Etiquette for reusing elements of a web page?

Question

I was a little surprised that I couldn't find this question on SO:

What ethical/legal principles should I consider if I want to incorporate elements of someone else's website into my own?

In other words: the web is a fairly open environment, in the sense that the dominant _lingua franca_s - HTML, CSS, and Javascript - are distributed in source form. If you see something cool on a website, you can, in principle, look at the source and copy and paste the bits you like. In fact, I seem to remember reading somewhere that HTML was designed this way intentionally, to foster innovation in page design. But on the other hand, someone put in the hard work of designing that website and translating the design into markup/stylesheets/scripts. It's just common decency to give people credit when you reuse significant portions of their work, and besides, perhaps the page author holds a copyright on the page source (I don't know exactly how copyright protection applies here; I'm not a lawyer). So how do you balance the ease of using parts of other people's web pages with the rights of the page author?

The (main) reason I ask is that I was recently advising an acquaintance whose company wanted to redesign their website. They were very impressed with the home page of the MIT Department of Architecture and wanted to do something similar. I suggested that my acquaintance contact MIT and ask whether they would object to his company using the same look and feel as the Dept. of Architecture; however, after a couple of weeks he got no response. So now I'm wondering, is it ethical and/or legal for his company to just go ahead and take the design elements they want from the MIT site? Or should they stay away from copying/imitating it without explicit permission? Or would it have been okay from the beginning - was it unnecessary to try contacting MIT first? The answer will also have implications for how I design my own website, so I'm interested to find out what the SO community has to say.

Answer 1

Ask them first. It's only polite.

Answer 2

1. I would look at the terms of the website and see if there are applicable licenses
2. I ask that person for permission
3. I would consult a lawyer and talk with him or her about fair use, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use depending on what you are using

Answer 3

Personally if i find something cool on a website, I try to refrain from looking at the source code. I used to look, but found that more often than not its actually easier and more fun figuring out how to do it myself rather than copying someone elses (coding) style.

My usual unofficial rules of conduct with that kind of stuff is, if its something small like a nice finishing touch (perhaps achievable in 1 or 2 lines of code), then i figure out how to do it my own way and usually how to improve it as well - without asking. However if its a bigger component or part thereof, I usually try to find info on a) whether its publicly available already (eg. a jquery plugin or an article somewhere) and b) who the developers are and what the terms of the site are so I can ask if (a) is a no go.

Remember design elements in particular are finite in quantity. As in theres only a limited number of layouts out there (2 col, 3 col, 3 col with fluid centre etc.). If you were to imitate a layout thats usually fine, but when you get into imitating or copying graphics I'd try to contact the owners and if that fails consult a lawyer.

Answer 4

My opinion, and my opinion alone, is that copying the look-and-feel of another site, even if you received permission or it was allowed by the site's license, is unprofessional and a disservice to your client. Copying, however, is different from being-inspired-by, which introduces a gray area that you (and frankly many designers) struggle with.

I would suggest that you talk to your clients more to determine exactly what part of that site they like. Is is the imagery, the navigation, the simplicity, the complexity, the colors, the tone, etc. If they say "all of it" then press them to explain why they like each element. Ask the client if they could improve that site what would they change -- or ask what other site do they like, and perhaps incorporate a little from both of them.

But I would discourage pursuing permission. Unless the design is from a template, then I would suggest you respect the work that designer put into it and avoid finding your clients' website the focus of discussion on a site such as pirated-sites.com

Answer 5

Ok, do a site like it, but don't copy it. There's a huge difference, between, copying others jobs and starting your own. You can get inspiration from Nature, can't you? So you are copying? (ok, God gave as the permission :D)

Here's the solution

• Ask your client what they liked on the MIT site, they like it all? They should have liked some point, may be menu, JS effects...
• Suggest a redesign of the site, in a way that you implement what they want and you make your new unique redesign
• Try to improve previous featues on the site and make your client happy :D

Hope this help!