Uses a lot of inuitcss without any attribution

[csswizardry]

Hi,

I notice that ConciseCSS uses a lot of my own inuitcss—copied and pasted, no less—without attribution. This is not only a bit of a not-cool thing to do, it actually goes against inuitcss’ licensing (Apache2).

Cases include, but are not limited to:

• The directory structure. Generic, Base, Objects
• The font-sizing mixin inuitcss’ | ConciseCSS’
• The vendor mixin inuitcss’ | ConciseCSS’
• Defaults inuitcss’ | ConciseCSS’
• Feature switches inuitcss’ | ConciseCSS’
• General similarities in formatting and structure (ToC, commenting, feature switches, etc.) e.g. inuitcss vs. ConciseCSS

I could go on, but I don’t think I need to. Please either: include inuitcss as a submodule or dependency and extend it; give complete and proper attribution, as per inuitcss’ license; write your own code and don’t use any of inuitcss.

Thanks,
Harry

[keenanpayne]

Harry,

I'm sorry about that! I used inuitcss for a lot of my projects before I started building my own and loved all of the code that you wrote for it (not to mention I was very used to things like the directory structure and feature switches)! I'm writing up proper attribution in the readme, and in the comments for every single file that may have a mixin or similar code from you, please let me know if you would want anything else.

I hope you don't see me as just stealing your code, by no means did I mean to be a thief or an ass with the Concise framework!

Thanks for bringing this up, let me know if there's anything else I can do/change/whatever.

Best,
Keenan

[csswizardry]

Thanks for your response, and your action so far.

I still think that—given that ConciseCSS is built upon all of inuitcss’ fundamentals (architecture, paradigms, features, etc.)—it wouldn’t be too far a stretch to refer to ConciseCSS as an inuitcss-based framework.

It is very unlike me to get so defensive, but given that they are 90% identical, I would appreciate if you mention inuitcss a little more directly. Perhaps, in your readme:

Concise is a lightweight, front-end framework that provides a number of great features without the bloat. Concise is built based on Object-Oriented CSS principles and keeps semantics in mind to provide a small learning curve, but a high level of customization.

…becomes:

Concise is an inuitcss-based, lightweight, front-end framework that provides a number of great features without the bloat. Concise is built based on Object-Oriented CSS principles and keeps semantics in mind to provide a small learning curve, but a high level of customization.

And on the marketing site:

Give up the bloat. Accomplish more with less. Welcome to Concise.

…becomes:

Give up the bloat. Accomplish more with less. Welcome to Concise: an inuitcss-based framework which [this is where you tell people what ConciseCSS does better/differently/more].

Thanks again for your swift response, I’m reckoning we can put this to bed pretty quickly :)

[keenanpayne]

Harry,

Of course, I'm more than happy to work with you on this. I appreciate you being forthright with me about your concerns and addressing them in a manner I'm sure most people wouldn't 😃

Regarding the issue at hand, I have already done the following:

1. Made mention to inuitcss on the readme
2. Added attribution in the _defaults.scss, _mixins.scss, _grid.scss, and _shared.scss files
3. Removed the debug code
4. A link on our credits page
5. Did a little write-up in our latest release about this issue

Now here is what I borrowed from inuitcss:

1. Directory structure (made a few modifications)
2. File naming conventions
3. _defaults.scss structure and the feature switches
4. Similar commenting style that you wrote about in your CSS Guidelines throughout the project and in the concise.scss file
5. Modified @font-size mixin and straight copy of the @vendor mixin in _mixins.scss
6. Vertical rhythm technique in _shared.scss

Everything else, including styling for default elements (lists, forms, tables, lists, etc), the added objects (navigation, dropdowns, buttons, progress bars, etc), other mixins (grid, push, pull) as well as JavaScript (minus the naver code) was written by myself.

If we did a diff comparison (http://www.alanhart.co.uk/tools/compare-css.php is one tool we can use), we can see that they are not very close to being 90% similar (I ignored the normalize.css code since I'm sure ours are close to identical).

Given the amount that I used from inuitcss, wouldn't you agree that there is a fair number of mentions to inuitcss throughout the project?

I really don't want to step on your toes at all, as I respect you and the work that you do (both on your blog and on inuitcss). However, I don't want to discredit all of the work that I have put into Concise over the past 6 months.

I look forward to hearing back from you! Like you said, I'm sure we can get this dealt with pretty soon, thanks again for working with me on this 😄

[binyamindavid]

I am a fan of both of inuitcss and ConciseCSS, i think both of you guys rock. Is it possible that you guys close this issue and discuss it on email or over a pint?

[keenanpayne]

If I'm ever overseas, the pint is on me 🍺

[csswizardry]

Apologies, the 90% was a little alarmist; I’m not sure how that made the cut, but I take that back.

My only problem is that when we’re talking about [CSS] Frameworks, the majority of the work lies in the architecture. The code itself is largely irrelevant—I’m not that bothered about you using the font-size() mixin, for example—it’s the [file] structure and the principles/fundamentals that make a framework what it is. This is why I’m being unusually defensive here. People use/steal/take/reappropriate my code all the time, but I seldom come across wholesale reimplementations of an architecture.

