Member Avatar for Grantmitch1

I have taken into designing websites for some people. Not only is it fun but its helping my skills along.

Now I came into a problem. I can put some writing in there saying the site was designed by me, even use javascript to do it, but people can just remove it.

Is there any code you can give me or help me to write that would show I created the site, and if its removed would prevent the site from working etc.

Any help is appreciated.

  • 5 Contributors
  • 5 Replies
  • 202 Views
  • 4 Days Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by Grantmitch1

Dani AI

Generated

Short answer for : nothing on the client (HTML/JS/CSS) is truly irremovable if someone is determined — is right about that. The practical approach is to combine technical friction, design integration, and contractual/administrative measures. That leverages ’s image idea and ’s hosted-snippet idea into a usable workflow.

Technically, host a tiny fragment you control and require the client page to include it. The fragment should both render the visible credit and set a global flag your other scripts check; you can also serve a small font or background image from your host so removing the external file visibly degrades the site. Example attribution script (hosted by you and included by the client):

(function(){
  var c = document.createElement('div');
  c.id = 'designer-credit';
  c.innerHTML = 'Design by YourName';
  document.body.appendChild(c);
  window.__designerPresent = true;
})();

Then in your main JS:

if (!window.__designerPresent) {
  // degrade or disable non-essential features
}

Tradeoffs: this raises the bar but creates a dependency (clients can copy assets and host them locally). Obfuscation/minification buys time but is reversible, so don’t rely on it alone.

Contract and evidence are the strongest lever. Add a short clause in agreements requiring visible credit, keep dated source-control commits and screenshots, and keep original files and emails. If needed, copyright registration and a takedown (DMCA) are the enforcement routes. Keep records (git commits, hosted previews, emails) so you can prove authorship quickly.

For free tools: use Terser/Uglify (minify/obfuscate), exiftool (embed image metadata), Git (timestamped history), and reverse-image search / alerts for monitoring. Combine these layers — design integration, a small hosted asset, contract language, and monitoring — to make removal inconvenient, detectable, and enforceable.

Recommended Answers

All 5 Replies

Member Avatar for ~s.o.s~

No, IMO no such thing exists, at least not in terms of code. No matter how hard you try, anyone can copy your layout, design, Javascript etc. of your site and use them. Maybe some other legal alternatives?

Member Avatar for bennymartinson

It may not be possible to make code that can not be taken out, but it is easy to make it more difficult to do this, by nesting javascript functions, for example, or using minimized code or both.

You could also display this information with an image, that also serves as an integral part of the design. It could still be taken out easily with Photoshop, but this gives one more barrier that might prevent it from happening. Especially if the text is over a pattern or image, but make sure if you do that it is still highly legible.

A third, more remote option is using Flash.

Hope this helps.

Member Avatar for Member #380484

You could do this using PHP where a part of the site is generated with PHP that is hosted by you on your server... and also prints your signature block with that part of the site.

In essence you would have to have control of part of the site files that your clients cannot get at.

But talking purely javascript, I agree, nothing is beyond hijacking when it's on the web ... even my PHP approach could be circumvented by making a copy of the viewed-source and inserting that into new html files...

So to answer you question again -- no

But if you're making these sites for people, it is safe to assume that most of them will not have the knowledge to remake the site without your signature, or they would likely have made the site instead of having you do it.

Member Avatar for nikesh.yadav

i m with langsor,
u can protect ur php code bcoz it is server side script but u cannot able to hide javascript and html . but u can encrupt ur html page for this many free tools avilable

try these free tools

Member Avatar for Grantmitch1

Thank you.

Do you know any free tools that are good?

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.