template ettiquette

I found a free template that I liked but as I was working with it, I started tinkering. There weren't any restrictions with the template like I saw with some of them. I changed the picture, then I needed to change the colors, then the fonts weren't quite right... Long story short, it doesn't look much like the original and I doubt the designer would recognize it (the beautiful beach it was named for is is now a picture of the Alps). But it seems wrong to strip his info and put mine in it's place... How do you all handle this?

Kay

 

Most themes are derivatives of other themes anyway, so don't worry about it. You can put "Modified version of" next to the original theme link if you want to be nice about it.

If you want to sell the theme or have it sponsored, you could get complaints or even have your auction removed.

 

If it were me I would leave the link. Perhaps change it to say "Based of of <link>" or something of that nature. I wouldnt go redistributing it though as your own, seeing as how it started as someone else's work.

 

Do it at your own risk.

 

The template is for my own site. Not for sale or redistribution. I don't know what a sponsored theme is. I'll be glad to give credit. The original template was great. I think I started tinkering to put off actually blogging

 

You should make sure you link to the designers site from at least one page of your site. Don't remove the link entirely because that would be very wrong. The designer has worked hard to create that template and modifying a template is a whole lot easier than making one from scratch. You should give him a follow link from at least one page of your site (preferably the home page). Its really not asking much now is it?

 

I have no problem with giving the designer credit. If I did I would never have posted the question to begin with. I'm very new at this... so new, that all I have is a theme, sort of. I just wasn't sure of the proper way to go about it. So, no, giving him a link is not too much to ask.

 

Sponsored themes are free themes that have links bought by website owners. These backlinks help improve their traffic and search engine positions. The Link Sales Forum here has lots of these auctions.