Re: website update

I agree with Kari on this one.  While it's true that a jury-rigged
system may allow...or even encourage...the site owner to trash
their site, a properly programmed solution should allow them to
interact with a small database in such a way that the HTML files
themselves are never touched.  We do this commonly with Perl or
PHP and MySQL and the sites run smoothly.

Darrell


----- Original Message -----
From: "Kari" <kari(at)karisable.com>


:> I have a new website to make for a realtor.  I need to make the
site so
:> that she can update her listings herself (or have her assistant
do it).
:> Does anyone have any suggestions about the best and perhaps
easiest way
:> to accomplish this?  All I really have is a basic understanding
of HTML,
:> but I'm in this biz because I love it and am willing to learn
whatever I
:> need to accomplish the task.
:
: Tell her next time you buy a house, you're going to buy direct
from a home
:owner and skip the realtor.
:
:  We exist in an increasingly service based economy.  If everyone
wants to
:do everything for themselves, we won't have much economy left.  I
think the
:fact that you want the business is pushing you into accepting
this
:bad idea.

If the customer knows what they want, I doubt they will appreciate
an
attempt to talk them into something else, especially if what they
want is
available through other sources.

Small shops can have a difficult time competing with the huge
online
services set up specifically to provide an easy interface to a
specialized
field like real estate, in addition to other services like
marketing.

I would keep looking for a solution for this client. Depending on
the number
of listings they generate they may want to use some type of
database
interface. This of course would be more expensive to develop but
may be well
worth it in the end. I know Melinda(at)showcasewebdesign.com
developed similar
database interfaces for clients, you may want to contact her for
details.

Business people do not stay with companies that do not provide the
services
they are requesting, versus trying to sell them on something they
do not
want. I applaud your efforts to seek a solution for them.

In the case of real estate and used car sales, etc, it probably is
best for
the company to be able to add their own listings, as they could be
almost
constant and having up to date information is very important. Not
many small
design shops could handle constant updates and the cost of these
updates by
programmers would be prohibitively expensive for real estate
companies.
Since real estate agents generally write and place their own ads
in the
newspapers, listing directories, etc, it just makes sense that
they do this
as well.

Give the clients what they want ... just because they hire us for
a specific
job does not mean they are committed to us for everything or
anything else
in the future ... however, if we treat them right, they'll be
back, with
their colleagues...

Kari Sable Burns

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