Comments on: Dangerous curves ahead http://www.loewy.com/dangerous-curves-ahead/ The blog of Loewy Design Fri, 30 Dec 2011 15:18:38 -0500 hourly 1 By: Gilbert Midonnet http://www.loewy.com/dangerous-curves-ahead/comment-page-1/#comment-231 Gilbert Midonnet Thu, 25 Mar 2010 17:14:01 +0000 http://www.loewy.com/?p=653#comment-231 The solution that I found for that was to have a "go live" button. The page could be viewed, not only by the person who made the change but by others (supervisors, co-workers) and THEN, when they're confident that they haven't messed things up they click the "go live" button. The solution that I found for that was to have a “go live” button. The page could be viewed, not only by the person who made the change but by others (supervisors, co-workers) and THEN, when they’re confident that they haven’t messed things up they click the “go live” button.

]]> By: Kyle http://www.loewy.com/dangerous-curves-ahead/comment-page-1/#comment-226 Kyle Tue, 02 Mar 2010 18:26:50 +0000 http://www.loewy.com/?p=653#comment-226 When building a site with a CMS, your focus should be on the webmaster, not the client. I've built hundreds of content managed sites on various platforms. 95% of the time this CMS system is nothing more then a tool for ME to maintain the site. I have found the majority of end users and SMB owners don't want to be involved in the ongoing maintenance of their website. They want you to update it. The same as they want to drop off a cheque at the bank, and expect the bank to process it. With that said, how does this reflect on the strategy and planning process? Well my angle is I have developer CMS's, and I have end user CMS's. If an end user does not show particular proficiency with my 'easy to use' CMS, then I generally anticipate the fact that they will not sustain in on going maintenance, and if the scope of the project benefits from the use of my developer CMS, I opt to use the more advanced CMS. Having this efficiency during the build process allows me more flexibility with the ongoing request for maintenance. Have a pricing in mind and think on your feet to make the best decisions for a project. Clients don't always know what they want, they just know they want it. When building a site with a CMS, your focus should be on the webmaster, not the client. I’ve built hundreds of content managed sites on various platforms. 95% of the time this CMS system is nothing more then a tool for ME to maintain the site. I have found the majority of end users and SMB owners don’t want to be involved in the ongoing maintenance of their website. They want you to update it. The same as they want to drop off a cheque at the bank, and expect the bank to process it.

With that said, how does this reflect on the strategy and planning process? Well my angle is I have developer CMS’s, and I have end user CMS’s. If an end user does not show particular proficiency with my ‘easy to use’ CMS, then I generally anticipate the fact that they will not sustain in on going maintenance, and if the scope of the project benefits from the use of my developer CMS, I opt to use the more advanced CMS. Having this efficiency during the build process allows me more flexibility with the ongoing request for maintenance.

Have a pricing in mind and think on your feet to make the best decisions for a project. Clients don’t always know what they want, they just know they want it.

]]> By: Tony K http://www.loewy.com/dangerous-curves-ahead/comment-page-1/#comment-190 Tony K Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:46:11 +0000 http://www.loewy.com/?p=653#comment-190 I've always found it frustrating when you build a great, easy-to-use CMS for a client and then spend a few hours training them to use it only for them to ask you to change the text on the homepage. I think clients will always have the "I'm gonna blow up the site if I hit save" mentality, it's just through trial and error (and blowing up sites) that developers have learned that there's really nothing catastrophic that you can do from the admin. However building a great CMS for a client that doesn't want to dive in isn't a bad thing at all. Whether a client asks me to change content or add a page to the nav, having the CMS saves me tons of time and energy. Thinking back to Dreamweaver templates vs. MODx, the difference is night and day. I guess my point would be that CMS' are just as valuable (if not more) to the developer as they are to client. I’ve always found it frustrating when you build a great, easy-to-use CMS for a client and then spend a few hours training them to use it only for them to ask you to change the text on the homepage. I think clients will always have the “I’m gonna blow up the site if I hit save” mentality, it’s just through trial and error (and blowing up sites) that developers have learned that there’s really nothing catastrophic that you can do from the admin.

However building a great CMS for a client that doesn’t want to dive in isn’t a bad thing at all. Whether a client asks me to change content or add a page to the nav, having the CMS saves me tons of time and energy. Thinking back to Dreamweaver templates vs. MODx, the difference is night and day.

I guess my point would be that CMS’ are just as valuable (if not more) to the developer as they are to client.

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