Reverse engineering web software/pages?

[Tim Cole]

Just curious...if I wanted a similar page with similar functions as one currently existing, is it possible to reverse engineer the page and put up on my own server?

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Yes, ethical? Not so

There are plenty of script grabber programs out there.

[Jimbob Jones]

Useful tool in Firefox:

View>page source.

If there's a site you like and it's pretty small, it may be worth emailing the owner; IME a lot of people are willing to talk about their site's coding, even if it is just to show you how great it is (and I guess you can get a lot of good info from that!)

[T-Bird]

Hi.

Originally Posted by Jimbob Jones

Useful tool in Firefox:

View>page source.

If there's a site you like and it's pretty small, it may be worth emailing the owner; IME a lot of people are willing to talk about their site's coding, even if it is just to show you how great it is (and I guess you can get a lot of good info from that!)

^This.

I'm as far from a HTML/internet expert as one can be, but I've used the source code viewer or what ever that's called for "snagging up" codes I didn't know.

A real world programmer will use macros and sub-programs that he calls from other sources though, so just copying the visible code won't probably work.

But, the graas-root programmers are often firm believers of open-code/shareware concept, so asking them will most probably be the easiest way just as Jimbob Jones said.

That won't obviously work on commercial sources.

Regards
Sam

[L-A]

You can have similar content and structure (markup, style sheets), but "functions" are done via javascript, which you can see, and server-side scripts (PHP, ASP, Java, etc.), which you can't and won't see, because they are already executed; their output is what you receive.

[Dirk Diggler]

HTTrack is a nice app that grabs everything pretty well.
But if it's just a certain function the page source is the easiest way.
And there is nothing unethical about that IMHO, anything online is up for grabs.
Dirk

[L-A]

Originally Posted by Dirk Diggler

HTTrack is a nice app that grabs everything pretty well.
But if it's just a certain function the page source is the easiest way.
And there is nothing unethical about that IMHO, anything online is up for grabs.
Dirk

Save commercial or mass distribution goals:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooks_S...nt_controversy

[Phil Smith]

Reverse Engineering wouldn't be looking at the page source or copying the javascript. Reverse Engineering would be looking at the page and using your skill as a programmer and designer to achieve the same look and feel of the original page.