Google Code

[MusicalMatt]

So I'm in the long-term process of building my own website, and in searching for web-building resources found Google Code. Now I don't have much knowledge with raw HTML, but I've looked at examples of source code from Google Code in use (see Ricci Adams' Musictheory.net - Welcome) and can definitely see its value.

Of course, though, I've got some questions.

First off, does anyone have experience with Google Code and can give me advice/warnings/tips/etc. about using the codes they provide?

Also, if I'm reading correctly all the codes are available under Creative Commons license, but just to be clear does that mean I could just take the code from Google Code and the linked site above and stick it on my site ver batum?

Thanks.

[aussieNickuss]

Not all the code on Google Code is written by Google themselves (that's mostly just for their own APIs), it's also a repository where other developers host their own projects for others to use and/or contribute too. Along the lines of Sourceforge.

I've had a fair bit of experience using other peoples code from there and it's all been of high quality. I once downloaded a PHP CSV class written in-house by Google that served me very well. But being a community site, I'm sure you'll find some garbage on there. Just depends on what you want I guess. If it works, that's great, if it doesn't, look for something else.

Creative Commons means that the work is free ($), but may have some usage limitations. For example, some code may have no limits, where you can freely modify and redistribute to your hearts content, while others may require attribution (link back or credit), or for you to use as is and not modify. These terms should be listed on the particular project page. Read up on CC at wikipedia for the different definitions.

[ZenDude]

Other code-repositories are github (github.com) and SourceForge (sourceforge.net). Quality differs, ofcourse.

Building your own site is somewhat broad, like someone saying they want to grow their own food. Do you want to have some potted herbs, or do you want a farm so you can be self-sufficient year-round?

So I'd first ask myself: what is the purpose of building my own site? Do I just want to learn about websites in general? Do I want to have a good looking website asap for some other goal? And then go from that.