RE: FN-FORUM: I've just been ripped. :(

date posted 6th March 2008 12:33

Sam Morgan wrote:
> I've just had my first website design ripped :). You all know our site
> www.servwise.com and this is their site www[dot]ufhosting[dot]org. =
looks
> very similar, they have ripped the icons at the top and the general =
layout
> but re-created the heading bg images and the code has gone from being =
nice
> DIV/CSS based to nasty tables. Very bizarre.

space&time wrote:
> I'm not sure where you stand in regards to the icons and such, i've =
seen=20
> these a thousand times on iStock and this is one of the problems when =
you=20
> can buy something that the next company can also buy.


The site coding is poor, the "XHTML" label is criminal and they look =
like a
cowboy company .. but I'm not convinced this is an actionable rip-off.=20

a) You've apparently used stock icons, so there is nothing to stand on =
with
regards to those.

b) They haven't simply taken your code and stuck a different name on it
(which would be *really* cheeky); instead they've simply pinched some of =
the
graphics (unless the design is based on a template too?) and used them =
in a
similar but far from identical design.

c) There are significant design variations: drop shadows within the =
tiles,
difference in tile spacing, different bullet icons, very different
(inferior) 'content' tile design, different content, etc.


I've seen far more blatant examples of design "copy & pasting" that this
(e.g., that experienced by the French (?) gentleman on this list, with =
the
very distinctive flame-meets-ice design). I'd suggest ignoring it on the
basis of the points above.=20

Stealing a site wholesale and rebadging it is one thing, but I'd say
borrowing ideas from other sites is all part of the game (if showing a =
lack
of creativity and professional courtesy). Most of us have at some point
gratefully learnt from "View Source" when seeing (e.g.) an interesting =
DHTML
effect for the first time.

Cheers, Ben

--
Ben Johnson, Neogic Web Solutions
// design . development . managed hosting

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