After reading this post from last week, I finalized my decision to abandon the premium WordPress theme I’ve been using. Yes, that’s money down the drain; however, I won’t sacrifice my principles for a few dollars.
Over the past several days, I became convinced, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Thesis incorporates nontrivial code from WordPress. As such, it is considered a derivative work under the Gnu Public License (GPL). Without that code copied from WordPress, I was (and am) willing to accept that Thesis is not derivative, and therefore not subject to the GPL. However, such has been demonstrated not to be the case.
Thus, until I decide upon, install, and tweak a replacement theme (probably another premium theme, but one with a GPL), I’m afraid you’re stuck with the default WordPress 2010 theme. I’ll see about replacing the banner, however. *grin*
Any suggestions would be welcomed in the comments; however, I really don’t care to debate GPL issues: There is plenty of that going on elsewhere on the web (check the #thesiswp hashtag in Twitter if you need more).
ADDENDUM
Decided to go with Headway Theme, which is (of course) compliant satisfies Automattic’s desire for compliance with WordPress’s GPL.1 So, there’ll be some growing pains as I set it up and play around with it.
Why Headway? It appears to be the most like Thesis, with the degree of flexibility in design tweaking I want. That’s pretty much it. 
- Added with the edit: Headway has a split license. Those parts of the theme that wrap (or are wrapped by) WordPress are under GPL; however, independent or standalone items, such as images, are licensed separately under Headway’s copyright. ↩
Discussion on This Post
I don’t know about the copyright and ethics issues. But I know one thing: your old style was beautiful in one way, but maybe not the most easy-to-read one I’ve seen. This simple standard wordpress theme is more accessable to me. From my point of view, the simple is often the best when it comes to blog layout.
Read Larisa’s recent post: Where to find the best writing on the WoW forums
Thanks for that input, Larísa! I’ll keep that in mind as I play around with a new theme. I’ll tell you one thing: I definitely prefer this larger, serif font to the smaller, sans serif I was using.
“which is (of course) compliant with WordPress’s GPL”. No, it is not. In fact, the split licensing is a tapdance around the issue, not a solution, and places the user in the same bracket as the Thesis user.
That’s not to say it’s wrong to use Headway or Wordpress’ GPL requirements are the be-all-end-all, but it is not compliant.
Read Jonas M Luster’s recent post: Germany in 12 seconds or less
Perhaps it would be most accurate to say, Matt Mullenweg has no issues with the split licensing of Headway, and in fact, the only parts that are not under the GPL are items unique to and not dependent upon WordPress (e.g., images).
Fair enough. I believe that a large amount of the Thesis hubbub wasn’t based on the licensing alone but (as I put it in my post on the subject, guess everyone had to have one) not to a small degree on Chris being a pompous butthole.
Headway saw the train coming and tried to get off the tracks. That’s an A for effort, if and how it’s compliant and enforceable we’ll see, I guess.
Read Jonas M Luster’s recent post: Germany in 12 seconds or less
This looks lovely! More “you” than the wordpress one, but still way cleaner than your previous.
However sometimes I wonder: how important is the looks of a blog? If you’re into esthetics I suppose it matters to you as a blog keeper, but how important is it to the readers in the end? One of the most successful, read, commented on, most respected voices in the MMO blogosphere is Tobold. He’s got the most basic layout you’ve ever seen. Blogger 1.A. And that works perfectly well! The readers are there for the content.
I don’t say that it’s bad what you’re doing, absolutely not. To each one his own! But sometimes it makes me a little bit frustrated when especially WoW bloggers (which is what I read) keep putting tons of work into switching their layout over and over again, never satisfied, but yet don’t post very much.
Well, Tobold writes a lot more, and a lot better, than I do. And, his niche is bigger in the first place.
But to answer you directly, as long as the site is readable, the rest probably doesn’t matter to anyone except the blogger. (And I warn you, there’s still a lot of work to be done before I’m happy with this site!)
Your site, though, as an example, would not feel nearly as welcoming to me if it looked like Tobold’s. Part of the reason for that is, yours is a site I usually visit, even if I don’t comment; on the other hand, I almost never look at Tobold’s except through my feed reader. Even when I comment, it’s via my reader.
*Neatly hijacks the comment thread*
I agree with both of you.
Content IS king, but fantastic content can be shadowed by an unwelcoming or unusable theme. A gee-wow-whiz-bang theme on a site with little to no content may get noticed initially, but it won’t hold attention for long.
More time should definitely be spent on content than visuals.
I like it when a blog picks a theme and sticks with it, anyway – makes the place seem more welcoming and familiar when I return.
And I also agree that this theme is an improvement over the Thesis one. Easier on the eyes, while still retaining your Kestrel Blues. =]
Read Tami’s recent post: Quick Fix or Right Thing
Glad you like it…and I didn’t think the other was that hard to read.
NOW you all are telling me how horrible it was. *grin*
Although, that wasn’t Thesis’ fault, to be fair: It was probably due to (a) my font choice, (b) the background gradient, and (c) the 3-column layout. While there may be a few more cosmetic changes here (e.g., widgets, what appears on the sidebar on various pages, minor formatting stuff), I think this is pretty much the way things are going to be.
*laughs* The other one wasn’t TERRIBLE, it’s just this one’s better. =]
If I had to blame it on anything, it’d be the font choice. I think it used to be partially bolded and extra-big or something. The gradient background might have done it too, though. Sometimes that monkeys with text-recognition.
Either way, it wasn’t burning the retinas or giving nightmares. *raspberry*
Apropos of nothing, you have a “Wanting to leave an emphasis on your comment?” below the box, and the way it’s punctuated, my brain keeps repeating “You put the emPHAsis on the wrong syLLAble.” Over. And over. And over again.
Read Tami’s recent post: Quick Fix or Right Thing
Yeah, I know about that—it’s part of the theme, and I’ll be changing it, but it’s not an immediate priority (but it is an irritation!).