[©/N/©] Salix's Copyrights/Netiquette/Cybertips Page Salix Babylonica © 1998+ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Version: 01.01.99 This version of ©/N/© may be distributed under the following conditions: 1. No alterations of any kind may be made -- not even spelling. ^_~ 2. Reposting must include due credit to the author (me). 3. This version must remain as plain-text. Thank you - Salix Babylonica (salixbabylonica@juno.com - temp off-line; see Quintessential Washu Ring homepage for info http://www2.crosswinds.net/st-paul/~qwring) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ©/N/© Index [O]Copyrights [O]Salix's * [O]Working Definition ANGST Cybertips * [O]Homepage © Guidelines o [O]The Standard Disclaimer o [O]Uploading Scanned Images o [O]Personal Images o [O]Sound Archives o [O]Plagiarism ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [O] Copyrights C/N/C Linkery [O] Working Definition Basically, go to the links in the left column; I am NOT a legal expert, don't ask me such things. If on the other hand I'm wrong about something, please inform me. [O] Homepage © Guidelines * http://lcweb.loc.gov/ Using certain materials to copyright/circs/ spice up your homepage can circ1.html usually be pain-free if you * Copyright Basics follow these simple guidelines (these guidelines are my own; I will add more "official" resources if I find them). * http://www.faegre.com/ [O] The disclaimer: areas/areaip25.html When using images, * Copyright and the Free sounds, and other Flow of Information media, always keep a disclaimer somewhere on your page that gives credit with the * http://homepage.seas. creative genius behind upenn.edu/ [whatever your page is ~cpage/cis590/ about]. For instance, * Intellectual Property in the following copyright the Information Age line on my pages for "Tenchi Muyo!": All TM media found on these pages are * http://www.wemsi.org/ copyright AIC/Pioneer netlaw.html LDC and other relevant * Internet Copyright Law parties. [List] --also includes links back to the companies' homepages. You should do the same for all of * http://www.fplc.edu/ your pages containing tfield/copynet.htm any material from * Copyright on the [whatever your page is Internet. From Franklin about]. You may also Pierce Law Center substitute, for instance, "TM media" to "TM material," or simply "Tenchi Muyo is * http://www.copyright.com/ copyright of..." You copyright_resources/ should avoid placing res_pages.html your disclaimers on a * Online Copyright catch-all credit/links Resources page, since most people don't visit them, and link pages exist to allow people to leave * http://www.templetons. your page. Just copy com/brad// and paste disclaimers copymyths.html on every page where * Copyright Myths media appear! It really isn't that difficult.... There may be other issues, so ------------------------------ it's always a good idea to visit the company/person's page since they may have an explicit page that deals with such things. Try to avoid being sued. ^_^ [O] Uploading Scanned Images Since scanners have become an indispensible tool related to cyberspace, it has also, unfortunately, become easier to tread on copyrights by posting neat images on your page that were never intended to reach the internet. The obvious problem is that, if you get a copyrighted non-internet image from somewhere else, post it, and then someone who visits your page also gets it, everyone who eventually gets this image has NO IDEA that this isn't supposed to be on the net in the first place! Then the company/person gets wind of this, and some people will get in trouble, others won't. The company/person also loses money or risks losing money. It just isn't fair all around--don't scan such images, don't post them if you can help it. For instance, check the inside cover of books and you will find the copyright notice. If you're uncertain, contact the company/person. And if you still don't know, but you really want to post it, well, the least you can do is also put up a disclaimer, e.g. "I don't know where this image came from, but I like it. If it's yours, and you DON'T want it posted, please contact me immediately!" Of course, ideally you won't have to use such an awkward statement... [O] Personal Images There are certain images (e.g., mod images, fanart), that people will allow you to use on your homepage UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS. These may range from linking back to their homepage, a credit-due note, or something else. Most often these are concerned only with noncommercial, personal or private use -- i.e. the image/[item] in question is NOT to be used in making money in any way (just to be redundant). Really, these conditions are perfectly painless! Firstly, always secure permission first. Keep the original (permission note), print it out, whatever. Bookmark where you got [item] from. Secondly, if you're the one giving permission, be sure to also keep track of who you're giving