I was just reading a review that said:
“So many webmaster/mistresses on the web are so afraid of having their code stolen. Does it really matter?” yes, I think it does matter. Particularly for people like myself who spend hours and hours perfecting cross-browser compatible layouts for the Internet. I don’t want my code stolen.
That prompted me to write this article.
I whole-heartedly support the idea of looking at someone else’s source to see how they did something. As long as you don’t reproduce my work exactly, I encourage you to look at my source, see my coding techniques, and figure out why I used a <div> there and a <span> there.
The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.
–Ecclesiastes 1:9 (KJV)
Well, there are no new things on the Internet, either. The HTML that I use to code this page is all open source stuff. It’s all standard, and it’s all public. The innovation of this site does not lie in the specific tags and attributes of my code, but in how I arrange those things. Therefore, look at my source to see how I did something, and then use that information to make your own innovations. Don’t copy my ideas verbatim, but instead learn from them and use your own ideas.
I got my start in web design by seeing something I liked in another person’s site and then trying to implement a similar thing on my own. I learned HTML by imitating the HTML of others; the same with CSS and PHP. Those first attempts at getting that weird <body> and </html> stuff to actually produce a web page are frustrating enough to a newbie without having the fear that someone is going to get pissed at them because they clicked View Source.
There are a ton of shitty sites out there. You might consider it an act of good will toward the web community at large in encouraging others to view your source and learn from it, if you’ve a good opinion of the code you write. Let all those sites with #00FF00 text on #FF00FF backgrounds take a look at your pretty CSS and see how an attractive site should look!
Another argument is that one learns how something is put together by taking it apart. If I save your page to my hard drive, open it up in an editor, and start removing pieces at random, I’m going to discover what makes each part of the page look the way it does. Your source proves a powerful learning tool for the inexperienced.
Another reason why someone might look at your source is because you, the coder, are an idiot. If you’ve got those annoying Javascript mouseovers that change my status bar text and I can’t tell what URL I’m going to go to if I click that link, then I’m likely to dig around in your source to figure out where the heck you’re trying to take me.
There is no reason to want others not to view your code. What, are you ashamed of it? No? Then show it off! Insist that every Tom, Dick and Sally take a gander at your madd cOdInG skylz! It isn’t the viewing of the code or even the taking of the code (this is starting to sound like some arcane bible…) that’s so frustrating to people who value their source, but the misuse of it. Don’t select a chunk of my page source, copy and paste it into your file, and upload that file claiming that that is your work. Don’t even slap it up there and acknowledge that you took it from me. If you’re going to go to the trouble to dig around in somebody else’s work, at least have the decency to personalize it. Make it look different, act different, be different from what I have already created. But certainly don’t hesitate before clicking that View Source option.
Excellent article. I know that I too learned through diffing through source. That is the easiest way to learn, which explains why I’m reading German pr0n right now :D
I have no objections to people looking at my coding. I don’t even have any objections to people taking SMALL chunks if it helps them complete an already semi-complete website. I do object to people taking every piece of coding and simply switching my content for theirs. Fortunately I am seeing less and less of this on the Internet at the moment. That must be a good thing.
It amuses me when people try to hide their source with loads of whitespace or stupid commented out ascii art. Although usually they are the ones with something to hide (i.e. crappy markup)
One thing that does bug me is tutorial sites that do something really basic, then insist you leave a comment in crediting them. Pssh!
(ps – any chance of making this comment box a bit bigger?)
“It amuses me when people try to hide their source” > Same here, especially when that crazy anti-right click script is used.
“any chance of making this comment box a bit bigger?” > Sure. I made it taller just now and am working on making it wider without messing up the columns here. :)
your site, i have learned html by looking to a website, but well it was mine, my ex offered me, so i didnt want to bother him all the time to update little things and i wanted to change and so i begun to take a look at the site and change here and there, then i made a version total changed, but people didnt think it was me.. and its frustrating making someone and no one believe so i made my personal site, it was just a blog back then, but it was only me and nobody touched that code before, then with the years passed, i just keep improving, sometimes looking at some sources, but i prefer to view tutorials, specially for css. But for people to view the source code is okay.. but it gets annoying even when they ask “hey how do you did that thing you have on your site” .. once in a while it starts to get really annoying, so.. sometimes it should be better if we could disable the code visualization, lol
But i liked the article, and both parts and right.
