Free Website License

[benuski]

Does anyone know of a good free software license to use to license a website that I am making?

[meng]

A website isn't software ... what sort of license did you have in mind? Perhaps you could use a Creative Commons license?

[benuski]

Well, I mean that I want to allow anyone to use both the text of the website and the source code of the website freely. The GNU FDL doesn't really cover that, and I don't really like the CC licenses.

[smoker]

why don't you just state that fact on the home page, then no one has any doubts?

[Tomosaur]

A licence is arbitrary - there are no legal requirements to use an already existing licence except in very specific circumstances. A licence simply states the permissions you wish to grant your users. Most licences have a basic format - usually something like this:

Definitions - what certain phrases mean (ie, 'The User' - someone who visits the site, 'The Owner' - whoever created the site, 'The Host' - whoever hosts the site etc etc etc)

Permissions - what you allow people to do. Many licences work this by telling you what you're NOT allowed to do, since this list is invariably smaller, and the list of what you CAN do is just inferred from this.

Disclaimers - this is generally standard, and tells the reader that he/she can't sue you or the web host etc if he/she suffers any malady from your work. In some cases - this can be nullified in court if your content is illegal or causes damage to others intentionally etc etc.

If you don't really care what the user does with your content, you can just say this however you want:
"Do whatever you like with this website, including copying, redistributing, citing" etc etc. The onus is then on the user - if they use it for academic purposes - they can still be accused of plagiarism etc.

[matthew]

Well, I mean that I want to allow anyone to use both the text of the website and the source code of the website freely. The GNU FDL doesn't really cover that, and I don't really like the CC licenses.You could simply put it into the Public Domain (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain), which means you release it into the wild with no strings attached. Check the link and see if it fits what you are thinking.

[Sunnz]

Maybe the Open Software License v. 2.1 (http://opensource.org/licenses/osl-2.1.php), the one used by opensource.org?

Artistic License (http://opensource.org/licenses/artistic-license.php) maybe suit you too... otherwise you should take a look at opensource.org, which just has a huge list of licences.