permission to. Other suggestions: for link-backs, avoid using huge banners. Keep your e-mail address readily accessible on ALL your pages, as well as your CONDITION(S) clearly placed and explicit. When surfing, ALWAYS check the pages from which you want to download stuff for any "no-DL" ("don't use") or conditions notes. Also, in my not-necessarily- humble opinion, merely scanning in an image off a cover of something does not warrant a credit-due note. (Let's say you scan an item, and someone else scans the same item, but one person wants credit-due or permission. What's the point, if these images are public domain?). HOWEVER, creating your images based on other images of the original artwork does NOT make it your art, unless you really drew them. In this case, the disclaimer should read, for instance "All TM characters are Copyright AIC/Pioneer LDC. Art drawn by [so-and-so] (or) Compiled by [so-and-so]." Another, final thing: never link your site directly to another image on someone else's server just because you don't have enough server space or because you want to cheat and pretend it's YOUR image, or whatever. It's stupid. People hate it. Don't do it. If you want to link, link to their PAGE, not the image/file. What is so difficult about that? Nothing! This is called "bandwidth stealing," and is usually not tolerated by service providers. See the Cybertips section for more about this. [O] Sound Archives Sound archives bring up another copyright issue; with MP3 abounding all over the internet, there is bound to be some confusion. Firstly, "MP3" is a file format, just like wav or midi, so there is nothing inherently illegal/legal about them. The problem arises with its high compression and quality rate -- it's easier to put a whole, high-quality song in one file for download. Here's a rule of thumb -- unless the file is on an "official" site of some kind, don't trust any site that doles out complete MP3 songs. This is illegal. Music samples, on the other hand, typically 30-45 sec long, are usually legal. I say "usually" because sometimes some companies ban all dissemination of MP3s (e.g., AIC). As for WAV files, less of a problem arises with them because of their typically huge file size if someone tries to record a complete song; on the other hand many "soundbyte" WAV archives have been shut down over the years, so the safest bet is to check with an "official" source before dabbling with sound archives. [O] PLAGIARISM: Don't do it don't do it don't do it!!!! Gadz!! Remember that HTML/text is automatically copyright of the writer/creator/publisher. Even site design is automatically copyrighted, which can get sticky. It's one thing to borrow a Javascript mouse-over method (I believe that's legal), but to copy someone's text is true plagiarism. For instance, don't copy anything I write here! Perhaps high school teachers should stress this more... Some time ago I had visited TAP Online (The Anime Powerhouse) only to discover the webmaster had plagiarized the Anime Web Turnpike's webtips; I had emailed both (no reply from TAP), and on a subsequent visit TAP finally changed his webtips. Of course, it would be even better if he hadn't plagiarized in the first place, eh? The crappy problem is that there isn't really a way to determine who is copying who unless you've visited the site(s) many times and know when they were created. Really, what is so difficult about writing your own stuff? Do some people only want to prove that they are illiterate with the verbal IQ of Yeti toe fungus?? So here's the fundamental question: can the internet exist on the honor system? As a cynical idealist -- probably not, but I sure hope so, and you can help! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Salix's ANGST Cybertips Le ScrollBar, Le StatusBar Avoid horizontal scrollbars; they are rare, awkward, and people don't like using them (at least I don't~). This can be difficult to modulate if you don't know the screen size of the user, however. 800x600 is currently the most common screen resolution, but it's getting bigger all the time, and some users have a smaller resolution. If you must dictate the screen size of your page, the safest bet is to stay with 800x600 for a while. As for the vertical scrollbar, here's a comment for people who center the entire page into one looooonng column and force viewers to scroll to their toes: please don't do that! An efficient way to present information (except large amounts of text) besides the linear-center thing is to make tables. They're easy. The status bar is the bottom of your web browser that displays messages about what the browser is doing (% loaded, etc.) OR messages the loading page tells it to display. Since I'm relatively seasoned in webhunting (yes, I'm a webhuntress, not a mere websurfer ^_^), I like looking at the status bar to see how big the images are, how long it will take to load them, and checking the URL of broken or foreign language links. So status