Benevolent Dictator is an open source HTML theme/template for building web
applications.

The name comes from a term that's been applied to open source projects like
Linux where one person is ostensibly the "dictator", but because the project
is open source, and can be forked, that dictatorship only works when it's
in the best interest of the project. Since this theme is an open source "admin"
template, I thought the name fit.

I'm starting this project because I do corporate ASP.NET work. In the course
of normal activities, I often need to build intranet and other "back office"
web applications, but don't have the time/resources to do a dedicated design.
At the same time, the impressions of these applications is directly affected
by how they look. So, having a reasonably attractive template is really useful.

There are plenty of sites offering free CSS-based templates that are really
worth looking at. The problem with them is that 80% are for blog sites and
most of the rest are for corporate "home pages".

A while back, the site ThemeForest (http://themeforest.net/) discovered how
much pent-up demand there is for web application templates when that category
proved to be their most popular, shortly after launching.

I played a part in that popularity, having bought 10+ of those admin themes over
the last 6 months or so. Unfortunately, while I liked the way they look, when
I sat down to turn the HTML into my applications: whether they be ASP.NET MVC,
PHP or Rails, that pleasant feeling I had when buying them went away.

In every case, the HTML and CSS were structured so that breaking the visual
elements into the kinds of components that work in application frameworks
or CMS engines was painful. For instance, if you were generating the menu
from a data object, it was difficult to just foreach your way to generating
the HTML. The same is true of augmenting or tweaking the layouts.

In short, actually *using* those themes for real world applications got really
hairy, really quickly. So, I'm hoping to build one that addresses these problems.

If you'd like to help out, just say so.

J Wynia
@jwynia
j@wynia.org
http://wynia.org

======================
Design Goals
======================

1. Modular HTML that is easily generated via server-side code/templates.
2. Easily skinnable for colors and logos.
3. Includes all common elements used in web applications, especially forms and
   tables for data grids.
4. Makes optimum use of horizontal space, which is typically at a premium when
   displaying the kinds of data in line of business applications.
5. Makes pieces interchangable so that the gadgets and components that make
   sense for your application can be used and the rest tossed.
6. Aesthetically pleasing, particularly in "modern" web browsers.
7. Acceptible aesthetics in Internet Explorer.

======================
License
======================

This theme is licensed under your choice of license. I am doing this because HTML/CSS/Javascript et al
are slightly ambiguous for whether "content" licenses or "software" licenses apply. Choose whichever
suits your project better.

Benevolent Dictator is licensed under either: 

Creative Commons Attribution - see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ for terms

OR

The following "software-oriented" license:

Copyright (c) 2010, J Wynia
All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

    * Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
    * Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
    * Neither the name of the J Wynia nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.