UBB.Developers Forums UBB.threads 6 V6 Modifications V6 Mod Ideas Stylesheets above the root.

Is this mods possible? Currently the dir must be below the root, thus allowing the theft of custom css sheets.

If it is below the domain root then it is inaccessible though http and therefore you would keep you style sheets safe, but nobody could use them either.
Just add some coments to the css files stating you do not allow copying/stealing them.
Comments are done in this way:

/* comments */
/* more comments */
/* blah blah blah */

I don't think it would be. The browser is requesting the code, and if the browser can see it, so can the user.

The only thing I can think of is looking into mod-rewrite.

Just had a good suggestion on another board. Using Ultraedit I can search and replace tags in a heartbeat. soooooooooo since my templates dir is alreayd locked down, I'll just replace all the existing css tags with new names and replace the tags in the .tmpl files also. Will take maybe 15 or so minutes, and will drive the css theives nuts..

It's an evil solution, and I love it

Ah..ok. So for every instance of say, lighttable, you would replace it with something else like, brightone, or something. There's no 100% fix, but this isn't a bad idea.

It's a desperate way to do it... but I guess it will work

Well unless they can somehow hack my site and get my templates, the css is useless.. Well they could get color codes.. LOL another suggestion was to take each color used and make another unused tag to drive em even more insane..LOL

Well, they could view-source and root-out all of the instances to see what they're called and to know which ones are phony-baloneys.

Comparing source from their own, for example, showflat.php would make things even easier.

More of a speed bump...

Yup, but think of all the work they'd have to do..LOL

Well you better change the order around a bit as well since most will try and use beyond compare.

Yup run top style's style sweep LOL To alphabetize the order.

Use random class names like 383djfd3494054-5, and remove all the line breaks.

Now that is evil hehehehehehe

I'm thinking about the mod-rewrite deal. Gotta find out if my server has ReWrite on.

does the browser cache the stylesheet - I know sometimes after you make a change you have to hit force the refresh to see the changes. If so the shee would be stored in the cache.

At first I thought yes, but only the tag with the link to the css would be there.

yes the browser does cache the style sheets. I could clear my cache and view a page with a linked css file. This file along with the page will now be in my cache. With a little effort one could figure out what style names go where and then use search/replace and undo any efforts to keep them from being used.

Yeah Just like Dave said I see no reason even if they were outside the root to not allow stylesheet downloading. It is in the cache when the page loads. Even changing names people will be able to piece together what is what with some work if they really want that theme.

The css is not in the cache unless it was part of the page (i.e. <style> ...</style>) Only the link shows, in the page in the cache. I'm not giving up, gonna figure something out..:)

You could make your stylesheets ugly and buggy, so no one would want to steal them.

The css file linked to is in the cache - otherwise the browser couldn't read it either, there are some things you can't work around. It's one of the main benefits for using css, the file gets stored locally and all the browser has to do is download the now much lighter html code for the next page. If someone really wants it, they can take it easily. Any page you have a linked css file for, post the url, we can post the contents for it here

For instance, does this look familiar?
Edit: Can't post copyright material here. Removed JC's Stylesheet. - JoshPet

Forget it, I asked a genuine question, and get attacked. I'm outta here, you guys win. Sorry josh, thanks for the edit.

OK -

That did give me a laugh. But I removed it.

Duke....We cannot post copyrighted materials here without permission. JC does not share his works here.

I don't share here because I am not allowed to say where I'm from, or post my site url etc, like everyone else is.

You can share what you want to share here and don't share everything. That's fine - what I was enforcing that he can't post your stuff here unless you choose to share it.

JC did not choose to share that sheet here - so it can't be posted without his permission.

I have a question though - let's say you were able to make this stylesheet and secure it. Isn't the goal to then sell the theme to someone else?

Then, anyone visiting their site could just steal the sheet there....It seems similar to the mp3 battle...

I work with a lot of companies, that have requested it. I've actually had some go with Classic instead of threads to avoid the issue. Does it make sense, no. But I figured asking the coders here might bring some ideas to light.

For those that would truly like to learn css and not just grabs the work of others..

http://www.w3.org/TR/1998/REC-CSS2-19980512/propidx.html

Aspirin will be needed.

[]Mr_CSS said:
The css is not in the cache unless it was part of the page (i.e. <style> ...</style>) Only the link shows, in the page in the cache. I'm not giving up, gonna figure something out..:) [/]

Actually, it is in cache. The whatever.css file is loaded into the browser's cache. You can test this for yourself but I assure you it's true.

Yeah went cache diving. It just bugs me that you could spend a lot of time on a css sheet, only to have someone take it and do zero work and benefit from it.

<HTTP-EQUIV="PRAGMA" CONTENT="NO-CACHE">

http://support.microsoft.com/default.asp...;NoWebContent=1

That only gets rid of the files after the browser is closed or what not... for anything to be used such as external java script, style sheets or graphics they need to be loaded into the browser's cache. If I clear my cache and visit your site I can grab all of the page's related files from cache. Also, using the "save page as" feature will do that for me and place them in a directory for my inspection later.

If you must see to believe provide me with an url with a page containing your linked style sheet with a 'no cache' meta tag and I'll post your css file.

Already agreed with you And I concede the no cahce scenario. Actually at this point I'm just in a silly mood. It's been one of those days.

ack.. sorry didn't notice your post above your post... LoL my bad.

No big.. Part of my upset over those taking my css is the ones that claim it to be their own work and profit by it. If they left my copyrights intact that would be something at least.

I know, I'm naive to think anyone would do that. *J.C. goes off to whitehouse.org to read about copyrights*

People who take copyrights off someone's hacks and try and pass it off as their own just need to be whipped.

Yeah, if someone wants to steal from you - they will steal. It's not right -but it happens. Look how many bogus copies of threads we sometimes see. It's not right - but it happens. You can do your best to prevent it....and keep a watchful eye for those who do.

To bad there isn't a bounty on em LOL A while back I started watermarking my images. It's funny to hear people say "I made it" and my name is in the file LOL

There was a segment on TechTV's Screen Saver's show last night about digitally watermarking your images and how there are services that you can sign up for ($$$) that will spider the web and report where your images are being used.

Yeah, Digimarc does this. In fact, PSP8 has the feature built-in. All you have to do is regi$ter with Digimarc.

However, I messed around with it in PSP8 and I have been able to foil this, completely removing the digital watermark from the image. It is VERY easy if you know what you're doing (especially with small graphics).

If you don't believe me, test me.