I have learned so much by looking at other people’s code and trying to impliment their ideas into my design but add my own twist. There are things designers do with code that I didn’t know was even possible until I took a peek at their CSS files and such.
Right now, I am trying to figure out the best way to design for IE based on screen resolution. I thought my IE CSS file was fine while viewing it on my laptop until I got a new desktop computer and found how bad the design looked with it’s monitor. Right now, after working with the code for hours yesterday, I am fed up with fixing the code. I am hoping to find a good tutorial or just come up with some design made especially for IE to solve all the hassel.
You do a great job with your design though, and I am sure that many people have learned new tricks by checking out your code.
I love the way the site looks, by the way. :)
Wonderful article. I don’t care if people look at my code- in fact, one of my friends often looks at my code to figure stuff out. If my code helps some newbie out there learn how to make awesome looking websites, then by all means look at it. I don’t mind if people use a small part of my coding, as long as they personalize it, and I can’t tell that it came from my site. Besides, it’s fun to show off your code anyway. :P
Thanks. :) it’s fun to show off your code: you ain’t lyin’!
I love you. I’m bookmarking this. I cannot express how annoying it is when people play the overprotective parent to their code. You learn by seeing what others have done. Not to mention the disable right click script is utterly useless.
I agree with the article. I don’t mind other people doing a “view source” for learning purposes. In fact, in my online course, I teach people how to write the exact code that I had used in creating my website http://myBlog.webmarksonline.com. And at the end of the course, the source code is downloadable, and I even grant students the use of this template website for their own use.
I totally agree with you all. Right clicking scripts are stupid; they can still copy paste your work anyway. However, I do admit that it drives me nuts to peek at heavily coded pages;finding the code you are looking for is excruciatingly hard, what w/ all the codey here and codey there…I prefer hand-coded pages.
I highly disagree. I learned from a book and websites that gave examples of how to do links, colors, backgrounds, pictures, ect. dont steal others code with out permission. unless its the main subject of the site.
This article is super old. But I have to freakin’ comment. There are TUTORIAL websites for people who want to learn.
People who go snooping around source codes are stealing not “learning”.
It’s sad people encourage leeching.
I don’t really see how snooping equates to stealing, Olivia? In fact, I’m looking at your source code as I type this (you could do with optimising it for more ‘semantically appropriate’ tags btw) ..does that make me a thief?
Great article. I know that I first learnt web design mostly by sneaking a peek at people’s source codes to see how they did something.
@Jem
I guess that what happens when you do a half-a** read. I now see the “at least have the decency to personalize it” bit.
If people do that it’s fine, because I obviously didn’t create transparencies or drop-down menus.
Still, I think most people wanting to “learn” view tutorials, and those wanting to leech view source codes.
I consider myself still a beginer in the world of programing, because there is a lot of stuff I do not know. However, I do know quiet a bit still. The way I first started to learn was by just looking at the source code for websites, trying to figure out how they did things, and then I started to look at tutorials, and now, I usually go for tutorials or help websites, so as I can get better.
Here not to long ago I knew a lot less then I do now, and it was remedied, by my friend and I working together to code. He taught me a lot about php, and I didn’t even know was possible. Pretty much what I am trying to get at, is that tutorial sites are great and all, but sometimes they just don’t have what you need, for what you want, and so you might want to look at the source code.
Great post though, I enjoyed reading this.
A friend of mine constantly steal each other’s code because we liked the outcome. That’s the way I learned how to do a lot of things in the beginning and then I actually started using tutorials.
I’d have to agree with Jem in that I’m fine with people stealing a small chunk of code if it gets them a desired result but I’m not okay with them stealing an entire design.
I have learned both from looking at source code and from reading tutorial sites and the like. The thing about source code is that you can see something in action. If you’re really new, tutorials only help you so much because they tend to show parts, not the sum of all parts.
I agree that HTML is public and you can’t really own it, thus it cannot be stolen. I do think it would be rude to copy and paste someone’s site, though. Like you said, personalize it.