The reason? Where I downloaded my old ‘template” mislead me to believing it is a free template when in fact (according to the real author’s site (Der designs), it is a paid theme. Meaning, I have to buy the template to use it. Not as a free theme peddled by poseurs at the site where I downloaded the theme. I just found out about this 2 days ago and decided to pull out the theme from my site right then.

How did i discovered the trick? I looked at the footer. I used TAC wordpress plugin to identify hidden codes in my themes, and in this case, I found one. I googled for an online demo and the real author of the theme. Lo and behold, I landed on a different site. There I confirmed it was indeed a paid theme and its use is restricted to those who bought the theme. Gawd! I felt like a complete fool.

my old template, gateway studious by der design

I really liked my previous theme, Gateway Studios by der design, a minimalist theme with an elegant photoblog incorporated on it. It also worked out of the box, with so many features that can be turned “off and on” on the fly and even without much coding experience. Thus it pains me to let go of it so suddenly. I probably could not afford the theme so i guess buying it, is pretty far for now.

My new theme, Aggionare by The GeekDesignGirl

Right now, I’m using another sleek, elegant and minimalist theme with equally fantastic typography. Called Aggiornare (to update in Italian) by its author , The GeekdesignGirl, this one is I’m pretty sure the free version. I got it from the wordpress theme directory myself.  It’s really amazing how I find gems like this theme hidden deep in the wordpress.org theme repository. I was only the 300th entity who downloaded it, so pretty much a new theme release.

This is both a lesson and an eye opener for me and my readers. While I certainly love beautiful, free blog designs, it pays to make a bit of sleuthing to determine authenticity of what you’re downloading online. That way, you’ll not be stepping on someone else’s copyright issues and licenses. Hopefully all of you will still enjoy my posts and continue patronizing my blog!