When I posted my initial question on this subject, List Mom asked me to post a summary of any useful ways of dealing with this problem. Please note this is an Off Topic subject and List Mom has requested that any replies should be sent to me, mail(at)johnbegg.com. This is strictly OFF LIST.
Many thanks to all who took the time to reply to me off list. Other information will have already been seen on list, so this is a brief summary of what was suggested to me off list: The consensus of opinion received was that while there are solutions to the problem, anyone who is even only slightly technically competent can get around them by, taking a screenshot for example. And, of course, images can always be found in the temporary internet folders. Alex Black kindly provided me with a script that does indeed work, and I now use this on my own site. The code needs to be written into every page, and not just the index page. (I chose to do this as, IMHO, it makes me look professional and serious about my work. I accept that the determined will still take images if they want.) In addition some people surf with Java turned off which negates the effect of the script. Richard Earney suggested designing the site with XHTML and CSS to create a box (using a div tag) and set the background of the div to include the picture. With this you cannot simply drag the picture. David Eaton suggested Flash, but again, this will not stop a determined image thief, and this brings many people back to the concerns over using a plug-in based tool (not everyone will have the latest version installed etc. though Macromedia quote coverage over 94% of the net population, and you can export Flash files for earlier versions of the plug-in). With Flash someone would have to be a little more inventive to get the images. As all of the above only serves to prevent casual users from taking images, the only real solution to the image theft problem is simply to watermark the images, and accept that if you wish to use the web as a shop window some people will take your images. John Begg =============================================================== GO TO http://www.prodig.org for ~ GUIDELINES ~ un/SUBSCRIBING ~ ITEMS for SALE
