-1

For learning purposes I want to view the html source of sites like amazon.com, ebay etc , After learning I want use it in my work, I don't want to copy and paste the html source.

Points to consider:

1. Hiding html source is unprofessional, here

2. Viewing HTML Source is safe for developers, here

3. All working web professionals do it for learning, here

So can i View HTML Source to learn css styles etc ? or should I get permission from website's owner ?

Any help would be great.

Community
  • 1
  • 1
Shaiju T
  • 6,201
  • 20
  • 104
  • 196
  • 1
    Viewing the source is entirely legal, you are viewing the rendered source simply by viewing the website. However, where you say `and then use it in my work`, that's an entirely different matter and could potentially by breaking copyright laws. Use it to learn, but don't directly copy from another site. – DBS Aug 13 '16 at 12:31
  • SO really isn't the place for legal questions though, you might wanna try on [law.se]. – Siguza Aug 13 '16 at 12:34
  • 1
    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because we answer questions about programming problems, legal questions are entirely off-topic (even if coding is involved in the question of law); I'd suggest consulting a properly trained and qualified legal representative rather than asking strangers on the internet. However there is [Law.se], which may be able to answer your questions appropriately if given sufficient information with which to do so. – David Thomas Aug 13 '16 at 12:36
  • 1
    The issue is that a lot of HTML code is ***absolutely not best practise*** and is really poorly written and executed, yes you can read it but I would be extremely wary of using it as a reference for *learning* HTML. – Martin Aug 13 '16 at 13:00
  • 1
    The issue being that if you're a beginner at HTML then you're not going to recognise what is good practise and what is not good practise. you may also get a bit muddled with the different types of HTML such as syntax with HTML4.01 and HTML5, there are some crucial differences. Even parts of websites such as `http://www.w3schools.com/` **do not** use current best practises for HTML and CSS layouts. Often larger, more popular websites such as Amazon and Paypal etc. are so long established that as their HTML doesn't actually break the viweing experience they don't bother make it best practise... – Martin Aug 13 '16 at 13:07
  • @DavidTomas, i am sorry i didn't knew about [Law](http://law.stackexchange.com/) site , but can be this question be moved to Law because already there are many answers ? – Shaiju T Aug 13 '16 at 13:32

5 Answers5

2

Client side code is always accessible publicly, viewing it or using it for learning purpose is absolutely fine. There is nothing illegal to that. However, if you are using the design of the any website or the part of website such as java-script or css, there should be a copyright notes; just read that once before using it. I don't think all java-scripts and css may have the copyright issues and you can also read the website policy before using it.

Savan Gadhiya
  • 305
  • 1
  • 6
0

That depends. If you live in the USA and circumvent a copyright protection system (however badly implemented) while viewing and using source code you broke the law. There are many other ways to break the law by misusing other peoples websites (like scraping, leaching, mirroring, hacking, etc). Search for "laws you break every day" and you will see how hard it can be to not break the law, but the rule of thumb is be a nice small fish and likely any laws you break people wont care enough to charge you with.

user1133275
  • 2,642
  • 27
  • 31
0

You can read a source, but you shouldn't use it if not allowed. If the source has a license, you should read it to know.

-1

The HTML/CSS/Javascript code is loaded in your browser and you can watch it as many times as you want without any concern.

Vicente Olivert Riera
  • 990
  • 7
  • 14
-4

yup, it is 100% legal to view and use

Mayank Rajput
  • 161
  • 6
  • The "and use" part could very well lead to copyright infringement. – Siguza Aug 13 '16 at 12:26
  • not unprofessional, but not a good practice, but you can do in start – Mayank Rajput Aug 13 '16 at 12:26
  • and mainly use it for seeing what they are using, like js frameworks for better learning – Mayank Rajput Aug 13 '16 at 12:29
  • [Ehm](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Qg8Rn.png). Of course you won't have problems if you just learn how they do things, or reuse snippets - that should all be public knowledge anyway, as the standards are publicly available. You should just be very careful in your wording of "use", because copying & pasting an entire page will likely have consequences. – Siguza Aug 13 '16 at 12:32
  • You can "use" it as a learning resource, but in terms of actually building your own work, "using" anything not openly available from another site may be copyright infringement. (In lots of countries it is not required to display a notice of copyright, so don't assume you can take code simply because there's no "Copyright X since 2016" type notice) – DBS Aug 13 '16 at 12:34
  • It is easy to view one html source code, but it is difficult to view all the other javascript and css files used along with the main html –  Aug 13 '16 at 12:43
  • @Siguza , After learning i want use it in my work, i don't want to copy and paste the `html` source. – Shaiju T Aug 13 '16 at 13:44
  • @Siguza i didn't knew about Law site , but can be this question be moved to Law because already there are many answers ? – Shaiju T Aug 13 '16 at 13:44
  • 1
    @stom There is only a small set of sites which we can migrate questions to, and Law isn't one of them. – Siguza Aug 13 '16 at 13:45
  • @Siguza ok can i ask same question in Law site ? – Shaiju T Aug 13 '16 at 13:56
  • no need to ask anybody, if you want to use that, please use no problem at all, i do not know how they will track you that you have taken a snippet of code from the website hahaha, they can't, but i do think that html code is useful for you, because i always want to copy but, i think i will waste my 20 mins in finding the code and i will write it in 10 min., so i write haha, you can view any site code for inspiration and when you understand the code, just write that as it is hahaha – Mayank Rajput Aug 13 '16 at 14:39
  • @stom I'm not really familiar with what is on-topic there and what is not, but I would try and word my question as precisely as possible when asking there. What does `use it in my work` mean, exactly? Copy snippets? Write about how they do stuff? Replicate the techniques they have used, but with your own code? After all, you can't copyright `
    ` or `style="display:flex"` - that's all from the language specifications, and not unique to their site. And as other users point out, as long as you don't copy whole pages, they will have practically no means of tracking your actions.
     – Siguza Aug 13 '16 at 14:43
  • yup, for whole page it is really very bad, please do not do that – Mayank Rajput Aug 13 '16 at 14:45
  • but you are a developer, you can view and get the idea from there and then write you own code if that is not exactly what you want or you can view their js frameworks and if they are using a good one you can research it on google and find or or....you can do what you want – Mayank Rajput Aug 13 '16 at 14:48