Before You Ship a Website Template, Check the Rights to Its Demo Images
Check demo image permissions before client handover: included files, allowed edits, attribution and an asset register for the finished website.
A purchased website template can be ready to install without every photograph in its demo being ready to publish. Before handing it to a client, separate the template license from the permissions for the images, icons, fonts and other files used to demonstrate it. Check the actual download and its terms rather than treating a polished preview as a list of included rights.
Start with the files that will actually ship
Open the delivery folder and the finished pages side by side. For each visible asset, record its filename, source, creator or rights holder, license version and intended use. Include remotely loaded images: a file can appear in the design without being in the archive. If the page uses a demo image that is absent from the download, ask whether it is preview-only before copying it from the demo server.
The useful question is specific: “Can this client publish this image on this commercial website, and can we crop it for mobile?” A general statement that a template permits commercial projects may not answer whether separately licensed assets can be reused or handed over as editable source files.
Give each asset a decision, not just a source URL
- Ready for the stated use: retain the terms, any required credit, and a record of the approved modifications.
- Permission needs clarification: identify the exact gap, such as client transfer, advertising use, distribution of source files or the right to alter the image.
- Replace before publication: use this when the source cannot be traced or the intended use is outside the permission available.
These are workflow labels, not legal conclusions. Keep the underlying permission with the decision so that another editor can check it. A receipt shows a purchase; it does not by itself describe every use allowed under the license.
Read the conditions behind “free to use”
For a concrete example, the Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 deed permits sharing and adaptation, including commercially, but requires appropriate credit, a license link and an indication of changes. Credit must not imply the creator endorses the project. The deed also notes that other rights, such as privacy or publicity rights, can affect a particular use. This example applies to material genuinely offered under that license, not to every file carrying a “free” label.
For a client-supplied photograph or technical diagram, trace permission back to someone able to grant it. Guangsuan's guide to checking third-party image permission, in Chinese, provides a practical request outline covering publishing channels, edits and credit. That is particularly useful when a supplier emails an image but says nothing about reuse on a public website.
Check the change as well as the original
Imagine a template demo contains a photograph of equipment with a model label. The client wants a tighter crop beside a different product. Even if cropping is permitted, the new placement can misrepresent what is shown. Keep the original, note the crop, and have the client confirm that the image still describes the product accurately. Do not remove a credit or an important qualification merely to fit the layout.
Similarly, a font license, a photo license and the template license may have different conditions. Do not infer permission for one file from the terms attached to another. When the planned use changes from a website to a paid advertisement, return to the recorded scope rather than assuming the earlier decision covers the new channel.
Hand over a small asset register
Deliver the approved files with a register containing the page location, source, license or permission record, required credit, modifications and any review date or usage limit specified by the terms. Store private correspondence in the controlled project folder; publish only the attribution that belongs on the page. Mark unresolved assets as replacements required, and agree who owns that task before launch.
The handover is complete when the next editor can identify what may stay, what may change and what needs fresh permission. That makes a later redesign much easier than reconstructing the rights history from a folder called “final-images”.