To-Do List, More Web Site Upgrades
Saturday, 14 July 2007
2007/09/24 Update: Generic advertising pared down

All Adsense advertising has been removed from the Live Demos. Members who upload their layouts on Themebot will not have their web design templates cluttered up with generic advertising in the demos.

There are quite a few new features in the works designed to benefit members. This the beginning of a transition that will provide more valuable services for freelance web developers and visitors, while enhancing the presence of dedicated sponsors by eliminating the generic advertising. Integrity in business philosophy and supporting the open source community is the Themebot way.

The Kontera interstitial ads have been removed as well. Even though they were racking up a decent amount of clicks, they did not pay well, were somewhat annoying, were rarely relevant and caused the pages to load more slowly. So, Kontera had to go.

Furthermore, additional links are never added to member's layouts and no alterations are made to the files submitted for download. Many other web template sites add their own links and advertising to the designs that their members upload.


2007/08/29 Update: Member albums implemented

Albums by Web Designer is now integrated in the web layout gallery. There is a tag cloud in the gallery sidebar with a list of the top twenty members who have contributed the most web design templates on Themebot. Also, there is a link to each member's album below the themes.

Themebot is getting ready for a new round of upgrades. I thought I'd create a poll to find out which improvements are most important to visitors and theme designers. The poll is in the left column under the Main Menu if you'd like to cast a vote. Also, if you have any suggestions that are not listed, feel free to leave a comment in the forums.

Improvements:

  • Albums by Web Designer: Everyone who submits a free web layout will have their own dynamic album that displays all of the themes they have added.
  • Professional Listings: Members can create a listing that links to their portfolio and describes the services they offer as a web developer. The professional listings will be search-able by specific categories. This will be useful for visitors who who need custom web design, graphic design or custom coding for the web site they are building.
  • Premium Templates: A section where members can sell premium templates and earn a commission each time a visitor purchases their template.
  • Get rid of the Adsense: Pretty self-explanatory. Is the Adsense advertising over-bearing or distracting? Does the advertising discourage you from browsing Themebot or uploading a web site template?
  • Gallery Search by Tags: Ability to search the gallery for web site templates by tags such as: layout (fluid or fixed), primary color, number of columns, W3C validation, theme, license etc...
  • Change the Site Layout: Is the overall layout for themebot.com boring or could the layout be changed so that it is more functional? I'd like to revamp the design sometime in the near future.

Go ahead and vote for which of the above you think would be best improvement on Themebot. If you have any comments or suggestions, please leave a message in the forums.
 
Discuss (2 posts)

Themebot
To-Do List, More Web Site Upgrades
Jul 14 2007 16:28:31
This thread discusses the Content article: To-Do List, More Web Site Upgrades

Any suggestions?
 #230

anthonylicari
Re:To-Do List, More Web Site Upgrades
Sep 28 2007 02:52:12
The adsense is understandable right now. You spend time and subsequently your money to keep this going. Although the site could come off as super professional when you add the premium service to take a percentage of that service to cover your costs and then remove the adsense.

At this point though, I think it's fine.
 #260

Discuss this on the forums. (2 posts)
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