The soft-rejection system was built for otherwise great files with minor issues preventing them from being accepted. For example, a file that would normally have been accepted, but the preview.swf was named incorrectly may be soft-rejected. In cases like this, the author would just need to fix the minor issue rather than re-uploading everything from scratch.

If your item has been soft-rejected, you’ll receive an email letting you know. Follow these steps to get your soft-rejected file re-reviewed.

1. Follow the link found in the email.
2. Click the edit button. The edit page is split up into two parts, “Update Description” and “Update Item and Tags.”
   
3. Make the changes outlined in the email.
   1. If you change anything under “Update Description” like the description, published size, or resolution, be sure to click and return to the edit tab to complete the final steps.
      Note: Just clicking will not put your item in the soft-rejection queue!
   2. Under “Update Item and Tags,” re-upload anything you’ve changed. Be sure to re-upload the preview, whether it changed or not.
4. In the notes to the reviewer, outline the changes you’ve made.
5. Click .

Once you’ve completed these steps, your file will enter the soft-rejection queue, which moves along more quickly than the normal queue.

Documentation

Every template on ThemeForest must include documentation to make the installation process as simple as possible for the purchaser. While you don’t have to teach the reader how to code, you should absolutely discuss any unique aspects of your template, which require further explanation.

We encourage you to use the documentation template, found here.

Typography

• Line-Height

  Generally, a line-height of 1.3-1.6em (depending on font size and usage) is most appropriate. While this isn’t set in stone, make sure that you have a specific reason to choose beyond this range. A great resource on this can be found here.

• Visual Hierarchy

  We recommend that designers research this topic and spend time refining your skills in this area. It will dramatically help your template aesthetics.

• Text Alignment

  Though we don’t generally reject templates specifically for text alignment, if it seriously contributes to poor aesthetics, we will. Justified alignment on the web should be used appropriately, though it’s unfortunately often misused.

Validation

There is no reason your template should have unnecessary validation errors, unless you happen to be working within the confines of a particular CMS or framework which limits your control over the code output. HTML5 and CSS3 “errors” will not count against your template, so feel free to progressively enhance as much as you wish! With all that said, ALWAYS validate before submitting.

Lacking Code Quality

• Poor List Mark-up

  A list of links should be written with the link elements, not a series of anchor tags. This is called semantics, and is essential to your upload. A general rule of thumb is: if you would describe a particular section of your mark-up as a list of links, images, advertisements, etc., then you should appropriately use a “ul,” “ol,” or “dl.”

• List Separators

  Do not separate links with the ”|” character. This is bad form, and should instead be accomplished with CSS.

• Browser Testing

  Have you tested your design in IE6 (optional), IE7, IE8, Firefox, Safari, Chrome, and Opera? While we do allow for alternative displays for older browsers — think simplified layout for IE6 users — your design must not break in any of these. If they do, your item will be rejected, with a request from the reviewer to make the necessary updates.

Category-Specific

• WordPress

  You must include the WordPress GPL license within your “main files” zip file. Please refer to our original blog posting for more information.

Kailoon

• Reviews: WordPress, PSD
• Marketplace Member Since: August, 2008

Hi, I am Kailoon. I am a full-time freelancer, and recently setup my own company – Loondesign Studio. You can check out my online portfolio on my personal blog/portfolio. To learn more about my relationship with Envato, you can refer here.

I’ve worked almost twenty hours every day in the last two years, which lad to an unbalance lifestyle. Now, I try to balance my life with family gatherings, and outdoor sports, such as basketball and Futsal.

Jarel Remick

• Reviews: Site Templates
• Marketplace Member Since: October, 2008
• Also Manages: WebAppStorm

Hi everyone, I’m Jarel Remick. Along with the work I do for various Envato sites, I occasionally pick up freelance projects of assorted types related to design and/or web development. Though you would typically find an online portfolio for someone in my line of work, mine is currently unavailable while I take my time redesigning it. Although, I may end up redesigning it 10+ times before I’m actually happy with it! :)

I’ve been a member of ThemeForest since October, 2008 and became ThemeForest’s primary Site Templates reviewer a few months following. I occasionally assist with other categories and provide additional feedback on other types of items. You’ll also likely see me perusing the community forums, primarily ThemeForest’s. When reviewer feedback is requested in the forums, I do my best to respond as quickly as possible — though it’s always best, and most encouraged, to submit a support ticket for private and direct feedback.

Aside from work, I try to balance life with outdoor excursions such as hiking, camping or exploring the fascinating city of Las Vegas, Nevada — my current home. Photography is my newest hobby, though I’m still in very early learning stages. While developing my photography skills I collect and offer some of my photos as free assets for marketplace authors to use if they wish; no attribution or permissions necessary. Only photos within my gallery’s Author Assets category are restriction free for all Envato authors. All other photos are not to be used without my explicit permission.

