New WordPress Theme Submission Requirement?

Do the reviewers even read what explanations we post in the message field when submitting?

I am continuously getting soft rejected for stuff that wasn’t even mentioned in my accepted theme about 3 weeks back.

Things like base64 (which i don’t use), fopen etc that are used in some fallback functions in redux framework.

I’ve posted a link to the redux site with explanations of why themecheck returns those warnings and even a discussion where one reviewer, Japh, said it’s ok. (https://docs.reduxframework.com/core/theme-check/)

Stuff like “INFO: More than one text-domain is being used in this theme.” where the text domains are actually from the plugins that I use.

All my attempts of communication were ignored. They keep spamming the same message every time, It’s starting to get insulting after being an elite author and having more than 20 themes developed:

“Install and run Theme Check plugin to fix the following”

Really?

I asked my developer to create some themes for my website and i used one of them. Can i upload those theme for envato for reviews?

Only if you have their permission or if you have written ownership of the copyright.

Beyond that its not just about uploading - you need to be able to support/update etc. in the future so you also need to be very comfortable with the code

Took me ages to get through with stuff like you said, things that’s are listed as ok on the requirements page that are only used as a fallback anyway. One reviewer told me it’s ok to have those things listed then the next told me to remove them. In the end I ended up removing the fallbacks to get through. Serious hit on my time and finances.

Thanks!

[EDIT: Link removed to prevent self promotion as per community guidelines ]

Hi Everyone,

First, thanks for your patience. I know it took much longer to get back to you about this than I originally promised. We’ve now discussed this and have come up with a common understanding that we will apply consistently.

The current requirement will remain as it is for now:

Use a unique prefix for all function names, classes, hooks, public/global variables, and database entries to avoid conflict issues with plugins and other themes.

However, because that can be interpreted in different ways, we will add the guidance to use the following:

themename_
OR
frameworkname_ (where framework functions are being used)

If you follow this, then your theme will be accepted. If you use something else, then you may (or may not) be asked to use these, at the reviewer’s discretion.

If you use your own framework, we’d encourage you to choose a reasonably unique framework name. If your theme name is not unique and you want to make it more unique, then adding an additional prefix to themename_ will be accepted, although it is not required.

Background: One of the things we discussed was how unique a prefix should be. Ultimately, the more complex the prefix is, the lower the chance of a clash. We looked at asking for something more complex, but in the end we decided not to. Instead, we recognised that the very act of using a prefix, regardless of it’s complexity, greatly reduces the chance of a clash and is enough in most cases. This decision was based in part on your feedback of real life examples, so thanks!

Theme name has become the standard in many parts of the WordPress community, so that remains our preference. However, we understand this is not practical for those of you who reuse functions between themes and we’ll accept framework name in those circumstances.

Hopefully this will give all of us a clear and common understanding of this requirement, that is practical for authors to follow, and which will reduce any confusion and frustration that may have been occurring. If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know! Thanks everyone.

Cheers,
Stephen

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Great to hear that we now have official answer. One question, not completely regarded to this. Are review times back to normal?

Hi,
thanks for the info - this is most concrete answer for the matter so far.

Just to make clear - it is ok to use our theme framework name as prefix, instead of theme’s name ? So, instead of using themename_ prefix it’s ok to use our_uniqueframework_ prefix ?
Would it be wise to mention this to reviewer when submitting theme ? To avoid at least one soft reject … :wink:

Thanks

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Stephen!
Thanks for collaboration.

You can use both.

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Just to be super clear, as long as there’s a prefix, everyone’s good? Even if it’s the author’s name in some form?

Hey Aligatorstudio,

It certainly couldn’t hurt! All the reviewers are aware of this, but I guess we may not immediately know whether a framework is being used or not, so pointing it out would help.

If you don’t point it out and your theme does end up getting soft-rejected, you can obviously let the reviewer know at that point, but of course that is an extra step!

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Thanks to you too @mad_dog! :smile:

Hi BonfireThemes,

Well it’s fine if it’s the theme name or the framework name (which will obviously be related to the author’s name if it’s their own framework). If it’s just the author name, not in the context of a framework, then it may not be accepted, so probably safer to use one of those.

Hi Stephen.

I have the habit of developing themes from one to the next in order to constantly improve on the code base. I’d like to use “bonfire”, “bnfr” or the like as a prefix and not be forced to change all instances of it with every theme as it just creates extra work. Are those examples allowed?

If not, what do you see as the difference between using the theme name and using an author name in some form? I guess I’m hunting for the reasoning behind allowing theme names as prefixes (even if they’re common words) but not some variation of an author name.

Thanks.

Just to make sure as every replay has this mentioned - ‘themename_’

Is it fine if prefix is combination of both - author name and theme name (not complete theme name)?

Say if theme name : Modern
Author name : KlassicThemes

Prefix: ktmdrn

Guys, this both will work now.

What about text-domains ?

I got a theme rejected, because I was using a text-domain “village”, which we’re using in all our themes ( we’re ThemeVillage ). Does it really have to be theme specific or did this change along with prefixing ?

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Is something wrong with using namespaces / autoloader ?

This way you could even use the most generic class names and only change the namespace for every new product. It’s recommended PSR-4 practice.

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This is interesting