYnJvdWdodC B0byB5b3UgZm9yIGZyZWUgYnkgdGhlc2Ugc3VwcG9ydGVycy48 L3A+Iik7IH0gfQ=='));

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I hit the delete button pronto when I see this kind of code in a theme.

Here's some info on this practice from Wordpress:

http://wordpress.org/support/topic/327204

More info here:

http://www.webaffiliate.co.uk/blog/d...ss-themes.html
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Strange 14 years ago

I'm a wordpress developer and i leave my credentials in the footer, whether or not the user deletes them it's up to them, but i do like people giving me credit as themes can take weeks to develop.

Regarding the crap above, i have looked into this before, the coding hides codes within your source, a way round this is by activating the theme and copying and pasting the source code from your browser into the theme file, either header or footer e.t.c..
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Istvan Horvath 14 years ago

There is a whole range of different cases and it would be difficult to find a solution that fits all.

If there is a an explicit Terms of Use on the creator's site - then it is simple: you either accept those terms or don't use the theme. Sometimes the terms are given only after you download and read the "readme" file inside the theme folder. In case you don't like it... you can still delete it and look fo another one.

If the theme developer doesn't bother to write down his/her terms... we are getting into murky waters
Especially, when they encrypt (using base64, for example) some suspicious links in the footer pointing to porn, gambling etc. sites. I have seen themes like that! No terms, no readme, no warning, just BS links and sneaky encryption.
To be honest I did remove such code without hesitation for many WP users.

Furthermore there are theme developers who don't have a good understanding of the different license types and label their work as GPL/GNU and still demand a visible link on the frontend (as in your blog's footer). However, think about the blogging tool itself: it is also GPL and the copyright notice or the mention of "wordPress" is there in almost every file of it but they do NOT require any backlink from your blog to wordpress.org.

It is very similar with the GPL themes: the developer's copyright notice, their URL etc. should be at the top of the style.css... and that's all.

With the Creative Commons licenses you again have different scenarios, what you have to look at is the "Attribution" part. If it is required, then, usually, you have to link back to the creator. But not to a porn site
(I know, many developers will go around this in the way that in the footer it says: theme developed by BigTits... that links to a porn site)

So, yes, as the title of the thread says, look closely and do read the terms!
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I.M.Retired

14 years ago

Strange: Could you elaborate on this

the coding hides codes within your source, a way round this is by activating the theme and copying and pasting the source code from your browser into the theme file, either header or footer e.t.c..

Do you mean that once the theme is activated you view the source and copy that in to the header or footer files? How would you do this when the code is in the functions file or in the header?

Here's a comment from the webaffiliate.co.uk link in my previous post above that suggests that it IS legal to change the encrypted files:

Just to ease everyone mind. You can do whatever you want to a theme so long as it's being used by your WP installation. Once it's plugged into Wordpress it now falls under the same GPL licensing restrictions. Most theme authors aren't even aware of this, but that doesn't make it not so, and for those that do know but still encrypt there footers with a tagged message saying that the theme is protected under copyright protection, are just trying to protect their investment with a link so that they can get paid.....however, you can decode it, reverse engineer it, alter it, delete it or do anything you would like to the footer....you could even leave the footer intact, with linkage back to the author
You can read some words from the WP man himself about the legality of changing the footer, or anything in the theme for that matter, he really nails it : http://wordpress.org/development/200...-too/ Or

If you're really worried, freshen up on the actual licensing topic at hand http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#GPLAndPlugins9

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Strange

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Val.S.

Strange: Could you elaborate on this

Do you mean that once the theme is activated you view the source and copy that in to the header or footer files? How would you do this when the code is in the functions file or in the header?

That is correct, when you view your source say the homepage on the web you can see all the code (the nice version) and copy/paste over the crap code this might be within the header.php file or footer.php, make sure you don't copy/paste the entire source code, just the necessary.

That crap code is base64 encoded.

An alternative method is to decode the base64, do a search in G for base64 encoder or decoder.

I did try to decode but didn't have great success, somehow encoders have more success lol... geek! :rolleyes:

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AmyBrown

14 years ago

Here's a legal opinion from Wordpress.org regarding themes and the GPL: WordPress › Blog Themes are GPL, too

My opinion is that paid themes with support are well worth the cost.

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Istvan Horvath

14 years ago

Originally Posted by AmyBrown

Here's a legal opinion from Wordpress.org regarding themes and the GPL: WordPress › Blog Themes are GPL, too

My opinion is that paid themes with support are well worth the cost.

Oh, yes... I completely forgot about that.

Too bad the "commercial" theme developers never read it - or just don't get it.

So, according to the experts, everything in a theme is/should be GPL - except the CSS and the images.

Which reminds me of the "CSS Naked Day" when WP bloggers get rid of their CSS for a day. It is fun and it is also a great opportunity to check how well-coded your theme is. If the elements on the page are still readable and in a logical order... you are OK. Don't forget, search engines see your site exactly like that!

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Mark Riddle 14 years ago

Yes it is possible to remake the theme and eliminate the links that paid the designer so you could have the theme for free.

Why would anyone on the warrior forum tell someone how to remove it??

Part of that support goes to licensing of the CSS and the Graphics.

If you don't want to accept the terms of using the them, then look for another theme, or if you really want that specific theme, contact the original designer and pay them for a link free version.

I guess people think that going to certain sites and getting WSO's and full products for free is OK?

Mark Riddle
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Strange 14 years ago

Oh, regarding the functions.php file, try going to the direct file in your browser and see if the code is different, highly unlikely though. Try the decoder on that or delete the functions file, this shouldn't alter the design as much but perhaps the backend such as the themes options, widgets e.t.c
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Michelle Strait 14 years ago

Sorry about the confusion.

Of course, you should always read the fine print before using a free Wordpress theme. All of the TOS I've read tell you EXACTLY which links you're not supposed to delete. Obviously, those aren't the links I'm talking about. I'm talking about themes that have no such requirements or place links in the footer other than what you were told to expect.
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CopyWritingQueen 14 years ago

We did encounter this when we used a free theme. But now my husband just builds his won themes with fellow warriors John's wordpress spire theme. It works every well.
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IndyTrends 14 years ago

I've been using wordpress for several months and have been changing my templates quite often but I never even thought about hidden links...thanks for the info. I'll definitely keep my out on that from now on.
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Look Closely When Using Free Wordpress Themes

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