4 ms·

Very useful answer. Thanks! One quick clarification.. what if I reused CSS and Image Assets from PhpBB? Its sort of strange there because there are many templa

• bdfh42 18y ago
  Getting more complex now you are into the detail. Partly, things depend upon the laws applicable in a given instance. In some cases copyright has to be explicitly claimed and in other jurisdictions it is implicit. This has been touched on at HN before - CSS code (and JavaScript, HTML etc) is effectively open in that it is generally available to be read by all but it may still be 'owned' in the sense that copyright will often still apply. Perhaps one should apply a 'moral' filter. It seems OK (if not inevitable) for one's designs to be strongly influenced by the layout and colour schemes of existing sites but it also seems proper that one should not copy CSS and layouts wholesale from elsewhere. There are plenty of tutorial sites demonstrating the most complex of CSS code - copy from them where it encouraged and then apply your own unique 'spin'.
• SwellJoe 18y ago
  They are open by default (since anyone can view source on a browser). That doesn't make them "open" in the sense of Open Source or Free Software. It merely makes them open in the same way a book is open...you can read it, and you could even copy it without technical impediment, but it can still be a copyrighted work.