What You are able to Do With WordPress: The GPL License Terms

ByThomas Shaw

WordPress has turn out to be an essential part of the internet and features a huge hand in contributing towards the internet neighborhood and encouraging and facilitating new websites. Even so, WordPress is surrounded by some prevalent misconceptions about what is permitted and what’s not permitted below the GPL License, beneath which WordPress is distributed for free. This article aids you to know some crucial elements of what you could legally do with WordPress beneath the GPL License, thereby enabling the free flow of details in letter and in spirit. Get a lot more data about WordPress theme GPL license

Replace the WordPress Logo around the login page

Lots of compact businesses and website owners like to customize their login page to reflect their own branding and logo so that it offers a much more specialist look to their subscribers, contributors and visitors. Lots of people are typically scared to replace the logo, fearing that they may be violating the terms of your GPL License. WordPress in the Codex section of its website, itself states how you can customize the login web page and replace the WordPress logo together with your personal. Even the GPL License terms usually do not restrict the replacement on the logo. Having said that, in the event you alter or modify the WordPress logo (The popular “W”), then you definitely maybe violating the copyrights of the owners.

Eliminate the “Powered by WordPress” link inside the footer

Business websites would like to look a growing number of qualified and shed the inform tale signs indicating that they are using an open supply software like WordPress. While WordPress is used by numerous Fortune 500 companies globally, you may still need to remove the “Powered by WordPress” or “Proudly Powered By WordPress” text which appears in the footer with the design theme. For anyone who is asking yourself whether you are able to safely take away the “powered by” text with no violating the GPL terms, you can find your answer in the footer.php file within your Default Theme directory. The footer.php file states that:

“If you’d prefer to support WordPress, obtaining the “powered by” hyperlink someplace in your blog will be the most effective way; it really is our only promotion or advertising.”

This indicates that there is no compulsion for you to place the “powered by” footer and are free to get rid of it should you don’t want it. Having said that, it could be a very good gesture to leave it there or give some credit to WordPress for facilitating your website.

Modify WordPress and redistribute the new software

The whole crux of open source software is the fact that not simply will be the source code not hidden and publicly obtainable but you can also freely distribute the modified software in addition to the identical license. This implies that you can charge a charge for the modifications that you just created to WordPress, but you can not charge for the core WordPress software as it is. This is an important advantage for programmers and software developers who need to use WordPress’ core functionality in their own software.

WordPress is limited for your imagination. It can be actually a free software, which has performed substantially superior for the internet community around the entire. Turn out to be a part of this developing community of WordPress customers by beginning your individual WordPress website.