Here is my experiment in 2018 to develop wordpress theme which is free which will be uploaded to wordpress.org. This year (2018) , i success upload my first Coming Soon WP Plugin AmaUCP ( a plugin to show underconstruction / coming soon page ) in wordpress.org which take only 3 days for approvement. I want to try upload a free wordpress theme, because my my plugin not succesfull only 3 download in a week :)) ( Just like my 2012 plugin which i had forgotten the password for uploading, so this year i make a new account ) . Although it’s fail, but it’s ok , it’s just a hobby project. I want to make 6 – 12 free small high quality programs in a year which i hope can be usefull and have many users. It can be WordPress related or Android App or Any Programming Related Project .
So before theme development some months ago, i have made some research . And here is i think some free themes / plugin which can become base for my magazine theme :
- MH Magazine Lite : I have compared some free themes and i like the coding of MH Magazine , it’s very structure and i really like the code. It’s unussual code because using many do_action but after i see it, I now understand why it’s very success .
- Stargazer : this theme has social menu which can become menu social icon. After i see it , the social icon menu just using css based on the url. Another wow. I have never thought about this trick. Here is the sample css of Stargazer :
#menu-social li a[href*="pinterest.com"]::before { content:'\f210'; color:#c8232c } - News Portal : this theme has repeater social icon and news ticker. I don’t know yet what what repeater field will be used for in customizer. But i like the concept of repeater programming because i have not seen it before except when using kirki plugins.
- Simple Category Posts Widget : this plugin can make multiple categories selection in widget
- Loco Translate : It can make po file for translation.
And here my requirement for my theme :
- Using Bootstrap for responsive screen
- It must support Site Origin Page Builder : I like the page builder , it can include the widget too in the builder column.
- SEO Friendly
- Using WordPress Coding Standard
- Simple and Fast
Some notes. Free Themes which are uploaded in wordpress.org must be tested using :
- Theme Check : to check the standard code in theme
- Theme Sniffer. ( Just download Option 1 : Easy . There is a zip file for releases code . If you download using Clone/Download you must install node and do the hardway )
- Query Monitor
- Debug Bar
- Log Deprecated Notices
- Monster Widget
- WordPress Beta Tester
- Regenerate Thumbnails
I thinks those theme will be good concept for my magazine theme. I have made it 50% and i think it will be completed in some weeks.
Update :
I have uploaded my theme version 1.0.0 on 5 Febuary 2018 . Just using https://wordpress.org/themes/upload/
After i upload it, the website directly ask to reupload with version 1.0.1 , so which i must do only change style.css with version 1.0.1.
After that show scan message :
Just need some weeks to know if it’s approved or not
Here is the result (16 April 2018):
- First upload 5 Febuary 2018 . Get Open Status.
- After wait 8 weeks , get review 29 March 2018 , need 3 days to fix error and requirement. Get Reviewing Status
- After that still wait 7 days (not finished yet) to talk about license. It seem because i have portfolio in themeforest and preview which link to 404 error page my free theme ( i move web server and themeforest html template which was made 4 years ago link to 404 error page ,because i forget to upload the html template) . Another problem, i have PSD which convert to theme by another user because i sell the copyright license (4 years ago ) , so i have been asked about relation with the another user , just still waiting (7 April 2018) . I think the license problem is the most retiring lol . ( I think , i more prefer make wordpress plugin than theme lol , it’s easier. So if you have any ideas about plugins just give me inputs in the comment form ) . Finally it get status approved (7 April 2018) and now enter Final Review: Approved Themes Not Yet Live for another testing review
- So before you upload themes in wordpress.org just make sure if you sell WordPress Theme which have GPL License in your website / marketplace. Because GPL License it’s about pilosophy . And make clear about license in readme.txt about license javascript , images with url , inspiration theme etc .
- Finally my free themes live approved (26 April 2018) . You can see here : NYSU Magazine on WordPress.org
- So here the process
- 5 Febuari 2018 : First Upload (Status : Open)
- 29 March 2018 : (Status : Reviewing)
- 7 April 2018 : (Status : Approved)
- 26 April 2018 : (Status: Live)
- Take 12 weeks to get wordpress theme live for newbies like me.
- For update theme which has status live , it will be auto approved by
Anyway here are some references which i have found , for you who want to upload theme to wordpress.org
- WordPress Theme Getting Started
- Handbook Review
- Become Reviewer : just read to know how reviewer work so you can get hints the process
- Review Process
- Get Your Theme Live Faster
- Accesibility Review
Hope it’s usefull