Freebies R.I.P.
Any website designer can be a victim of design theft. In fact, most good designers will have to face this disturbing practice at some point in their careers. It’s pretty sad that so many people choose to steal a designer’s work instead of creating their own.
What motivates these thieves? Is it lack of creativity? Looking for a shortcut?
There have been times in my own design career that a potential client has contacted me with a request to copy another website. Sometimes it’s an innocent request; the person simply doesn’t know any better. Other times they are fully aware that they’re requesting that I plagiarize someone else’s work.
Because I like to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, I always respond that it is unethical and illegal to copy a website. I can certainly emulate the style but the code and images must be mine. That’s just the way I work. Take it or leave it.
For a long time I offered free simple website templates for download. All you had to do was register an account and abide by the license agreement, which included leaving the link back to ANA Designs intact. That’s not too much to ask in return for a nice little design is it? Apparently it is.
Too many individuals ignored the license and either decided it was OK to remove the link or blatantly took credit for a design that was not their own. I finally had enough of this abuse and decided to no longer offer templates to download for free. Now those templates are available to purchase for $5, which is more of a token sum than anything.
The same thing happened when I briefly offered a free WordPress Theme. That theme is no longer available in the free version.
This bums me out because I like to give things away. But too many thieves spoiled my fun. Boo-hoo.
I am fully aware that anyone with enough knowledge and determination can still steal and copy my designs. A person would have to be a fool to think anything put on the web is encased in armor. But I will no longer make it easy for these vultures. So while I continue to offer free support and website advice, free templates have gone bye-bye. Oh well.