Premium Style Validation

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GTI
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Premium Style Validation

Post by GTI »

Is there anyone on the phpBB styles team who would validate a premium style for a fee?

By validate it I mean check it out so that I can list it as being of a good enough standard to pass phpBB's validation checks.
Most of us will enjoy Christmas in the comfort of our own homes this year, however, sadly, that can't be said for people in the Ukraine who are suffering day after day, due to the Russian invasion.

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Mick
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Re: Premium Style Validation

Post by Mick »

It's not allowed to offer payment in any form for assistance in this forum, but we can help you, for free! If you feel what you want to do is beyond your capability, then please post in the Wanted! forum where you may find someone willing to take on your project.
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GTI
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Re: Premium Style Validation

Post by GTI »

I will try to post it in a better way as this is not something for the wanted forum as this is a direct question for the phpBB styles team members rather than juat anyone.

After buying a premium style, I was disappointed to find it has several CSS errors, several HTML errors and on some pages there is even text that had been placed on the wrong template file.

So I decided I would make my own premium style to list on ThemeForest, however given that ThemeForest is where I purchased the premium style I've just mentioned, it's obvious that their coding validation checks are not the same as the ones done by the phpBB styles validation team.

Therefore when I sell my style, I would like to be able to say in the listing that it has been checked by a phpBB styles team member and that it would pass validation there.

I basically want it to be checked in the same way that the styles in the CDB are checked.

What I'm asking is, would styles team members be allowed to do that? I don't want to get anyone in to trouble.

If the answer is yes and someone from the styles team is able to help they can PM me, I know it's something that takes time and I don't expect it to be done for free.
Most of us will enjoy Christmas in the comfort of our own homes this year, however, sadly, that can't be said for people in the Ukraine who are suffering day after day, due to the Russian invasion.

If you would like to make a small donation to help Ukrainians in their time of need, you can donate to help all Ukrainians via BritishRedCross or you can donate to help the Ukrainian children via Unicef. 🇺🇦 Thank You 🇺🇦
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Re: Premium Style Validation

Post by Brf »

Mick wrote: Tue Aug 10, 2021 8:01 am It's not allowed to offer payment in any form for assistance in this forum
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Re: Premium Style Validation

Post by GTI »

Brf wrote: Tue Aug 10, 2021 5:46 pm Copied & pasted comment here.
Mick wrote: Tue Aug 10, 2021 8:01 am Copied & pasted comment here.

Right o my little custard creams I have taken the leap.

viewtopic.php?f=656&t=2599426

Thanks for your time and input :D
Most of us will enjoy Christmas in the comfort of our own homes this year, however, sadly, that can't be said for people in the Ukraine who are suffering day after day, due to the Russian invasion.

If you would like to make a small donation to help Ukrainians in their time of need, you can donate to help all Ukrainians via BritishRedCross or you can donate to help the Ukrainian children via Unicef. 🇺🇦 Thank You 🇺🇦
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PlanetStyles.net
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Re: Premium Style Validation

Post by PlanetStyles.net »

GTI wrote: Tue Aug 10, 2021 3:19 pm After buying a premium style, I was disappointed to find it has several CSS errors, several HTML errors and on some pages there is even text that had been placed on the wrong template file.
Ooo, which one? :mrgreen:
GTI wrote: Tue Aug 10, 2021 3:19 pm it's obvious that their coding validation checks are not the same as the ones done by the phpBB styles validation team.
Correct. ThemeForest validators will check for: aesthetic quality, documentation quality, does the theme / control panel install? and any clear & obvious display issues. If the item contains PHP they'll do a high-level check for vulnerabilities, but they won't fine-comb every custom line of code you write. Source: I was a senior leader on envato's customer success team for 4 years and know many of the validators personally.

phpBB validation is pretty similar, except there's more emphasis on template event support and version updates. Depending on the reviewer, small display issues might get picked up, although that policy was recently changed to become more lenient.

From my experience, I'm not sure if paid validation is worth it as a value proposition. Customers buying premium styles will focus on:

- does it look good?
- is it updated regularly?
- is it cheap? ($20 or less)
- decent access to screenshots and live demos pre-purchase
- is help available if needed?