bar javascripts, especially the effects kind (like scrolling), really bother me when I'm trying to assess my status. Well, that may be just me since I'm a webhead... On the other hand, onMouseOver Javascript methods for the status bar can be very helpful in informing the viewer what the link is about, if you don't want to put much stuff on your actual page for some reason. Images TYPE | JPG format has better quality compression and color quality; GIF allows transparency and animation. Large, complex images should not be in GIF format. Also, the typical internet image has a resolution of 72 p/i. SIZE | Especially related to title or opener graphics, linking logos/banners--this is a biggie! That is, don't make them biggies! This should be common sense - the smaller the graphic, the faster the loading, the more likely your visitor will stay and wait for your page to load. Remember to put in WidthxHeight size tags in your image source HTML--this will allow faster loading, at least in Netscape. If you are using an image map for an opener title graphic, it shouldn't be over 50 kb if you can help it. NUMBER | Directly related to size, never put too many large images together on one page. Common sense! Of course, I may be guilty of this transgression with my integrated archives, HOWEVER I follow my own tip below, and almost all images in the integrated archives are thumbnails between 2-3 kb each. ANIMATED GIFS | Animated gifs are typically a butt to load. Ideally you will have only one on your page, at most two. The smaller animated gifs may be alright, but all in all the size shouldn't be beyond the teens. RINGS, ETC. | Rings, logos, banners. The three banes of webdom! Well, only if you use them incorrectly. In most cases, web rings already have an established rule that you can only be a member of a maximum number of rings before joining theirs. Logos and banners should never be more than 10s kb, max 20s kb in my opinion. I tried to make my icons 6kb or less, and the logos on my Jumpgate page about 5kb or less. But they still don't look so bad, right? ^_^ BUTTONS | Buttons in place of simple hotlinked text isn't always a good idea. Size and number are both an issue. Exercise common sense and don't get carried away with graphic design - don't make HUGE buttons with hard-to read, fancy text. Remember that buttons are images too, and we still have to load all of them! A good rule of thumb is to choose a reasonable font size (e.g. 15 point), and create the button background around that size. THUMBNAILS | Use REAL thumbnails, not mere resizing. Thumbnails (smaller versions of the original images) are far more efficient to load--in loading "resized" images as false thumbnails, the viewer still has to load the ENTIRE image anyway. For instance having five false thumbnails linking to five 100+ kb images still requires the browser to load 500 kb of images before we can actually see the false "thumbnails." Besides, resizing often distorts the image anyway. BANDWIDTH STEALING | Never create a hotlink directly to someone else's image. It's not YOUR gallery. This is just bad webmanners. Also, this is considered "bandwidth stealing;" many servers allow their users a limited amount of space in terms of bandwidth -- bytes accessed by viewers. With continued bandwidth stealing (linking to someone else's image, for instance), you can get webmasters kicked off their servers and/or charged monstrous amounts of money for bandwidth usage they don't know about. "Bandwidth stealing" is not limited to stealing from a person, but includes the entire server their page is on. Besides that, it takes a bit longer to load material on any page that "BS's" (eh, you know) as well as the page anyone "BS's" off, even if it's your own stuff. That's right -- if you have all your HTML pages on, say, the Tripod server, and call all your images from the Geocities server, that is still considered bandwidth stealing even if both accounts are yours, because technically you are stealing from Geocities' bandwidth. If you really need to, it would be better to split up your homepage so that pages AND respective images remain on the same server under the same username, OR, alternatively put all thumbnails on one server and hotlink them to your "images" server. Please remember that some service providers do not allow their servers to be used as mere depositories of data (that is, they must be navigatable by users), so the former option is best. NAMES AND "ALT" | Some image archives will list the actual names of the files, which are often not very informative. If you aren't going to use thumbnails (which is understandable in limited webspace), then at least add a clear description of the image. And when using images, ALT tags in the image source HTML are useful for people who sometime turn off images for faster loading or who don't have graphic browsers. Most importantly - give credit where credit is due! (see copyright section above!) Frames and