In the last two days I've seen two asshats completely steal the design work of my friends and try to pass it off as their own. I don't know what's worse: the fact that they do this, or that they make their actions so transparent and public that it forces the original designers to take action. This is getting old—really old. I'm tired of writing about it, as I'm sure my friends are. So rather than spend another sentence on why this is bad, I've written a short set of instructions to help make sure that designers and design thieves never have to cross paths again.
How to properly steal the design of a website.
1. First things first, admit it: you suck. You're a moron and a cheat. It's likely that you'll never ever really achieve anything in life because you lack the talent to create or to do anything for yourself. In fact the act of dressing yourself in the morning is the closet you will ever come to doing something for yourself. Also, please stop bathing in Calvin Klein One, as it just further reduces your significance on this planet (not that you were off to a great start...think on that).
2. Learn. Yes, put some brain cells together, and learn how to properly edit HTML. Sure, you think you already know HTML because you've been able to cut-and-paste someone else's code—that's why you're a thief. Most people would use that code to learn how to craft their own work, but since you're a scumbag you only know how to get away with the least amount of work.
However, if you don't learn to edit things like comments, alt text, and style names then you're only leaving yourself open to getting caught red-handed. Think of it this way: if you take these extra steps and edit these things, you'd be a super moron. Then you can go back to your fellow morons, tell them that you are now their overlord, and they now have to do your bidding. Start by commanding them to help you get dressed in the morning.
3. Photoshop is a tool used by most designers to create those fancy graphics that you are, for some reason unknown to evolved man, unable to make yourself. Now, stealing code isn't enough to complete the process of design theft, you're going to need to copy every graphic file necessary to complete the work and most of you are able to pull this off without a hitch. The problem is that if you don't at least try to make an attempt to alter these graphics then "your" site is going to look exactly like the one you just stole from.
Nine-point-eight-hundred-and-ninety-six times out of ten, this is how design thieves not only get caught, but are dragged through the streets by those of us who spend weeks and weeks creating the original design. If you're going to use oxygen, then at least make an effort to alter the designed elements to help camouflage your inability to create.
4. When you send that email to the original designer asking if it's "okay" that you took the design in the first place, I just want to know one thing: are you doing this before or after you've tried to mate with oncoming traffic?
Please re-read step number one and then come back here.
The answer is always going to be "no." Even if you'd asked before you took anything, the answer would still be "no." No, we do not want you to copy our work. No, you may not copy our work. Yes, you can date your own sister (it's assumed that because you're so damn stupid that you're living in Upper Appalachia, so knock yourself out). No. Never. Go to hell. It's never going to be okay to take someone else's work and claim it as your own. Don't be any more of an idiot that you already are. If you're going to have the stones to steal design, keep it to yourself.
5. This is quite possibly the most important thing you need to know. There are no circumstances that will ever make it a good idea to link to the site you stole the design from. None. Zip. Never, ever. Zero circumstances. Maybe when Armageddon starts, but you should make it quick because...well, hey, it's Armageddon, and it's not going to wait for you to open Dreamweaver. Do not ever—never ever—do this. It's how you're going to be caught, it's how all of you asshats get caught. A link with some crappy text that says, "design inspiration by..." Gee, Rockefeller. If that's all you had to do to circumvent copyright laws then why stop at web design? There's a whole world of art, music, literature and so forth that's all readily available for you to copy because, hey! It "inspired" you to steal it. Theft is not inspiration. Don't be a bigger moron because you think that some little link is going to make your actions any better. Just take the design and go away.
There it is: your Idiots' Guide to Being an Even Bigger Idiot. If you follow these instructions then you'll be able to impress your D&D buddies with your awesome new website design, and the original designer will be none the wiser. Congratulations on a job well done, Captain Asshat! Perhaps you can reward yourself with a nice nap on the train tracks.
Join the fray by reading through and commenting at the end.
Go ahead and make that three, unless of course my continued absence from XBox Live has lost me the exalted status of Friend of Airbag.
