cPanel look & feel

[tlsuess]

Hi,

My name is Todd, and I am a teenager programming in PHP. I have been to several web hosts through the past couple of years, and I have noticed quite a few have used cPanel. So, I wanted to make my own copy that looked and acted almost like cPanel itself. In lack of a good term, a "clone". Except, it's not exactly a clone, as much as it is its look and feel.

I wrote this to study PHP, challenge myself, and help some people out while making some money in the process. I have not made this public yet, but I was asking if I would be able to do this.

Here is a copy I uploaded: http://www.xetaspace.net/_panel-t/ .

You may log in with:
[Administrator]
Username: admin
Password: demo

or with:
[Hosting Client]
Username: demo
Password: demo

If you go there, you'll see it looks a lot like cPanel since I tried to make it look like cPanel as much as I could. I called it "tPanel". I'll be changing all the "cPanel X" titles to "tPanel X" soon. It isn't a replica since cPanel runs as a server program (as I've heard) while tPanel is simply some PHP scripts acting together to form a web hosting control panel.

I would like to ask what your opinion is on this. Would I be able to release this publically? Should I change some features?

I'm only 15, so I don't want to start a lawsuit or get sued.

Thanks,
Todd

[jrehmer]

Nice idea....but I'm sure you're open to a number of different types of lawsuits.

Best to write everything from scratch on your own, as you are obviously talented.

[webignition]

I would like to ask what your opinion is on this. Would I be able to release this publically? Should I change some features?

Todd, you certainly have potential for becoming a decent PHP developer, although that predominantly depends on the quality of code and the coding methods you use and doesn't so much depend on what the end product does (anyone can make an end product do something, it's how the product does it that's important).

I'd recommend using cPanel as an example to follow of the level of functionality to include in a hosting control panel, but that's it.

I'd recommend staying well away from mimicking the cPanel interface so precisely for a number of reasons:

1) cPanel might not like it (although they're generally decent people, they would probably draw the line at something that looks and behaves identially to their product).

2) The standard cPanel skins are simply atrocious when it comes to usability and accessibility. Save up some cash and get yourself a good book on interface design and come up with something better - please!

[tlsuess]

Thanks for your support. I am re-designing the interface. It shouldn't be that hard since I've been working on some so far. I just don't want to start any trouble with cPanel.