Supporting your template

So your template is finished, released and everyone seems to love it, is your work over yet?

Well that’s up to you. If you don’t feel like doing anything more then that’s okay, it’s your call but if you want to keep your template popular, and continue to support the community you should support your template. Supporting your template consists of:

• Keeping an eye on its release topic in phpbb.com’s Styles Announcements forum and answer any questions people might have. You should also visit the Styles Development forum on a regular basis to see if people need help with your template.
• Update your template when required. This usually happens when a new version of phpBB is released and changes are introduced to template files. This has tended to happen quite often recently so I recommend subscribing to the phpBB mailing list to stay updated. The updated files should be made available on your website and on phpBB.com but since validation seems to take weeks, I am seeing more and more template designers relying on their own website rather than phpBB.com.
• Offer a support forum for people. While this isn’t really necessary it is something people will appreciate and will bring you closer to your users. It’s also a great way to find people who may want to hire you to do web design.
• Support by email. This isn’t required either and I try to refer people to my forums. The advantage of having a forum is that people can post when they need and I can answer when it is convenient to me. Regardless of how you feel about it you should have an email address so that people can get in touch with you. If you don’t you may miss out on some great job offers!