Jun 30 2011
Trying out Google+
Today I got invited to Google+, the new social networking service from Google. You can find my Google+ profile here. If you are using Google+ and want to get in touch, you are very welcome to add me.
Archive for tag 'support'
May 18 2011
New forum launched!
After testing several forum solutions that were integrated with WordPress and the andreasviklund.com user database, I have come to the conclusion that none of the integrated forums worked as well as I hoped for. For that reason, I have moved the forum out of the main andreasviklund.com website and set up an external forum (based on Simple Machines Forum) on its own subdomain. By running an external forum, I can keep andreasviklund.com fast and efficient, while offering a much better user experience for all of you who are interested in discussing web design topics. I can also offer better support for template and theme users, and open up the forum for more topics than just support and discussions about the material on this site.
Go to the new forum »
One of the main cons is that previous users on andreasviklund.com will need to re-register to join the discussions and post own threads. Users on andreasviklund.com will get an e-mail with an invitation to join this forum, and suggestions for specific boards and features are very welcome. Let me know what you would want to see here, and I will be happy to add it.
Just like before, the forum is open for everyone to read but posting is restricted to registered users. To register, use this link: http://forum.andreasviklund.com/index.php?action=register. To login once registered, go to http://forum.andreasviklund.com/index.php?action=login.
I would like to wish you all welcome to the new forum, and I I hope that you will find it to be a useful resource for discussing templates, themes and web design in general!
Sep 4 2010
Alternate template versions and CMS themes
Three of the most common requests that I have often got throughout the last couple of years have been "Can you make a wider version of template X?", "Can you make template X with color Y?" and "Can you add feature Z to this template?". In a few cases, I have updated the templates with the requested changes. But in the most cases, I have recommended the template user to make the changes himself/herself and sent explanations of the procedure – an option which was not really optimal.
More recently, template designer Jason Cole started publishing alternate versions of my templates on his own website, often based on requests from visitors on andreasviklund.com. Through the addition of the new discussion forum on this site and with sub-forums created for each individual template, there is now a single space for presenting and discussing modified versions of the templates.
Jason has joined the forum as a moderator (see his profile page) and he has created "Alternate versions and ports" threads in each template sub-forum. For example, see the thread for alternate versions of the andreas01 template where Jason's wide version can be previewed and downloaded.
Together with Jason, I will be adding links to alternate versions as well as creating new variations based on your requests and suggestions. There will also be links to ports and theme versions for different content management systems and blog engines, such as WordPress, Drupal and CMS Made Simple just to name a few. With the exception of the themes listed on the WordPress themes page (which are soon going to be updated for full compability with WordPress 3.0), I can not do CMS ports myself. But if you have created an own port of any of the free templates and you make it available so that others can download and use it for free, you are welcome to post preview and download links in the forums – or contact me about it so I can add the links myself.
Requests are also welcome, although I please ask you to create a new thread for that purpose rather than posting in the variation threads.
Jul 8 2010
New template and updates soon
The two latest templates, Variant Portal and Variant Rounded, have been available for almost two weeks now. They have been downloaded more than 1600 times since the release and live websites built from the designs are starting to appear. I have got a lot of positive feedback, as well as useful comments on missing features and possible improvements for both templates. I have made some updates to Variant Portal with some of the most common requests in mind, and later today I will release an updated version of it. I will also release a new template, a kind of massive one in terms of file size and features for being made by me. Stay tuned for a release announcement later today.
As a side note, I have a request. If you post comments to a blog entry on andreasviklund.com, please use your own name or an established nickname rather than using keywords relevant for the site you write in the URL field. While I appreciate all kinds of feedback, I would rather get comments from people than from keywords!
And finally, two updates have been made to the site itself. The [contact form->contact] is online again, feel free to use it if you want to get in touch with me directly. Just make sure that I am the right person to contact, I still get a lot of e-mails about content on other peoples (template-based) websites. And the music section has been removed, with the songs now available on my purevolume.com page rather than on this website. From now on, andreasviklund.com is all about topics related to web design.
Sep 10 2009
The curse of a free website template designer
I had hoped that I would never need to make a story like this public, but since some misunderstandings appear to be more difficult than others to sort out, I will do it this time.
I have been accused by a blog owner for stealing her content and re-publishing it on another blog. I won't post the URL to the other blog since it is obviously a spam blog, but I would want all of you to read the e-mail correspondence posted by the original content owner. She has decided that I am the owner of the spam blog, or at the very least, personally responsible for the blog – which is of course not true.
So why would anyone get the idea that I run a spam blog? Well, simply because the spam blog is using the WP-Andreas09 theme by Ainslie Johnson, and my name can be found in the footer of the theme. The original content owner has completely ignored the fact that there are hundreds of thousands of blogs and websites out there that I should be "responsible of" since my name can be seen on them. This is a common misunderstanding, but it has never gone as far as getting out as a public story where my reputation and my business is threatened and where I am being called a criminal.
The simple fact is that I am a website template designer, something that anyone can find out by spending a minute on my website. The original andreas09 template is easy to find, and there is a text on my contact page that explicitly explains that I am not the right person to contact about other sites than andreasviklund.com.
This kind of misunderstandings happens to everyone who works with website template or WordPress theme design. I have done my best to avoid it, and I continue to answer about 10 e-mails every week from people who have mistaken me for being the owner of a site that uses my template designs. I am sure that this story will be sorted out soon as well, as every similar misunderstanding has been. But I can't help feeling annoyed about having to spend working time on situations like this just because people who get their content stolen doesn't spend a few minutes on basic research to make sure that they are attacking the right person before they go into attack-mode. That is just rude.
Edit: For further information, see the comment from signature DWK (who is the content owner) and my replies in the this post. The legal threats came after I wrote those replies, and after I sent an e-mail telling DWK that I had replied to her comment. I sent that e-mail to make sure that the misunderstanding was sorted out.
Edit 2: Situation solved and sortened out as for my part. I will not write more about this specific situation on the blog since it is none of my business, but I will very likely write more about this kind of misunderstandings in the future since it affects a lot of template designers every day.