Eric, you're a Fellow of Strategic Code Studies at Airbag Industries so there is no need to worry about status. Now, come late September if you're not on Halo 3 then we might need to re-evaluate your executive washroom privileges.
Sweet, though I may have to beg for a reprieve until early October (I'll be out of town near-solidly from 9/27 through 10/10). And dammit, when does The Orange Box come out? Because based on our Crackdown run, I have to say that if there's a game you and I absolutely need to play, it's Team Fortress 2.
The pirates are getting dumber, I don't know if this is a good thing or bad thing.
I can't believe in both situations you speak of the said morons had the audacity to link back to the owner.
The though alone, how incredibly stupid most of these copycats actually are, cracks me up.
I'm not sure if this would be 3b or 4a, but don't forget to translate the copy text from the original site another language, preferably one that Google Translate has a hard time handling (Arabic works well). Now you've not only snagged a good looking site, you don't even have to write the copy! (Now that's globalism at it's finest.)
Excellent post, just don't link us D&D players in with them. That's just slander, man.
I usually send the host an explanation of the situation and ask them to deliver a message to the owners of the website if I can't find a contact link. I've had to do it three times in the past, for people who kept stealing my logos (especially the ones that looked more generic) and then editing the colors, thus making them look like shit.
Great editorial. The same goes for web "designers" as graphic "designers" that can't produce their own original content: If all you're able to do is ape (or in this case, steal) someone else's intellectual property, you're a hack plain and simple.
Which raises a novice question: how are you able to catch these thieves in the act? Are you using search engines to look up your HTML contents, or another method?
Why do you hate freedom so much?
"If that's all you had to do to circumvent copyright laws then why stop at web design?"
Litigate or shut up (four-word quote "inspired by Tim Bray"). Berate these people on an "ethical" basis all you want, but you might want to back off on the legal claims.
If CSS styles sheet fall outside the useful article copyright exemption, let's see someone step up and be the first to take it to federal court.
Or else do like the fashion industry is doing with Design Piracy Prohibition Act and lobby for an explicit special case. (They're realistic about their chances, and are only seeking a three-year term of protection.)
Only weasels claim copyright infringement but never sue (Adobe: I'm looking at your flaky typeface design claims).
I guess Mark missed the "don't be an asshat" remark below. The beauty of the internet is that most cases of obvious blatant rip-offs can be solved with public humiliation.
We may need to stop for a moment and take a deep breath. It may not be common knowledge yet since An Event Apart Chicago 07 ended late tuesday and most of the attendees are just now getting settled back in but you all should know that Jim Coudal of Coudal Partners closed out the event telling everyone that we can and should steal Dan's website.
Obviously word reached this chap early, I myself have only just begun my complete rip off of Dan's site. I still have a few minutes of graphics to save down and re-upload to my server.
(Tongue removed from firm plant in cheek)
J.
Just because these matters aren't litigated doesn't mean a violation hasn't occurred. Unfortunately the web design industry can't hold a match to the monetary value of most other, if not all, design practices and getting all Boston Legal doesn't make financial sense. To call someone a weasel just because they can't afford to make it a federal case is asinine.
nice site... i've got a client it will work great for!
8-)
I think a huge point is overlooked here. There are a million templated, royalty-free sites out there available for the novice web designer and many of these sites are free or close to free to use. I find it amazingly idiotic that someone would steal a Lexus or Porsche when they are being offered the ability to drive off with a Saturn or Hyundai for free.
Are the templated sites out there implementing the latest in design? No. Are they creating a specific and customized solution like the site you want to steal does? No, but remember that site was specifically built custom for someone else and looks dumb for you. Sure it's Armani, but your sleeves stop at the forearm and the pants are too short.
These templated sites do say, "Hey, I couldn't afford the time or money to make a custom site." but at least they don't say, "I'm a total asshat for stealing someone's work."
Whatever happened to 'imitation is the sincerest form of flattery'?
Web design is 90% inspiration and 10% CSS perspiration.
