And if skinnability
is available to end users, that functionality might also be programmable. For example, WordPress
themes typically allow the owner of aWordPress site to change the set of global styles of the site.
Documentation
Good documentation of the features, the API, the data formats, and any other aspect of the
web site makes it much easier to understand and recombine its data and functionality. Are the
input and output data documented? If so, are there schemas, in other words, ways to validate
data? Are the formats properly versioned?
Documentation reduces the amount of guesswork involved. Moreover, it brings certainty
to whether a function you uncover through reverse engineering is an official feature or an
undocumented hack that has no guarantee of working for any length of time.
Is the Web Site Run on Open Source?
If the web site is powered by free or open source software, you have the option of studying the
source directly should reverse engineering??”or reading the relevant documentation??”not give
you the answers you need.
Intellectual Property, Reusability, and Creative Commons
Does the web site allow users to explicitly set the licensing of content and data, under Creative
Commons, for instance? Does the web site enable users to search and browse content by license?
Explicit licensing of digital content clears away important barriers to creating mashups with
that content.
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