I have been working on a personal project of mine on and off for a long time now. It was first mentioned to other people during
@Media 2005 and I had been thinking about it and preparing for a few months before that.
I have the domain name already in the bag, quite a sought after one as well I would be willing to bet, and I have the design comps. I always knew how I wanted the site to look and I had a decent idea as to what the sections would be. It was just the mechanics of the concept that were holding me back. In fact I am still quite unsure as to the format of the "competition". (
Ed: Shh, don't say too much)
This site still isn't live and still isn't complete for may reasons including the fact that shortly before @Media 2005 my daughter was born and that combined with other work and educational commitments have got in the way.
Anyway, recently I have found enough time, and inclination, to revisit this site and idea in order to finally get it off the ground. I believe in the idea and I think it will work. Hell, if a celeb (web celeb not someone from
Heat Magazine) did this site it would be a sure fire hit; I'd be willing to bet the mortgage on it.
I pulled up the old design comps and it reminded me of something. I puzzled it out for a few seconds and realised it was the same layout (bar the logo) as the new
WaSP redesign.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The title of the post is a
Joke. I am by no means accusing anyone of stealing the design.
Please read on before hitting reply and telling me that I suck and Andy Clarke / WaSP Ownz me!
The point of this post is that whenever a new site goes live there will be comparisons with sites that are already out there. Similarities will exist between any new site and one that already exists. It's inevitable.
Aside from the Logo (duh) and the Navigation bar the layout of the rest of the page is very similar (Larger left column, 2 supporting columns dropping to 1 as and when required).
There are major differences as well though. The colour scheme is nothing at all like the one I did and the site, although along similar lines (Pushing web standards and CSS), content will be different
Now my first thought was that the site looks like the new WaSP design. What will people say?
Will I get loads of fanboys filling my inbox with
digg style comments of "
U Suck!", "
My Granny could do better, get your own design loser" etc.
I guess my question is this: Can we be precious about the layout of a page when it is so generic or is it ok to use a similar layout to someone else however unintentional it may be?
Don't get me wrong I am not talking about blatantly ripping off a site that is very unique in design or content like the people that
John Oxton discussed or the jokers
Matthew Pennell had to deal with, I am talking about using a similar/same layout style as another site.
I have to admit that John Oxton's comments on that old post are what made me think about this.
The other thing to consider is it wasn’t too long ago someone found a design on template monster that you would swear was a rip off of mine but it had been done nearly 12 months before hand; had I ripped that design off? No, it was an unhappy coincidence and I would have been really pissed off had anyone suggested otherwise.
I would also be pissed if people start saying I have ripped the design when I have done no such thing. I don't want to have to redesign a site that I am happy with. Why should I?
Maybe I'm being paranoid but there are a lot of people out there quick to criticise. Just check out
these comments on CSS Beauty. The guy had to go back and display an old version of the site to prove that he hadn't ripped the PGA design off.
The sad thing is that if I am honest I am still not sure I believe him, which is kind of what I am worried about.