I have designed about 10+ high-traffic sites and I've seen some of my layouts show up on other sites in a modified form, some less sloppy than the others. Since I've been paid for the designs of these sites, I cannot care less. In fact, every time someone lifts any element from my works I feel validated in my skills.
I don't need internet glory. I'm in it for the money. People who obsess about "site piracy" are usually the ones who are insecure. Blatant ripoffs are one thing, but some people take it too far with "OH MY GOD HE STOLE THE CSS STRUCTURE AND MY CODEZ"
The reason why I don't care much for rips anymore is because I used to be one of them. My first blatant ripoff was in 2001 when I decompiled a flash movie and reused the elements. Of course, this taught me a lot about design. The site was live for about 7 days before I took it down and started from scratch. Rip-off artists generally feel shame and revisit their designs soon after. I know for a fact that any attempt to copy my site would be temporary because you cannot sustain a serious site while having this black mark on it.
I encourage anyone who is starting out to download lots of sites from CSS galleries and then re-do them, even if they never go live. Do it locally and deface it until even the creator has second doubts whether it is his/her design. This is invaluable hands-on knowledge you won't get from web design books. The time you spend "ripping off" will pay off because you're retracing the steps of someone who has mastered all the hacks and conventions of the code.
There is no need to be mean to people who are just starting out.
> Whatever happened to 'imitation is the sincerest form of flattery'?
It was misplaced, perhaps intentionally.
> I think a huge point is overlooked here. There are a million templated, royalty-free sites out there available for the novice web designer and many of these sites are free or close to free to use.
Exactly.
> People who obsess about "site piracy" are usually the ones who are insecure.
Yeah, that's it, exactly. Thanks Oprah.
>I have to say that if there's a game you and I absolutely need to play, it's Team Fortress 2.
Me three! That game will give me a reason to subscribe to Xbox Live and put up with all the brats. You know, now that I think about it, CSS pirates don't seem as bad as an anonymous twelve year old with a headset.
i so wanted this post to mention aol.com ripping off the most trafficked page on all of the interwebs: yahoo.com
Great post Greg. Your blog has always been one of my favs. And the fact that you have retained the same design for so long is a testament to the longevity of great design. (Or maybe it's just too much Xbox you lazy bum... sorry)
There are a lot of sites that I have taken inspiration from, mostly color combos and CCS techniques that I feel can add to my own creation. I think it's healthy to be inspired by the work of others. But I feel sorry for the guys that shame themselves with these types of blatant rip-offs. Each designer that this happens to has different reactions and it's interesting to witness it. You are obviously passionate about your friends work and its great to see you vent. Now that you have you'll feel better if you let it go. Because you know it will happen again next week.
Keep on doing what you're doing Greg. Peace...
This topic is old and boring. Move on.
Agree with John..who else is tired of this old "boo hoo"?
"old "boo hoo""? ... are you kidding, or is this just bad trolling? Seriously, no one asked you to visit, you came here and read the post of your own accord - it wasn't written to please you. In fact, it was written with the explicit statement "I'm tired of writing about it..." with the implied subscript that writing about it is, unfortunately, still necessary. Design theft is ongoing. As you've expressed, this topic may bore you... so I have some tips for your own entertainment:
(1) Expect websites written by designers to focus on certain topics... like design.
(2) If you don't like it, leave! That was easy, and probably the least destructive way to express your dissatisfaction!
(3) Your comments may fall under the category of "knee jerk." Remember that this is a discussion in progress, and joining it has some implied requirements, like _adding_ something to the conversation.
So, in the interest of adding something: I've communicated via comments on my website with Mr. Cederholm, and I've found him to be extremely helpful in describing proper use of his creations (I had purchased his icons). It's sad not only to see theft of such extraordinarily high quality work, but from such a good person, too.
Another attempt to get Dugg/Hicksdesign to link and bring in some more views
"people being told to look at people's css code and mix it around to learn, then they test it out, you catch them..."
If they are testing it out, how can one catch them? We are talking about active sites blatantly stealing code and graphic design. This isn't a high school kid on a test folder of his domain.
