Have a web etiquette question...

[Keli]

I'm wondering about something. I've been to a couple of web pages lately for some companies and also some churches that have the logo of the webpage designer on their index page with a link to the designer's index page. Obviously these companies and churches have agreed to this but I was wondering how standard that practice is? There's something about this practice that just doesn't seem quite right to me and yet it's a big boon to the designer to get their name out there. I can't decide what I think and whether I would do this or not if I started to design webpages.

 

[bicker]

It should be standard practice for any professional web designer, IMHO. In many ways, web design is as much of an art as it is a technical task, and the most valuable means of establishing credibility as a web designer is by having your customers link to your web site.

 

[Tinijocaro]

It's no different than the credits at the end of a movie- give credit where credit is due.

Jackie

 

[graygables]

It's a copyright issue, I'm sure. The church/company cannot take credit for another person's design.

 

[bicker]

Sorry, but no. Copyright is intellectual property, and therefore ownership of it can be transferred. In some circumstances, it is appropriate for the client to insist on receiving ownership of the IP.

However, that's unrelated to the issue here, I believe. Even in those circumstances where the client owns the IP, I believe it is appropriate for the web designers to insist on a screen credit, for the good of their business. If refused, I believe they should insist on significant additional compensation for that lack, strictly as a matter of what's best for their business, not any sort of legal issue.

 

[Blondy876]

Just like any artist, I would expect them to sign their work. I see nothing wrong with it.

 

[Crazoo]

Generally if you pay for the logo or design, you do not have to link to the designers page.

In this case, since it was a church, the designer may have designed the logo for free or at a discounted rate in return for a link back to his site.