It has recently come to our attention that many Themes are using some…aggressive promotion techniques from within the WP-Admin:
- Embedding videos and external IFrame content
- Redirecting to a Theme Info page on activation
- Promoting the Theme (or an upsell commercial version of the Theme) via Admin Notices
- Etc.
This sort of promotion is not appropriate. Adding a Theme info page is fine. Adding a Theme info page that promotes other of the developer’s Themes is fine. But redirecting to either of those pages on Theme activation is not. Adding an admin notice generated by the TGM Plugin Activation library, to notify users of companion Plugins that can enhance the Theme experience, is fine. Adding an admin notice to promote a commercial version of the Theme, or other Themes, is not.
Embedded or external content of any kind is strictly prohibited, due to potential security vulnerability and user bandwidth issues. Linking to those resources at ThemeURI from a Theme info or settings page is fine.
Please discuss in the comments, as it has just been pointed out to us that these issues impact a number of highly visible Themes. We need to ensure that we correct these ASAP, and ensure that we are handling them consistently when reviewing Themes.