If you are gonna deconstruct and test, maybe use uhh, err, a test environment?
> I have to say that if there's a game you and I absolutely need to play, it's Team Fortress 2.
Count me in. Hopefully Valve will stop teasing and actually ship the product.
> "old "boo hoo""? ... are you kidding, or is this just bad trolling?
A little from column A and a lot from column B. I would take those types of comments more seriously if they came from person's willing to expose their own work and writing. Oops maybe they can has none?
> Your comments may fall under the category of "knee jerk." Remember that this is a discussion in progress, and joining it has some implied requirements, like _adding_ something to the conversation.
More traffic, more trolls. Although I never got too much grief with the Ashley Simpson iPod. I think universally everyone was on board for that one.
> Another attempt to get Dugg/Hicksdesign to link and bring in some more views
Mark are you in Jr. High?
code is poetry... and the rest is just pretty pictures.
I agree with your rant. While I am still in the process of designing my first site, and I am trolling around looking for ideas, I would have serious (internal) issues with taking someone else's ideas and passing them off as my own.
For the people who don't have that level of integrity, they could either learn how to obfuscate their site (so that no-one can steal what they stole) or they can continue being blatantly obvious about it - I don't really mind.
In the end, I am not about to "create" something that has already been created by someone else, because how can my site be the coolest and best site on the web, if it is a rip-off of something that is already out there?
Oh... and buckets of admiration for the small percentage of people who know how to create a good web-site, and don't fall back on the canned rubbish that has been inundating the web-space since the late 90's.
:-)
Wonderful article, but I tend to chafe at the word "theft" used in any artistic context. Theft would involve breaking and entering a museum with mission-impossible-like stunts. Online, the term is thrown around so often, it tends to polarize while obscuring. For me, "Art theft" conjures images of 15-year olds battling it out on Livejornal over some fan-art of Sonic the Hedgehog.
We already have a perfectly good word for the act of copying and making false claims. Why not use it? Call a spade a spade, and call this act an act of plagiarism.
Funny article.
Some free advice, please remember to take you pills in the morning :)
"1. First things first, admit it: you suck. You're a moron and a cheat. It's likely that you'll never ever really achieve anything in life because you lack the talent to create or to do anything for yourself. In fact the act of dressing yourself in the morning is the closet you will ever come to doing something for yourself. Also, please stop bathing in Calvin Klein One, as it just further reduces your significance on this planet (not that you were off to a great start...think on that)."
calm down for crying out loud!
Dude.... Don't forget to take your medication! Your article is worthy of a moron! I already had 3 designs "stolen", and guess what, i don't give a damn. Some guys after stealing 2 or 3 designs learn enough to create. That's the most important thing. Writing this makes you an worse idiot than anyone who "steals" a design. Grow up, and learn to write with respect and usefull information.
Greg you should see the screen shot library I'm amassing of rip-offs of one of the aforementioned friend's design, and that's just the ones we know about. I'm having to resist my urges to start one of these pages.
And don't forget that the issue is not just about 'stealing teh pretties' here, but oftentimes these designs are an integral part of a companies branding and identity. So as a web designer who says they don't care: what about your clients? I don't think many companies would be happy to be on either end of a stolen design. You either have to spend time and resources protecting your brand or spend time and resources changing the ripped design your CK1 designer dumped on you.
"Yes, you can date your own sister (it's assumed that because you're so damn stupid that you're living in Upper Appalachia, so knock yourself out)."
I hope that next time, you might consider avoiding insulting people living in economically depressed areas like Appalachia. It may seem perfectly acceptable to you, but there's no reason to exploit a hurtful stereotype just to make a cheap joke. Most of the people you dissed with that remark will never read this post, but I have family members in Appalachia that I love, and who are neither inbred nor stupid. They do, however, lead very difficult lives.
Were you trying to come off as mean-spirited and bigoted there? I don't know. It just seemed so unnecessary and didn't contribute anything meaningful to the point of your post. I generally enjoy your wit and sarcasm, but this struck a nerve.
