(Locked) WordPress.com not compatible with third-party themes

Envato Customers Web and Code
1

Hi,
I purchased a beautiful theme here at themeforest today after having spent 3 hours researching WordPress themes, and it was only after beginning the installation of the theme process that I was informed by WordPress.com that they do not support third-party themes and there is no option for this.
Personally, I think it should be more clear that every time WordPress is referred to in themeforest with reference to installing a theme, it should be written as WordPress.org with some really obvious easy-to-see information on all themes that they are only compatible with WordPress.org, not WordPress.com
Sincerely,
Finn

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No, it doesn’t have to be written anywhere.

Themes sold here are WordPress themes which can be installed on your own hosting space, shared hosting which supports php/mysql, locally or as you’ve said on WordPress.org.

You should have checked with WP.com before you bought a theme from here, since sellers or envato have no idea where are you going to host your theme.

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Agreed. It’s absolutely unclear that the ThemeForest Wordpress themes are not compatible with WordPress.com. When a service is advertised as…

“FullScene is a professional, multi-layout, ultra flexible and customizable portfolio WP theme …”

… it would stand to reason that it should work with Wordpress. That’s what it states. There is no distinction in the description on the detail page for the theme between hosted with Wordpress.com vs. hosted through another service with Wordpress.org.

Sellers on Envato should know that a general confusion exists between users of Wordpress.com and Wordpress.org (this thread is evidence of it) and should simply point out that their themes are not compatible with Wordpress.com. It’s false advertising to sell under the umbrella and brand of “Wordpress” while not being explicit about the distinction between Wordpress.com and Wordpress.org. This should not be a deceptive game of insider baseball, where folks take money for their product and then expect the casual user (and, actually, the majority of Wordpress users) to know of this distinction.

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danielspils said

Agreed. It’s absolutely unclear that the ThemeForest Wordpress themes are not compatible with WordPress.com. When a service is advertised as…

… it would stand to reason that it should work with Wordpress. That’s what it states. There is no distinction in the description on the detail page for the theme between hosted with Wordpress.com vs. hosted through another service with Wordpress.org.

Sellers on Envato should know that a general confusion exists between users of Wordpress.com and Wordpress.org (this thread is evidence of it) and should simply point out that their themes are not compatible with Wordpress.com. It’s false advertising to sell under the umbrella and brand of “Wordpress” while not being explicit about the distinction between Wordpress.com and Wordpress.org. This should not be a deceptive game of insider baseball, where folks take money for their product and then expect the casual user (and, actually, the majority of Wordpress users) to know of this distinction.

This is somewhat ridiculous and absurd that I had to mention how ridiculous and absurd this is in fact. LOL.

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This only happens to new Wordpress users, where they only know about Wordpress.Com for free blogging. Please keep in mind that all free services have their limitations… :slight_smile:

Please read complete explanation from Wordpress.Com about this,

WordPress.com Benefits

  • It’s free and much easier to set up
  • Everything is taken care of: setup, upgrades, spam, backups, security, etc.
  • Your blog is on hundreds of servers, so it’s highly unlikely it will go down due to traffic
  • Your content is backed up automatically
  • You get extra traffic from the WordPress.com community — including blogs of the day and tags
  • You can find like-minded bloggers using search and the reader
  • Your dashboard is secure (SSL) making it even safer to log in on shared networks

WordPress.com Cons

  • We provide 160+ themes (and adding more every day) which you can modify and edit the CSS, but you cannot upload a custom theme
  • You can’t modify the PHP code behind your blog
  • You can’t upload plugins

WordPress (self-hosted) Benefits

  • Ability to upload themes
  • Ability to upload plugins
  • Great community
  • Complete control to change code if you’re technically minded

WordPress (self-hosted) Cons

  • You need a good web host, which generally costs $7-12 a month, or thousands of dollars per month for a high traffic site
  • Requires more technical knowledge to set up and run
  • You’re responsible for stopping spam
  • You have to handle backups
  • You must upgrade the software when a new version comes out
  • If you get a huge spike in traffic (like Digg or Slashdot) your site will probably go down unless you have a robust hosting setup
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Hi guys,

I can understand your frustration, I really do. The differences are subtle at first glance, especially to the uninitiated. But it is the customer’s responsibility to understand the platform they are using - a hosted blog on wordpress.com vs a self-hosted WordPress site from wordpress.org. The information is out there, but every WordPress user needs to invest the time to understand how WordPress works ( http://www.wp101.com/ is a great place to start). Unfortunately, even with a platform as fantastic as WordPress, creating a site isn’t effortless.