Siddharth

• Reviews: Magento
• Marketplace Member Since: January, 2010

Hello, I’m Siddharth. I like to introduce myself as “the web guy” to people because I primarily work with web technologies. I am a regular author on Nettuts+, and run a small consultancy called Bodhi Labs. You can find my site/portfolio here. I generally tend to dabble in prototyping user interfaces, front end development and integrating/optimizing prebuilt solutions like WordPress, Magento and Expression Engine.

My hobbies include Chess, minimal weight training, video games and medium length jogs. I really love The Big Bang Theory, House and Chuck amongst the current shows with Frasier being my all time favorite.

PS – I wasn’t kidding about the web guy part. You can find photographs of my business cards here!

• DO use absolute urls for your images in your live preview. This will assist us in the review process.
• DO test your email using a web app like litmusapp.com before submitting.
• DO NOT place your stylings within an external stylesheet, or within the head tag of your document.
• DO use tables for the layout of your design.
• DO NOT use CSS properties that some email clients don’t understand: like background-image
• DO review Campaign Monitor’s Guideline, and ensure that you aren’t breaking any rules.
• DO provide as much value for the buyer as possible. This may come in the form of additional column structures, and multiple color schemes.

1. Ensure You Are Using Acceptable Images/Code/Extras
   Many templates and themes make use of images, video, code snippets and so on. These are allowable if and only if they have a license that allows their use in an item for resale and redistribution. It is up to you to check that they are cleared for use. If necessary you should contact the author/photographer/creator of the item and ask them.

   When you upload the item, there is a field titled “Comments for Reviewer”. Please list any external assets you’ve used and where you have gotten each one.

   As an example, images from the stock photography site iStockPhoto are generally not usable in templates unless you have purchased an extended license for the item. In this instance you would report the extended license details in the comments section.

   Please be careful with your use of external assets as misuse can result in your items being removed, your account being closed and potentially legal action being taken against you.

2. What We Will Be Looking For
   1. Does the email template display consistently across a variety of email clients? We will verify this.
   2. Are you adhering to email design standards? (Using tables, inline CSS, etc.)
   3. Will your template appeal to a variety of business?
   4. Is the template too “heavy?” Has the author used too many images, to the point that the email size is too large?
3. Create the Final Download File
   You should create a single ZIP file that contains the final template for download, any documentation and any auxiliary files such as Photoshop PSDs or extra images. This is the file that a user will get when they buy your item. Make it as complete as possible.

   All Files Must Contain a Help File: All items sold on ThemeForest must contain documentation explaining how to customize, install and use the item.

4. Create your Screenshots ZIP
   For each item you must include a ZIP file of screenshots depicting the template, for use as a preview of the file before download. Screenshots should be JPGs, should be no larger than 1200px in width, but can be any height. You can have up to 10 screenshots of the item, and each screenshot may have a description attached. Here’s how you set up the file:
   1. Name each screenshot in sequence as number_Title.jpg. E.g. 1_Homepage.jpg, 2_Generalpage.jpg.
   2. Create a .TXT file containing a few lines of descriptive text, with the same name as the screenshot. E.g. 1_Homepage.txt, 2_Generalpage.txt.
   3. ZIP up the JPGs and TXTs together into a single ZIP file.
5. Create your Live Preview Template
   Note live previews are not online at the time of launch. However you Must include this file so that your item will have a live preview in the future.

   Your live preview template is a working HTML/CSS/JS example of the file. It should be a ZIP file containing:

   1. All files necessary to preview the template including images, javascript and HTML.
   2. HTML files should be named in order that you wish them presented – E.g. 1.html, 2.html, 3.html etc.

   Item Security

   ThemeForest will take measures to help secure your templates by running an HTML obfuscation and minimalization process over the code. In addition, it is recommended that you watermark the images in your live preview template. Unfortunately no live preview can be totally secure, and it is a trade off. In the long run, live previews will sell more files than they lose. If you’d like to discuss this issue, please Contact Support.

6. Create a JPEG Thumbnail
   Finally create an 80px x 80px JPG thumbnail for your file. The thumbnail should represent your item in some way.
7. Upload your files to ThemeForest!

The information presented below is provided to assist you understand our licensing regime and the ways in which you may use the products which are available for sale on ThemeForest. This information does not form part of the license terms. In the event there is any inconsistency between the license terms and the following information then the license terms will prevail and will be what regulates your use of the product you buy.

Important Note: Not all uses for items are listed below. If your intended use does not match any of the examples below, please refer to the license terms.

Important Note: Each item within a pack is considered to have its own license. For example, someone could purchase a pack of 10 themes and use each theme in a different project, as long as each individual theme is used in one project only.