Tables In general: people aren't always fond of frames. I know I'm not. There are a few exceptions where frames actually work very well, but it's easy to get carried away. NUMBER AND PLACEMENT | Normally you will have one or two frames, horizontal or vertical, top/bottom and left/right (duh ^_^). I've seen some pages with three or four frames (!!!!) that severely violate the subsequent tip. Anyway, for your average vertical frame, it doesn't matter where you put it as long as it's accessible, condensed, and follows the subsequent tip. Vertical frames are typically wider than horizontal frames for the obvious reason that our linear language (usually English) is wider than it is tall; in this respect, if you have only a few links you want available on a frame, a small horizontal frame may be far more efficient than a vertical one. The Mining Company, Anime-Genesis, and The Nature Conservatory all have nice examples of tables and a minimal/static frame. FRAME SCROLLBARS | Frames should avoid having a scrollbar in itself. The whole point of having a frame is as a static reference point or menu--static meaning it's always there and doesn't move. Ideally the viewer will have to scroll the main window, but can easily refer to the frame whenever need be. And please, please don't make the frame size too big. Believe me, if people tolerate frames, they are still far more interested in your main window than fancy tricks on your frame. Rule of thumb: the reference frame(s) should be the most info-explicit and easily-navigated part of your homepage. And it should load before your main window! TABLES | In lieu of frames, tables are quite efficient and "low-tech". In fact, if you use them correctly you can create a "false frame" effect. Otherwise, tables are simply a great way of organising information in a smaller space (re: Le Scrollbar from above). Also, a greater number of browsers can read tables versus frames. "Other," But Just As Important POP-UP WINDOWS | About popup windows and Javascript confirms (anti-Geocities, Tripod, etc., those survey things)-- I'll say it right here--I HATE popup windows that appear with a loaded page. This is, of course, no fault of Geocities/Tripod/etc. users because it's the webhost's prerogative (sigh). But sometimes you have the power to do this, for instance in those free scripts for surveys. Preferably, you will embed the script into your actual page instead of having a popup. This is particularly annoying for people like me who webhunt and who have maybe three or four web navigation windows open at one time. Then there are the Javascript popup confirm windows--please please please don't place an auto-popup confirm at the load of your main page. Or any page, if you can help it. Very annoying. If you need a confirm, placing it in an onClick event is better. I once visited an image gallery that had an auto-popup confirm on the gallery page itself--imagine the irritation of trying to view images while bumping into the damned popup everytime you hit the "back" button to the gallery! Hives! COLORS | Color is very relevant in terms of background and text/links. Alright, people. I know there are some wonderful images out there, so wonderful that some people feel the need to tile it as a background for some page. Problem: many good images are multi-colored with extreme contrasts, so NO text color is legible on them. On the other hand, it's possible to have too much contrast between elements on your page. Try avoiding that, too, because it becomes taxing on the eyes and viewers are very tempted to leave early. Rules of thumb: use an image that doesn't have strong contrast, or tone it down yourself. Use an image without lots of colors. Don't use an image that is very big (the viewer shouldn't have to wait for the background to load!). Plain, solid colors are perfectly fine, too, if you don't use something like neon green. Trust me, in the whole of things, the background of a page is the least important part you should worry about impressing a viewer with. WEB SOUNDS | Embedded sounds are SO annoying. I know I'm not the only person who finds MIDI generally grating to one's ears. Volume is generally impossible to control accurately for different computers. Make sure they are NOT invisible--and they should have both stop and play buttons; I generally don't bookmark or revisit a page with a loud, uncontrollable midi (or other format). They should not be huge, either (since they load with the page). Another thing.... | If you're going to make a page in English, please check SPELLING and GRAMMAR. I never (almost never, depending on the quality of the site, too) stay long in a page that contains the sentence, "...please bare with me..." ^_^ If you find any spelling or grammar errors in my pages, tell me. I'll feature your linguistic prowess in my U Log or something. :P ------------------------------------------------------------------------ THANK YOU ©/N/© by Salix Babylonica © 1998-1999+