In message <[log in to unmask]>, Peter W Duncanson
<[log in to unmask]> writes
>
>Oops Phil!  HTML-the-language is in the public domain, but 
>material written in that language is subject to copyright.
I'm sorry, Peter, but I find this statement ambigious. The text included
on a page between tags is, I agree the copyright of the person or
organisation which wrote it. You cannot write anything *in* html,
because html is simply a series of codes used to display material on the
screen. You can write things *using* it, obviously. A subtle
distinction, but perhaps I'm just being pedantic.

[Your points 1-4 snipped]
>The CLA do occupy a unique position in the publishing world.  
>They must be scrupulously careful to protect the interests of all 
>their members.  Seen from that point of view their ban on viewing 
>or printing their HTML source code is strictly logical.
As you'll see in another post I've made to this thread, I disagree
entirely. There are a variety of reasons why its perfectly legimate for
me to wish to view the HTML source, because it can tell me things about
the page which I cannot get simply by viewing it. Three quick examples:

The meta-tag element can be used to provide a lot of useful information,
particularly content and key-word tags. I can't view this using a
browser, I can see it if I look at the source, and as a result, I can
see why a page has been retrieved by the search engine I'm using. I
think its important to be able to get this information.

Some designers will include words repeated hundreds of time in order to
boost their relevence ranking. This is often done by having a certain
colour background and the words are included on the page in the same
colour, rendering them as invisible. What I end up seeing on the screen
is a large blank colour section at the bottom. Without being able to
check the source I can't be certain the page has downloaded correctly,
and without that extra information it may be very unclear as to why that
particular page has been retrieved by the search engine.

Not all designers are good at putting in the ALT tag to allow me to
quickly see what a graphic is, if I'm browsing with graphics turned off.
By viewing the source, I can see what the graphic is which is being
used, and decide much more quickly if I wish to turn graphics on in
order to view it. The only other alternative that I have is to turn
graphics back on and spend ages downloading the page.

I could also make the point that I've also written, and had published, a
book on how to write and design web pages. I have no problem with people
viewing my source codes. I also point people to web pages which go into
great detail, free of charge, on how to write and design web pages. The
idea that they are protecting their members interests in this way by
limiting access to information which is freely and easily available
elsewhere simply doesn't hold water, in my opinion.

Phil.
-- 
        Electronic Publishing Consultant: CD-ROM, Networking, Internet, WWW.
            Author: Information Science, CD-ROM, Networking, Internet.
              Trainer: CD-ROM, Internet, Web Page design, Training.
              http://www.philb.com/ ***New*** http://www.philb.com/ 


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