copying website layout

jobless

hi,

i was just wondering.....if i'm creating a new website and decide to copy and existing website(saving it from the web) to use its layout and change a few small things on it to create my own....is there any way i can get into trouble legally?.....as im more or less copying someone elses ideas?

damnyanks

Its a copyright infringment.

If you change it around enough so it doesnt resemble the original I suppose you could get away with it. But in that case you may as well make your own design. People would also notice that your site looks like someone elses and think your a poop head

pork99

:eek: !!!!

You don't even need to know HTML. All you need is a copy of Dreamweaver or GoLive. Then copy it visually. It can look like the website you like but it will be "your" code. A lot of websites look alike anyway. But DO NOT use any gifs, jpegs or similiar from that site.

You can even use Frontpage or Word and save as HTML - though the code those options produce is pure sh|te.

If I was teaching web design I would make students work in Notepad or SimpleText for (X)HTML & CSS. Thats how you learn.

Karoma

1: no wonder you're "jobless"
2. It's intellectual property theft..shame!
3. most sites start off as a previous project (done by same designer) or from somebody elses.
4. why do you ask? hmmm!




as for:

Originally posted by pork99
If I was teaching web design I would make students work in Notepad or SimpleText for (X)HTML & CSS. Thats how you learn.

i'd be much nicer- TextPad (+syntax hilighting). ya big meany!:p

JustHalf

Originally posted by Karoma
i'd be much nicer- TextPad (+syntax hilighting). ya big meany!:p

That's not mean. MS Word with the vi keybindings macro. That's mean.

whiteshadow

ahhh imitation is the highest form of flattery...
think of it as inspiration rather than theft.

The Corinthian

I doubt anyone would sue him - he's unlikely to have any money and would just go bankrupt leaving the plaintiff with a big legal bill.

But what would probably occur is that the word would be passed around and he would end up blacklisted, so remaining jobless. Word of mouth references like that happen fairly often in Ireland.

GoneShootin

or just spend €60 and buy a template ?

heres a template I bought and am currently playing with.

jobless

well, i'm only really stealing the banner header(buttons) etc....i'm also borrowing other ideas from other websites.....

If i rename all images, css components etc then there's no possible way i can be caught...or is there?

GoneShootin

Course there is, cos we all know about your intentions and will dob you in to make a quick buck of appreciation from the source site

HAH !

pork99

Originally posted by jobless
well, i'm only really stealing the banner header(buttons) etc....i'm also borrowing other ideas from other websites.....

If i rename all images, css components etc then there's no possible way i can be caught...or is there?

ahh no!:eek:

It's really not that hard to do your own. Taking someone elses gif & jpeg files like that is actually quite unethical. If someone did it to me I would be fairly p|ssed (in the Yank sense of the word)

Back in the bad old days you used to have to have button gifs in a table to make your navigation. Nowadays you can achieve most effects with CSS

whiteshadow

i agree... it's very easy to do this and the thing called the hypernet is full of easy to learn tutorials...

regarding navigation try:
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/taminglists/

Karoma

Originally posted by JustHalf
That's not mean. MS Word with the vi keybindings macro. That's mean.

that's more evil than mean.

p

Originally posted by pork99
You don't even need to know HTML. All you need is a copy of Dreamweaver or GoLive. Then copy it visually. It can look like the website you like but it will be "your" code. A lot of websites look alike anyway. But DO NOT use any gifs, jpegs or similiar from that site.

Copying the visual design is as illegal as copying the code.

If I was teaching web design I would make students work in Notepad or SimpleText for (X)HTML & CSS. Thats how you learn.

If you were doing that, then you probably wouldn't be teaching web design at all. Rather you're be teaching them web page building, which is entirely different.


To the original poster, have some ethics. If you can't design, then don't pretend to be a designer, outsource, or buy a template.

pork99

Originally posted by p

Copying the visual design is as illegal as copying the code.

I did not mean literally copy pixel by pixel so it looks precisely the same that's obviously not on. I would hate to think you believe I'm advocating that. But you can be influenced by other designs and there are only a few basic layouts which are used on almost all websites anyway e.g. header at top, vertical navigation on the left, content to the right of that. Being a bit conservative with layout is generally good for usability.

Also trying to replicate another website privately and by yourself without resorting to Ctrl+C & Ctrl+V is a good training exercise for a beginner. It might even give him/her the confidence to do their own original work. It becomes a problem if you expect to get paid for doing that of course.

If you were doing that, then you probably wouldn't be teaching web design at all. Rather you're be teaching them web page building, which is entirely different.

Ok web development then

Shrimp

Hey,

Just the other day i was sufin the web and came across a new site by ebay. They call it "Half.com", when i saw it i thought it had redirected me to Amazon.com...

Here have a look and tell me what you think:


"Amazon.com" : http://www.amazon.com

"Half.com" : http://half.ebay.com/index.jsp


It's just somthing to think about.

::: Y o u s s e f :::

pork99

Originally posted by Y o u s s e f
Hey,

Just the other day i was sufin the web and came across a new site by ebay. They call it "Half.com", when i saw it i thought it had redirected me to Amazon.com...


::: Y o u s s e f :::

Perfect example of what I was talking about

There's a "DNA base" of maybe 5 or 6 basic layouts if even that many. Those two sites are very similiar but different enough not to cause copyright issues.

(or maybe they have a bit of a copyright ding-dong going on and I haven't heard of it? )

Shrimp

Hi,

Is there such thing as copyright on web-site layout?? I new this applied for logos and such...but the layout, thats new to me. Can you enlighten me on this fact?

Thanks,

p

Originally posted by pork99
I did not mean literally copy pixel by pixel ...

Cool, sorry for the confusion!

Ok web development then

Hehe, It's a niggly point with me, all these web design courses out there that are realy just crash courses in Dreamweaver. I'm sure you understand.

p

Originally posted by Y o u s s e f
Is there such thing as copyright on web-site layout?? I new this applied for logos and such...but the layout, thats new to me. Can you enlighten me on this fact?


There is indeed. Copyright is granted to the creator of a piece of work at the time of creation. So that includes website graphics and design as much as it covers novels.

Shrimp

Thank you for filling me in as i am a "budding" web-designer. and would not wqant to get in any trouble over somthing like that

p

No problem.

All the best!