Here’s a great explanation as to the differences between the two: http://en.support.wordpress.com/com-vs-org/ , and here’s a video: http://www.wp101.com/videos/wordpress-com-or-wordpress-org/

This is just a case of an incorrect assumption being made as to what wordpress.com is capable of. In fact, it’s not that the themes here aren’t compatible with the software on wordpress.com (which simply runs the software available from wordpress.org) - it’s that wordpress.com won’t let you upload those custom themes as a basic user. It makes sense from a security standpoint - they give you free server space and bandwidth; but they need to control the code that gets executed on their servers. Otherwise you might upload something malicious.

Note that none of the themes in the wordpress.org themes directory are compatible with wordpress.com either - but none of them state “not compatible with wordpress.com”. It’s just not possible to list everything that a product isn’t compatible with. Users running a WordPress site need to understand how the platform works.

Consider this (imperfect) analogy: when a consumer purchases a movie on Blu Ray at the store, there’s an assumption that they have a Blu Ray player to play it on. It is the consumer’s responsibility to understand that there is some additional equipment required, and that just because they have a television that can display movies doesn’t mean they can play the disc.

Here’s maybe a more apt example: a customer might buy a new radio for their Toyota. Well, that’s great if they own their own car (self-hosted wordpress.org) - they go ahead and install it. If they’re renting a Corolla from Hertz (wordpress.com), Hertz isn’t not going to let them install their custom equipment. The WordPress platform is the car; wordpress.com is the rental place and wordpress.org is where they can buy their own. Just because the radio is compatible with a Toyota, doesn’t mean they can install it in the rental car - and it’s not the radio manufacturer’s responsibility to explain that (“not compatible with rental cars”). If they want to fully customize, they’ve got to buy their own. :slight_smile:

So, while this is a completely understandable mistake to make, neither the theme authors or ThemeForest are to blame. Anyone undertaking the challenge of building a website takes on the responsibility to invest the time to understand the tools they are working with. Purchasing a product like a WordPress theme assumes a basic level of knowledge about the platform. I know, there’s a lot to learn! That’s why there are a myriad of resources out there, and there’s always the option of hiring a consultant or a freelancer.

And of course, there’s always the option of migrating the wordpress.com site to wordpress.org in order to make use of the awesome themes here :slight_smile:

Hope that helps!

EDIT: ^ tl;dr

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This company is terrible. I too purchased a template from Theme Forest and then later learned it is not compatible with Wordpress.org. I asked for my money back a few days ago and have not heard from the company. THey definitely deceive their customers and I will never recommend their templates. I suggest they refund me or I’ll have to share my experience on other sites.

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Sorry what was the exact issue you have had?

Assuming that the file purchased is a Wordpress theme and not another CMS or site template then the Wordpress.org software can be downloaded and installed on your domain/hosting and the file from here will work with it?

Thanks

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nancynessel said

This company is terrible. I too purchased a template from Theme Forest and then later learned it is not compatible with Wordpress.org. I asked for my money back a few days ago and have not heard from the company. THey definitely deceive their customers and I will never recommend their templates. I suggest they refund me or I’ll have to share my experience on other sites.

If it is a WordPress theme, then it should work fine. It sounds like you might have purchased an HTML template, which is not the same thing. That is clear from the separate categories.

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Actually:

Template = HTML

Theme= CMS like wordPress etc.

You refer to a template so what is it? Did you read the item description carefully before you purchased the item? Often in the description this is mentioned. Or do you actually mean you bought a theme? Did you download the installable file or the whole package?

All questions that deserve an answer.

I don’t think it’s fair to blame and threaten Themeforest straight away for a misstake you quite possibly made due to lack of knowlegde on these items…

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nancynessel said

This company is terrible. I too purchased a template from Theme Forest and then later learned it is not compatible with Wordpress.org. I asked for my money back a few days ago and have not heard from the company. THey definitely deceive their customers and I will never recommend their templates. I suggest they refund me or I’ll have to share my experience on other sites.

if you contacted marketplace support ( here: http://support.envato.com/ ) allow up to 5 days (not including weekends) for a reply from them.

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nancynessel the fact that you have no clue what wordpress.org and wordpress.com are doesn’t mean ThemeForest is terrible. It’s easy to blame others. If you have no clue what you’re doing, hire someone more capable and knowledgeable in web development that knows what items are published on ThemeForest.

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