Newbie needs a wee bit of help

[Fredstar]

Hey guys,
Recently been doing a lot of research about web design and i have bought a domain, web space and last week a program - Freeway pro that is excellent. I was going to use Dreamweaver but i didn't like it as much as Freeway.

Anyways a few questions and would really appreciate your help:

1) Copyright points, i am doing a review/news/blog/tech savvy website and i am using quite a few images from Apple's site (most Photoshopped) and from other sites so what do i need to do so i can show them on the website?

2)Can't seem to find out how to add a background image to the page, anyone familiar with Freeway wanna help? The way i am temporarily doing it is by drawing a graphic box over the page and adding the picture/graphic and bringing everything else to the front..it works but is far from ideal!

3) Also i have bought a domain name and it is strange because (i haven't loaded anything) but when entering address for different browsers i get different results. For Safari i get a blank page, with Explorer i get something from a company called "undefined solutions" and then with Firefox i get someones blog!
i bought the domain www.macinfo.co.uk (all registered and comes up when you search domain) and you guys can check it out if you want with the diff browsers, i am slightly confused!
Apart from that i am having fun creating my website, i recommend Freeway to everyone, its great.
thanks
Fred

 

[benwa02]

1) You must change the picture enough to make it your own. Which for reviews prolly wouldnt work to fine, but for art its easy to do and get away from copyrights.

2) No clue about freeway, but put in some html code for you background image - bg image.... I cant remember offhand but look it up. Heres some css for a bground image - style= "background-image:url(images/home_web.jpg); background-repeat: no-repeat;"

3) blank.

 

[Fredstar]

Thanks mate, found some useful CSS code for the background image.
Here is a screenshot of what i get with Firefox, i get nothing with Safari and i get a page from "Undefined Solutions" in Explorer.

 

[wordmunger]

Technically you can't even change the image so as to make it unrecognizable -- copyright violation is copyright violation.

However, many websites/blogs do post copyrighted material. If you're engaging in a significant commercial enterprise you may have some difficulty, but if it's mainly a personal site, maybe not so much.

Also, Apple has an entire Web site devoted to images for the media. Apple wants as much publicity as possible, so it's fine with them if you use these images for your site: Apple PR page.

 

[benwa02]

Technically you can't even change the image so as to make it unrecognizable -- copyright violation is copyright violation.

I dont feel that is true. Say I get a picture of a city-cut out a car-change the color and put that car in a picture I took. Thats copyright violation? Im a computer graphics major, not saying that "o i am right", but I strongly believe you can take a picture and recreate it without violating the copyright. You must make the picture your own.

 

[HeWhoSpitsFire]

The rules are something like %20 obvious difference from the original. With some graphics, if it is copyrighted or trademarked by the creator, you can't take it, change, anything, period.

Otherwise you give the originating party credit, and some kind of statement that if the use violates any rules you'd be happy not to use it anymore.

The main part here is, you can't rebadge other peoples work. Be that for your own moral peace or following the rules, it's wrong.

I would echo the earlier suggestion about the Apples PR page. They also have a page defining what they alow to be done legally with their materials. Most every company has a "press kit", and they generally have nice/higher res images than you could "suck" off their site.

 

[wordmunger]

I do recall a recent case where artwork was changed beyond recognition and still held as a violation, however I can't now find the reference. However, I can assure you that there is no 20 percent rule or any such thing. The law depends very much on the context and purpose of the use. Here are a couple useful links:

Fair use

Photos and fair use

The basic rule is this: if your posting the photo is going to reduce the demand for the original work--thereby depriving the rightsholder of potential for revenue, it's probably a violation. There are exceptions -- for parody, and for educational use, for example.

 

[HeWhoSpitsFire]

Thanks for the info.

I knew there had to be something hoakie about the percent thing. I'll think a third time before posting something like that again.

 

[HeWhoSpitsFire]

This is the right version, server hung and I somehow posted twice

Thanks for the info.

I knew there had to be something hoakie about the percent thing. I'll think a third time before posting something like that again.

I never worry about that too much, as I create almost everything I used in my comps. With the exception of stock art licensed for such use.