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I'm using some images (mainly as backgrounds, but otherwise I may as well) for my a website I'm making.

Does the 'share alike' clause effect the license of my website (the code, html, css, javascript, etc)?

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No. Your website can be considered a 'medium through which you share the image', so you can use and share the image, while not sharing your own code.

But you DO have to share the image, and share any modifications you make to it. So if you're using a forest photo and stylize it or draw creatures in, you MUST allow other to use that image. And of course, you have to include proper attribution, so it'll affect your design/layout/sitemap a bit.

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    This leads to a philosophical question: Does this mean that if i overlay a transparent layer on top of the image then I do not need to share the changes? What if i print my advert on a transparency and overlay the share alike image? How far can i stretch the concept? – joojaa Mar 21 '16 at 12:04
  • That @joojaa sounds like a question for a lawyer! ;) – Cai Mar 21 '16 at 12:18
  • @CAI: Or for Open Source ;) – unor Mar 21 '16 at 13:52
  • @joojaa If you overlay a transparent layer in HTML, you're not editing the image. If you're printing on semitransparent paper, you're not modifying the image - although it will be tricky to recapture it accurately. Regardless, you still have to include accreditation to the original image. ___The big important part is whether or not you keep all the IP objects separate or not. In a website, it's super easy to isolate an image. In a print ad, all layers are merged so it's much harder to isolate, so you might have to allow reprints/modification. Then again, who wants ads + credit links? – PixelSnader Mar 22 '16 at 8:39
  • @PixelSnader My point is that courts of law do not read licenses like they were code, trying to circumvent a licensing requirement does not necessarily work as straightforwardly as you claim. So since we are not lawyers its hard to say how it would be interpreted. – joojaa Mar 22 '16 at 8:47

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