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

date posted 6th March 2008 15:52

> -----Original Message-----
> Sam M - www.wiredeyes.com wrote:
> > Agreed though there isn't much I can do, they haven’t ripped
> the
> > site directly (apart from the icons) although they have for all
> > intensive purposes ripped the concept and layout, colouring, styles
> and
> > effects to make it a very close match.
>
> Um - I don't get it! Your design is loosely based on iStockPhoto
> imagery and the "techy" template from AWBS
(http://www.awbsdemo.com/index.php?td=techy,
> including colour scheme, tile gradient idea, etc). Nothing wrote with
> this in the slightest, but surely it negates your ability to complain
about
> someone basing their design on yours?!

Yes MY design is loosely based on a lot of things.

I use AWBS for the backend so in part it is based on that (It has to be) and
if you look closely there are still some left over heading graphics that are
very hard to get rid of (I'll get rid of them one day) on some pages but I
think if you check the code you'll see that it's at least 90% different code
wise.

MY design has a few Stock icons and photos on it, yes. I'm not an
illustrator or photographer so I rely on stock images for a lot of stuff as
I'm sure the majority of web designer / developers do.

MY colour scheme is actually based on a TemplateMonster (Sic) design I liked
the look of, I actually paid for the design and used a few images from it at
the beginning as I was trying to get something up quick however apart from
the monitor graphic it's been completely changed and I never used any of the
HTML (Who would).

The background of the form buttons and LH menu headings are actually taken
from the DotNetPanel control panel interface although the css code for the
rollovers is all mine.

YES I agree my site is an amalgamation of many sources and ideas as most
sites are, but all those ideas put together make it an original site and the
other guys site is just a pure rip off because he has taken all those same
idea's and created a site as similar as possible to mine, two people
independently wouldn’t have said so if it wasn't the case.

> Again - personally I think borrowing ideas from good existing works is
> all part of the design game and should be taken as a complement on your
> site design. That is the nature of fashion and trends in creative works
> (including music, art .. and site design!).

Borrowing an idea here and there and making them your own by using them in a
deferent way is fine, but not borrowing most of the design ideas from one
site and trying to replicate them in the same way in your own, that’s just
stealing.

> Simply copy-pasting an *original* site design wholesale (code, graphics
> n' all) and slapping in one's own content (or worse still, a variation on
> the original content) is, of course, another matter. Perpetrators should
be
> fed to the dogs! :)

As I've said I don’t really care that much about it, if anything it has
given my site some good publicity but if I can get him to change it then
great, no harm done, if I can't then I'll probably just let it go. We'll
see...


Regards
Sam Morgan
--
WiredEyes Media / ServWise Advanced Hosting

tel (Uk): +44 (0)20 7100 2178
tel (Italy): +39 070 773 6543
web : www.wiredeyes.com / www.servwise.com
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