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General Discussion

Devin Gray
Devin Gray
39,261 Points
Posted by Devin Gray
Devin Gray
39,261 Points

Is it wrong for a designer/developer to purchase themes to freelance?

It's been awhile since I've been on Treehouse, I've missed everyone.

Well I'm a beginner Wordpress developer, I've been teaching myself Web Development for almost two years now. I've made some WordPress themes from scratch that I'm fairly proud of (although not worthy of selling or anything) but I want to start work as a freelancer.

I'm extremely busy because I work full-time + everyday life and I don't really have time to build sites from scratch, as well as learn how to create things that clients may ask for, especially if it's already in a widget.

I was wondering is it wrong to use something like WooThemes with a subscription and use those themes and just tweak them to what a client wants? I'm still going to continue my education and learn more but I want something that can help me get started right away. I also want to use a theme for my portfolio site because I want to change my original one over to WordPress and I want to use a different theme than my original site. I feel dumb for asking this so let me know what you all think...

3 Answers

Tyler Haas
Tyler Haas
20,623 Points
Tyler Haas
Tyler Haas
20,623 Points

I don't think it is unethical as long as you aren't passing it off as your own work and give the developer credit somewhere in your code.

Devin Gray
Devin Gray
39,261 Points
Devin Gray
Devin Gray
39,261 Points

That's what I always thought. Plus when you buy it you get the licensing for it that says you can do whatever you want with it after that. It's not like I can't do it it's just that I don't have time, and I don't have a list of frameworks built up by myself yet.

Does it make me look bad if I have a theme as my resume site though?

Shawn Flanigan
PLUS
Shawn Flanigan
Courses Plus Student 15,815 Points
Shawn Flanigan
Shawn Flanigan
Courses Plus Student 15,815 Points

I'm with Tyler...I don't think it's a problem. To me, it's similar to using stock photos, textures and even fonts in your design work. They're all tools. Just be up front with your client about your plans and charge accordingly. Even with a good starter or premium theme, it can take a lot of vision and know-how to make everything look good and work well. If you're adding value (building special functionality into a theme, creating custom post types, choosing fonts and colors, creating graphics, setting WordPress up on a server and laying out content for your client, etc), there's nothing wrong with charging for your work. Like Tyler said, just don't try to take credit (and charge) for something you don't do. If you try to charge for a 100% custom, hand-coded site and your client figures out you're just plugging content into a $29 template from ThemeForest...don't expect them to recommend you to their friends.

Devin Gray
Devin Gray
39,261 Points
Devin Gray
Devin Gray
39,261 Points

Valid points from both of you. So what I'm getting from this is, it is fine to charge when developing from a theme, but charge accordingly because labor is not the same for building from a theme as it is from building from scratch. I've had a hard time coming to grips with this as I've been learning, but now I'm realizing it's okay to use tools for help as long as you know how to fix problems when they arise.

Thanks for your help guys! I'm gonna finish theme shopping, time is money.

Juan Aviles
Juan Aviles
12,795 Points
Juan Aviles
Juan Aviles
12,795 Points

Hey Devin,

Are you saying that you are modifying a theme purchased by your client, or are you buying the theme and keeping it on hand to modify and pass on to multiple clients with a few of your own tweaks thrown in?

I think we all have different levels of what we are comfortable doing, but if it was me I would purchase the theme and pass that cost on to the client so that the theme is now theirs, and then add my fee for modifying it for them. I would not feel comfortable buying themes that I keep on my hard drive, and then modifying to pass on to clients over and over. Maybe I'm wrong but I just wouldn't feel comfortable doing that.

I don't think using a theme for your own portfolio site is wrong, but of all places your portfolio should showcase what you are capable of. Most clients probably won't know the difference, but some may and they may be put off by you misrepresenting yourself. I would rather see a designers true work and not their abilities to modify a theme.

I'm not trying to shoot down your plans...it's just how I felt when I read your statement.

Juan

Devin Gray
Devin Gray
39,261 Points
Devin Gray
Devin Gray
39,261 Points

I'm not mad Juan, your comments make sense. Let me just explain where I'm coming from as far as why I want to buy themes. I was going to buy some themes that I can edit and tweak to serve my purposes depending on the client, at least while I beef up my skills and to save time.

I work full-time. I built my first portfolio site using HTML/CSS and some basic JavaScript and it took 4 months because I was teaching myself + practicing on my portfolio site + working out every bug that came along the way.

It took me equally long to develop a WordPress site for a client using the create a WordPress theme using Bootstrap tutorial. It came out fairly functional, but then WordPress updated its latest version and there were no videos on Treehouse for the new version, and I couldn't find a good page to teach me how to make a comments.php, and the client ended up not liking my work, even though he liked it every step of the way right before the final version, and he ended up going in another direction and just used a theme.

Time is money, and I don't have time to do everything from scratch like I'd want to. I have a portfolio, but I don't want to wait another 4 months before I can make it live. I just wanted to use themes until I either have the skills or the free time to make sites quicker.

I appreciate what you said though, I'll keep that in mind, Devin