Obox copies Svbtle

While it is very similar, and there are glaring thefts such as the style of the buttons, it does have several important changes. Color is used extensively, when it is totally absent in Svbtle - a change I greatly appreciate, as Svbtle has very ambiguous visual hierarchy between the two columns - it's not terribly clear which one is the content, and the fixed chrome around a tiny content column is distracting. The combination of the color and typography changes draws your eye towards the content. The content column is more prominent for several reasons - it is the brightest spot on the page, the headline has the best size and contrast on the page (black on white stands out much better than white on blue), and the contrast between header and body is much more pronounced, due to a larger size headline with all-caps and a thicker font than Svbtle. The larger font size and more generous line height on the body makes it much more readable, and the reversed color scheme in blockquotes, while I'm not entirely sure is an improvement, is certainly a significant improvement. Also, Principles is responsive at any resolution, while Svbtle is broken on the reading screen from 1024px down to 640px, and is unreadable from approx. 850px to 640px. (This would be due to the fact that it uses resolution breakpoints designed around specific common device widths, instead of sensibly placing them to fix the layout when it needs to be, as good responsive designs do).

It also includes some backend stuff that allows for customizations that Svbtle obviously does not.

So, while it is heavily derivative, and in some cases (the buttons) does rip off Svbtle, it's hardly a copy-paste bootleg. If it was, no one would buy it - the free wp-svbtle theme already does that.

Things that actually are problematic about the theme: - Change the buttons. Seriously. I don't even like the Svbtle buttons, with their absurd pill shape. This applies to the fields in the comment form as well. - Move the written-by tagline below the headline. It makes it much clearer what the tagline refers to, and allows the post header and site header to line up, which would look much better. I didn't like its placement in Svbtle, and I don't like it here. - The drop-down menus (another addition that doesn't come from Svbtle) look really odd because of the reversed color scheme, the space between the menu and the buttons, and the inconsistent border-radius between the top-level button and the drop-down menu.

In summary, Svbtle does not and should not have a monopoly on a two-column layout with a fixed left column and the basics of good typography implemented. Being minimalist is a style in and of itself, and this theme has significant differences. If it wasn't Hacker News' darling Svbtle, no one would be complaining - no one complains about the numerous WordPress themes based on Tumblr.

Maybe Dustin should have got a design patent. ;P

I read someone arguing that what Obox has done is much better than what WP-SVBTLE (a free Wordpress theme) did, because at least Obox made some minor changes and didn't use the same name. To me, those reasons are what's _wrong_ with what Obox has done, along with adding money into the mix..

Copying somebody's design for personal use is one thing, but selling it for profit is quite another.

The 'Purchase Principles' CTA at the bottom is ... ironic? I think this counts as irony: a bootlegged design soliciting users with a phrase synonymous with 'Buy Scruples'.

To be fair, they changed the font.