Publishing a theme or design as a partner
This page is for designers and front-end developers at partner companies. In Exponential a theme or design is shipped as an extension that contains a design directory (templates, stylesheets, images) and its settings, so the release steps of Publishing an extension as a partner apply. This page adds what is special about designs.
Before you package it
- To do: Remove the customer's brand: logo, colors, fonts, images, texts.
- To do: Replace them with neutral defaults that are easy to change in settings or stylesheets.
- To do: Get written permission if the design was paid customer work.
Design quality checklist
- To do: Works with the content model it expects, and degrades gracefully when fields are empty
- To do: Works with long titles and other languages; right to left tested if you claim support (Languages)
- To do: Keyboard navigation and visible focus; text contrast at least 4.5:1
- To do: Responsive from phone width up; no horizontal scrolling
- To do: Works with the layouts editor's blocks if it targets layouts (The layouts editor)
- To do: If it touches the administration: follows
doc/eng-us/bc/6.0/admin4-styling.md(no inline CSS, tokens with dark values)
Assets and their licenses
Every file in a theme has a license. List them in the README:
| Asset | Check |
|---|---|
| Fonts | The font license allows redistribution |
| Icons | The icon set's license allows redistribution |
| Images | Your own, or a license that allows redistribution; no stock photos you may only use on one site |
| Third-party CSS/JS | License compatible with your theme's license |
Screenshots and demo
- Two or three screenshots with neutral demo content, light and dark if supported.
- A demo installation only if you can keep it current.
Release and maintenance
- Version and release as for any extension (Extensions, "Release it").
- Re-test after each Exponential release, especially template and layout changes.
- Keep a changelog designers can follow.
In the program
A published design is evidence for the Design profile certification and can be the basis of a tutorial or case study (Certifications, Earning points through community work).
Related pages
- Creative partners
- Extension and theme partners
- Publishing an extension as a partner
- Free documentation: this page is free to copy, translate and improve under the GNU FDL 1.3.