Serendipity strikes again. Curiosity link from the footer of some forgotten blog landed me here. Give Credit Where Credit is Due apparently began in the lat 1990s as a effort to promote “link back” credits to the sources of images that are used on someone’s web site. It is now a nice set of general, but useful suggestions for providing credit for just about anything used in your web page (images, code fragments, blog publishing software)…
In summary, Giving Credit Where Credit is Due is in essence common courtesy and a small price to pay for the use of free items to create your webpages. Not every creator requires a linkback, but if you have some room on your webpage, why don’t you provide a little acknowledgment for their hard work.
Guideline 1 covers finding images on the web; number 2 is a suggestion for writing a “link back” credit line, and Guideline 3 points out other parts of your site that might merit a credit link.
Well that’s about it, the following is a quick summary of how to “Give Credit Where Credit is Due”:
(1) Only use graphics you have permission to use! If you don’t have permission, don’t use them.
(2) Once permission is received, be sure to link back to the artist, be it for one image or a whole set of them. This link can be in form of a button or text. Be sure to read the artist’s Terms of Use to see which one they prefer.
(3) Giving credit does not just pertain to graphics anymore. Be sure to read the Terms of Use of any software you implement in the creation of your website, be it journalling software, small cgi/php/javascript snippets, etc. Some require a link back to their site in exchange for your free use.
Linking back to graphic/software and script sites can be done nice and neatly in a “Credits” area of your page. Please note it should be on the same page that you have used the graphics, software and/or scripts.
Not really rocket science (and what is that anyhow, I never got that expression), but more like concise common sense. The world can use every little bit of that.