Few customers are concerned about code quality, providing that it works out of the box and you promise to fix any problems that come up :)
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Re: Premium Style Validation

Post by GTI »

PlanetStyles.net wrote: Tue Aug 10, 2021 9:39 pm Ooo, which one? :mrgreen:
Mi.. :lol: FlatBoots, the author does some very nice extensions that I wanted but sadly you can only get them if you buy the style.

https://www.webnots.com/review-of-flatb ... pbb-theme/

If you sold extensions I would have been more than happy to have been stuck with the modern looking Milk style rather than a bootstrap style that as my forum members say looks like Subsilver, although I did learn a lot from digging through the FlatBoots files, exploring the differences between the way that and Prosilver were coded. :-)

Thank you for posting the review process, it's nice to get input from someone who has experience of both the phpBB process and the ThemeForest process.

You are probably right with regards to validation, in theory getting a free style validated would probably be just as useful so I guess I could make a 'Lite' version :lol:
Most of us will enjoy Christmas in the comfort of our own homes this year, however, sadly, that can't be said for people in the Ukraine who are suffering day after day, due to the Russian invasion.

If you would like to make a small donation to help Ukrainians in their time of need, you can donate to help all Ukrainians via BritishRedCross or you can donate to help the Ukrainian children via Unicef. 🇺🇦 Thank You 🇺🇦
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Re: Premium Style Validation

Post by PlanetStyles.net »

GTI wrote: Wed Aug 11, 2021 12:11 am If you sold extensions
Dipped my toes in, but didn't find it worthwhile personally. After 3 years, that extension has a long way to go before it becomes profitable :lol: . Milk was designed to leverage as much prosilver as possible to maximise free extension support, it looks like the BBoots developer wanted instead to create a proprietary theme that would only support their proprietary extensions decently (I guess - haven't tried the theme) :?
GTI wrote: Wed Aug 11, 2021 12:11 amYou are probably right with regards to validation, in theory getting a free style validated would probably be just as useful so I guess I could make a 'Lite' version :lol:
Worth noting, if you're planning to go exclusive on ThemeForest, you wouldn't be permitted to have a lite version available for free while the premium version is being sold on TF: https://help.author.envato.com/hc/en-us ... ity-Policy

This is a timely consideration, as inexplicably, ThemeForest sales have taken a major drop this year, and it's not clear why. Given that themeforest commission rates start at 50% and cap at 70% (takes multiple years to reach this), it might be worth trying a self-managed Shopify store using the SkyPilot app for digital downloads - or something similar before entering themeforest and all the exclusivity limitations that come with that.

TF is nice for the convenience though. Happy to answer any other questions you might have :)
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Re: Premium Style Validation

Post by GTI »

Thanks Christian I really appreciate the tips,

You certainly packed your sidebar extension with options and features, 123 sales is decent as sidebars are a love em or hate em thing, I imagine figuring the best way to keep them responsive was lots of fun :lol:

Good point about Shopify I may try that, I have to hope people like the style enough to want to bother buying it in the first place and that someone doesn't list it on those 'hacked theme' sites,

I notice Theme Forest require photo ID to sell, kudos to them it's nice to see they care about fraud and keeping their platform safe for the buyers :)
Most of us will enjoy Christmas in the comfort of our own homes this year, however, sadly, that can't be said for people in the Ukraine who are suffering day after day, due to the Russian invasion.

If you would like to make a small donation to help Ukrainians in their time of need, you can donate to help all Ukrainians via BritishRedCross or you can donate to help the Ukrainian children via Unicef. 🇺🇦 Thank You 🇺🇦
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Re: Premium Style Validation

Post by PlanetStyles.net »

GTI wrote: Sun Aug 22, 2021 8:48 pm someone doesn't list it on those 'hacked theme' sites
Oh, that's going to happen for sure. I think Milk's first ever sale was to a piracy account that bought it on a stolen credit card, with the sole intention of re-distributing :cry:

People who are morally okay with downloading software from warez sites probably weren't going to pay for it anyway - better to just let it happen and sleep easy at night :) Besides, warez downloaders don't get updates & support.
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