Site Templates

Regular License Examples
The Regular License could be used for any of the following:

1. Single website (commercial, personal, or non-profit).
2. Single website for a client (commercial, personal, or non-profit).
3. Single intranet site project.

Extended License Examples
The Extended License could be used for any of the following:

1. Template for a web service such as WPMU.
2. Part of a software package for sale.

How much does the Extended License cost for Site Templates?
The Extended license costs 50 times the cost of the Regular license of the item. For example, a site template that’s $10 under a Regular license, would be $500 (50 x $10) under an Extended license.

Important Notes
Site Templates purchased under a regular or extended license may NOT be used within other Envato marketplace items.

Items purchased under a regular or extended license may NOT be redistributed or resold “as-is” or as part of any other collection of image resources or files.

WordPress

Regular License Examples
The Regular License could be used for any of the following:

1. Single website (commercial, personal, or non-profit).
2. Single website for a client (commercial, personal, or non-profit).
3. Single intranet site project.

Extended License Examples
The Extended License could be used for any of the following:

1. Template for a web service such as WPMU.
2. Part of a software package for sale.

How much does the Extended License cost for WordPress themes?
The Extended license costs 50 times the cost of the Regular license of the item. For example, a WordPress theme that’s $10 under a Regular license, would be $500 (50 x $10) under an Extended license.

Important Notes
WordPress items purchased under a regular or extended license may NOT be used within other Envato marketplace items.

Items purchased under a regular or extended license may NOT be redistributed or resold “as-is” or as part of any other collection of image resources or files.

PSD Templates

Regular License Examples
The Regular License could be used for any of the following:

1. Single website (commercial, personal, or non-profit).
2. Single website for a client (commercial, personal, or non-profit).
3. Single intranet site project.

Extended License Examples
The Extended License could be used for any of the following:

1. Template for a web service such as WPMU.
2. Part of a software package for sale.

How much does the Extended License cost for PSD Templates?
The Extended license costs 50 times the cost of the Regular license of the item. For example, a PSD template that’s $10 under a Regular license, would be $500 (50 x $10) under an Extended license.

Important Notes
PSD Templates purchased under a regular or extended license may NOT be used within other Envato marketplace items.

Items purchased under a regular or extended license may NOT be redistributed or resold “as-is” or as part of any other collection of image resources or files.

Joomla

Regular License Examples
The Regular License could be used for any of the following:

1. Single website (commercial, personal, or non-profit).
2. Single website for a client (commercial, personal, or non-profit).
3. Single intranet site project.

Extended License Examples
The Extended License could be used for any of the following:

1. Template for a web service such as WPMU.
2. Part of a software package for sale.

How much does the Extended License cost for Joomla Themes?
The Extended license costs 50 times the cost of the Regular license of the item. For example, a Joomla theme that’s $10 under a Regular license, would be $500 (50 x $10) under an Extended license.

Important Notes
Joomla items purchased under a regular or extended license may NOT be used within other Envato marketplace items.

Items purchased under a regular or extended license may NOT be redistributed or resold “as-is” or as part of any other collection of image resources or files.

Miscellaneous

Regular License Examples
The Regular License could be used for any of the following:

1. Single website (commercial, personal, or non-profit).
2. Single website for a client (commercial, personal, or non-profit).
3. Single intranet site project.

Extended License Examples
The Extended License could be used for any of the following:

1. Template for a web service such as WPMU.
2. Part of a software package for sale.

How much does the Extended License cost for Miscellaneous Items?
The Extended license costs 50 times the cost of the Regular license of the item. For example, a miscellaneous item that’s $10 under a Regular license, would be $500 (50 x $10) under an Extended license.

Important Notes
Miscellaneous items purchased under a regular or extended license may NOT be used within other Envato marketplace items.

Items purchased under a regular or extended license may NOT be redistributed or resold “as-is” or as part of any other collection of image resources or files.

Email Templates

Regular License Examples
The Regular License could be used for the following:

1. Single email newsletter or newsletter series (commercial, personal, or non-profit).
2. Email blast or series for a client.
3. Single intranet project.

Extended License Examples
The Extended License could be used for any of the following:

1. Email template to be edited and sold to multiple customers.
2. Part of a software package for sale.

How much does the Extended License cost for Email Templates?
The Extended license costs 50 times the cost of the Regular license of the item. For example, an Email Template that’s $10 under a Regular license, would be $500 (50 x $10) under an Extended license.

Important Notes
Email Templates purchased under an extended license may NOT be used within website templates for sale on ThemeForest or ActiveDen.

Items purchased under a regular or extended license may NOT be redistributed or resold “as-is” or as part of any other collection of image resources or files.