It's all true, unfortunately. I would have waited a day to cool off, but point taken.
One more to add. Don't copy someone else's google analytics code. They will find you because it messes up their stats!
My examle below:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/seantubridy/575823204/
> We already have a perfectly good word for the act of copying and making false claims. Why not use it? Call a spade a spade, and call this act an act of plagiarism.
Good point. And that word sounds like we can tar and feather people and put them in the stockades as punishment for plagiarizing.
> Funny article. Some free advice, please remember to take you pills in the morning :)
So you like the writing but you think I need medication? Are you sick?
> Grow up, and learn to write with respect and usefull information.
Like you do? Oh wait, without a link back to your own website chuck-full of respect and useful information it's impossible to know. And how is this not useful? That I know of, this is the first guide to taking design written within the web standards community that provide step-by-step industrucions for successfully stealing someone elses web design work. Troll elsewhere.
> I hope that next time, you might consider avoiding insulting people living in economically depressed areas like Appalachia. It may seem perfectly acceptable to you, but there's no reason to exploit a hurtful stereotype just to make a cheap joke
You're right. I should have used the region known as Arkansas. It's a legacy joke here and I totally missed it. Maybe someday we'll journey to Georgia and have the Airbag Canoe Regatta to make up for the cheap joke.
The saddest part is these rip offs never even look passable. These people fail to realize that without the context of great supporting copy and graphics (particularly in the realm of logos) the site loses it's touch a bit. It's so obvious the stylistic differences between the parts ripped and the "original" content, it looks like a rip even if you can't identify the original site.
Somewhere there should be a great internet blacklist where we list all these douchebag's names.
You're funny.
What a bunch of hypocritical crock.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vertigo25/261132690/
This coming from you, whose previous Longboard image was shamelessy stolen from Garry Palm. Certainly biting off more than you chew. You tar and feather everyone else who steals, but when you do it, it gets swept under the rug. Bravo.
I honestly do applaud you for caring and protecting other designers work. But it's pretty unconvincing when you have double standards.
Oh and by the way, not everyone has a website. But I do. And I'll link it. So please stop bashing people who don't link.
> Whatever happened to 'imitation is the sincerest form of flattery'?
I am not a violent person, but the fact that this phrase simply does not ever fail to come up in these discussions makes me wish I was.
"For me, "Art theft" conjures images of 15-year olds battling it out on Livejornal over some fan-art of Sonic the Hedgehog."
For me, "Art theft" conjures images of armed men in Oslo.
Appreciate your anger and personal insult, but does these "knee jerk" comments change the world?
"Use your head when responding, don't be an asshat. Knee jerk comments, crass language, and anonymity will surely get your response deleted and your IP possibly banned. Above all else, be mature."
By all means, hang then to dry... but be mature.
> This coming from you, whose previous Longboard image was shamelessy stolen from Garry Palm.
You mean shamelessly? Hardly. When I found out that the image belonged to Mr. Palm I got in touch with him right away to set things straight and pay for time I'd used the image. Unfortunately they didn't seem to care. I have yet to see anyone do that for any of my friends.
> Appreciate your anger and personal insult, but does these "knee jerk" comments change the world?
Who's angry? And no, it doesn't change the world but then that was never my intent. I wrote this piece to humor myself and some of my friends (mission accomplished). It's persons like yourself who take it to another level, a deeper, face-value-meaning, for which it was never intended.
But I'm so sorry to have troubled you all. Please be sure to send me a SASE and I'll return your subscription fee.
"You mean shamelessly?"
Yes I did. Thanks for catching the typo.
"Hardly. When I found out that the image belonged to Mr. Palm I got in touch with him right away to set things straight and pay for time I'd used the image. Unfortunately they didn't seem to care. I have yet to see anyone do that for any of my friends."
Hardly? Stealing is stealing is stealing. But kudos to you for trying to make amends.
> Stealing is stealing is stealing.
Not quite, you need to read up on Fair Use. I did not take someone else's work in it's entirety and pass it off as my own which is probably why none of my calls to Gary's agent were never returned.