[theme-reviewers] Feature slider default links

[Trent Lapinski]

Chip,

Honestly, I don't know why putting a default link reduced our support for the theme with users asking this question. 

Again, I can only really assume a few things 1) it made it more obvious to swap out the link, 2) it forces the user behavior to swap in a new link 3) perhaps when they did click through they actually went to the documentation and read how to use the theme? 4) I wish I knew.

I still deal with forum posts and e-mails for this theme of someone asking if the Portfolio section can link to a custom url (the default is to a light box). I just keep pointing them to the documentation and answering yes.

User behavior is user behavior, and when something keeps coming up regularly on a weekly basis I try to find a solution if possible to make it easier for the user and to reduce my support. All I know is when I swapped in the defaults people stopped asking because it became obvious.

If I have to change the links, linking back to the homepage makes no sense, and if the other desired method is to link back to wordpress.org I'm just wondering why I can't just point it back to the theme page then? Seems pretty logical.

--Trent Lapinski
=============
CEO of CyberChimps LLC
trent at cyberchimps.com
Mobile (714) 904-4280
Twitter @trentlapinski
http://CyberChimps.com

On Aug 9, 2012, at 3:57 PM, Chip Bennett <chip at chipbennett.net> wrote:

> For what purpose would anyone attempt to click-through a link on a wp.org Theme demo? I don't get it.
> 
> Even then: the issue isn't what gets output on the wp.org Theme demo site, but rather what gets output by default on end users' sites.
> 
> Chip
> 
> On Thu, Aug 9, 2012 at 5:50 PM, Trent Lapinski <trent at cyberchimps.com> wrote:
>> If you need to put a link in there to show that it is indeed linkable,
>> then it would make a heck of a lot more sense to have that link back
>> to the person's own site. home_url() would be the way I'd really
>> recommend doing it for a default link.
> 
> The problem with that is if someone is previewing the theme on .org then it will just send them in an endless loop to the homepage, the feature slider is almost always on the homepage which is redundant.
> 
> What about linking back to the theme's url on wordpress.org would that be acceptable? Then it's just linking back to itself.
> 
> --Trent Lapinski
> =============
> CEO of CyberChimps LLC
> trent at cyberchimps.com
> Mobile (714) 904-4280
> Twitter @trentlapinski
> http://CyberChimps.com
> 
> On Aug 9, 2012, at 2:36 PM, Otto <otto at ottodestruct.com> wrote:
> 
>> On Thu, Aug 9, 2012 at 4:01 PM, Trent Lapinski <trent at cyberchimps.com> wrote:
>>> I hear you, it is not that I'm asking for special treatment really, I am
>>> simply asking for permission to have my feature slider links to somewhere
>>> since this is a grey area that is not clearly defined.
>> 
>> Trent, the problem is basically that you're creating a link somewhere
>> which, if the user doesn't change it, points back to yourself. This
>> *screams* SEO-spamminess. Even if your intentions are good, the result
>> is what it is.
>> 
>> Linking back to your own site on the public-facing side of things is
>> allowed in specifically one place, the footer, and with specifically
>> one of two links, the two URIs in the style.css header.
>> 
>> If you need to put a link in there to show that it is indeed linkable,
>> then it would make a heck of a lot more sense to have that link back
>> to the person's own site. home_url() would be the way I'd really
>> recommend doing it for a default link.
>> 
>> -Otto
>> _______________________________________________
>> theme-reviewers mailing list
>> theme-reviewers at lists.wordpress.org
>> http://lists.wordpress.org/mailman/listinfo/theme-reviewers
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> theme-reviewers mailing list
> theme-reviewers at lists.wordpress.org
> http://lists.wordpress.org/mailman/listinfo/theme-reviewers
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> theme-reviewers mailing list
> theme-reviewers at lists.wordpress.org
> http://lists.wordpress.org/mailman/listinfo/theme-reviewers

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.wordpress.org/pipermail/theme-reviewers/attachments/20120809/6058bbe7/attachment-0001.htm>