My beef here isn’t with specific snippets of code; it’s with the fact that ConciseCSS is clearly based on the principles of inuitcss with inappropriate attribution.

However, I don't want to discredit all of the work that I have put into Concise over the past 6 months.

Nor do I, but I would appreciate if you could appropriately credit the x years I put into it.

Adding my requested changes won’t detract from ConciseCSS at all—you already seem to be getting great traction (perhaps from just having a pimped out site for it; something that inuitcss has never had!)—but it would fairly attribute the principles behind your work (and it would shut me up).

Many thanks,
H

[keenanpayne]

I can understand the file structure thing to a point, but I find it to still be trivial. There are quite a few ways people recommend organizing SASS projects.

Now what "principles of inuitcss" are you referring to? Is it the OOCSS, easy-to-use/modify or lightweight aspects? I'm confused about what principles of Concise you think are based on inuitcss that have not been implemented in any other area of front-end development.

I built Concise with all of these principles in-mind from the get-go. If anything, I worked with SMACSS and this article in mind as I developed the framework. Inuitcss really was not the driving inspiration for the principles behind Concise. A lot of the principles also came from my own needs and 7 years of experience as a front-end developer.

However, I did use some of the code in inuitcss to help with these principles, mainly the feature switches and _defaults.scss file. For that I give all of the credit to inuitcss.

I will not say that Concise is an inuitcss framework because I'm afraid it will detract from the framework, but because it sincerely isn't. The most that I borrowed from inuitcss is in my previous comment, I promise.

[csswizardry]

There are quite a few ways people recommend organizing SASS projects.

Yes, and this one is mine. And to call it a ‘file structure’ is something of a misnomer—it’s an architecture. Sane import orders, etc.

Now what "principles of inuitcss" are you referring to?

As above, the feature switches, default files, small footprint, highly composable. I’m not saying I invented these things, hell no, but I certainly put them all together is a fairly recognisable manner:

CONCISECSS                   INUIT.CSS

.                            .
├── _defaults.scss           ├── _defaults.scss
├── base                     ├── _inuit.scss
│   ├── _blockquotes.scss    ├── base
│   ├── _container.scss      │   ├── _code.scss
│   ├── _forms.scss          │   ├── _forms.scss
│   ├── _grid.scss           │   ├── _headings.scss
│   ├── _headings.scss       │   ├── _images.scss
│   ├── _lists.scss          │   ├── _lists.scss
│   ├── _main.scss           │   ├── _main.scss
│   ├── _selection.scss      │   ├── _paragraphs.scss
│   ├── _tables.scss         │   ├── _quotes.scss
│   └── _type.scss           │   ├── _smallprint.scss
├── concise.scss             │   └── _tables.scss
├── generic                  ├── generic
│   ├── _clearfix.scss       │   ├── _brand.scss
│   ├── _conditional.scss    │   ├── _clearfix.scss
│   ├── _helper.scss         │   ├── _debug.scss
│   ├── _mixins.scss         │   ├── _helper.scss
│   ├── _normalize.scss      │   ├── _mixins.scss
│   ├── _print.scss          │   ├── _normalize.scss
│   └── _shared.scss         │   ├── _pull.scss
├── objects                  │   ├── _push.scss
│   ├── _badges.scss         │   ├── _reset.scss
│   ├── _breadcrumbs.scss    │   ├── _shared.scss
│   ├── _buttons.scss        │   └── _widths.scss
│   ├── _colors.scss         ├── objects
│   ├── _dropdowns.scss      │   ├── _arrows.scss
│   ├── _groups.scss         │   ├── _beautons.scss
│   ├── _navigation.scss     │   ├── _block-list.scss
│   ├── _progress.scss       │   ├── _breadcrumb.scss
│   └── _wells.scss          │   ├── _columns.scss
                             │   ├── _flexbox.scss
                             │   ├── _flyout.scss
                             │   ├── _greybox.scss
                             │   ├── _grids.scss
                             │   ├── _icon-text.scss
                             │   ├── _island.scss
                             │   ├── _link-complex.scss
                             │   ├── _lozenges.scss
                             │   ├── _marginalia.scss
                             │   ├── _matrix.scss
                             │   ├── _media.scss
                             │   ├── _nav.scss
                             │   ├── _options.scss
                             │   ├── _pagination.scss
                             │   ├── _rules.scss
                             │   ├── _split.scss
                             │   ├── _sprite.scss
                             │   ├── _stats.scss
                             │   └── _this-or-this.scss

However, I did use some of the code in inuitcss to help with these principles […] For that I give all of the credit to inuitcss.

Forgive the crude analogy, but that’s like copying someone’s painting and crediting them for the idea to use the colour blue. The whole is other than the sum of its parts—what makes inuit.css what it is is not a mixin or two, but the way in which I chose to bring it all together.

Perhaps we can’t settle this one amicably, so I’m not going to say anything more on the matter unless I absolutely have to.

Best,
Harry