Tuesday, July 31, 2007

The search for no strings free or royalty-free website templates

Free, or royalty-free website template search

We're looking for a source of either no-strings, no attribution required, free website templates, or somewhere we can buy templates for a one-off charge which can then be reused/adapted for different clients (in the usual sense of 'royalty-free').

1.
http://www.freewebsitetemplates.com/
Has around 70 templates of generally good quality, many quite specifically themed however.

Terms of use:
"Unlike most free template providers you can do a lot with our templates. Modify it and redistribute it as long as you state that you used a template originally made by Free Website Templates. We have worked hard to make the templates and ask that you respect our hard work so we can continue providing you with high quality templates.

You can remove any link to our websites from a template you're free to use the template without linking back to us. But don't forget to tell anyone that can use our service about it, that is if you like our website your friends will too."

Does that mean you don't need to mention the source site at all, as long as you tell people somehow about their site (eg. down the pub over a packet of crisps)???

2.
http://www.4templates.com/

"4Templates.com offers high quality, ready-to-use and royalty-free web site templates"

But in response to my enquiry over reuse for multiple clients, I was told it is one purchase per client. Not really royalty-free at all then!

3.
http://www.deonixdesign.com

A membership site offering "Unlimited access and downloads to all the templates including future updates until your subscription runs out."
Terms of use on the site aren't too clear.
I asked them about use for multiple clients, what happens to existing sites if subscription runs out, can we adapt the designs etc. Will post any reply here.

4.
http://www.boxedart.com/

Another membership site. Same questions asked, will post any reply.
Noted this in Terms of Use... "sharing an account is no different than distributing our materials to others. Individual accounts must be purchased by your friends and colleagues." ...so they may see each of our clients as a separate user requiring a subscription each.

5.
http://www.larrytemplates.com
A bit more expensive, but you're buying the design outright. That means you can do what you want with it afterwards then? Er, maybe not...

"Is the license a one-time fee payment?
Yes, the payment for your template is a one-time fee without any additional charges. After purchasing you may use the template as many times as you need for one website."
(my bold)

Not sure whether that's just badly written, so have asked. Will post reply here.

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Watch this space for more

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