Clients updating websites without me

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Hi guys, i bought a mac a few months ago (I love it so much i sleep with it sometimes :p literally i sleep beside it haha)

Annyywwwaay awkward comment over.

I have got 2 jobs lined up to make websites, one is to make a website for a local town (the official town site) and one for a funiture company. I currently have iweb and also Rapidweaver. However, once i've made the website and put it on the world wide web....how will they update it if they don't have a mac? :/ This is a major problem which could mean me losing out on £6,000
 

vansmith

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Code is platform-agnostic - the code you upload can be edited on any platform. The project files that you create with each (iWeb and RapidWeaver) are applications specific though. So, if you choose to use those apps, the clients will have to edit the code by hand.
 
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so basically there is no simple way for them to update? they would need me unless they know complex coding
 
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As I see it, you have three choices. 1) Treat it as a turnkey solution. You design the site for a price, and when it's done, it's theirs. From that point on, what they decide to do with it is up to them. They may choose to hire you again to update it, or they can choose to do it themselves. 2) Include a monthly maintenance clause where you choose to provide small updates once per month, and include it in the price of development. 3) Contract your services either on retainer or establish a fair hourly rate, above and beyond the cost of the site, for occasional updates.

As far as updating it, even though you're using Mac software to design it, it's HTML and related technologies - mostly platform agnostic. Someone savvy in web design could go in and tweak data as needed. And if they felt they needed a Mac to update it properly, they can certainly buy a brand new Mac Mini for $600 to do it.
 
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Macs aren't quite that cheap here in the UK unfortunetely haha

I'm having a meeting with the two companies next week, so i'll lay those options down on the table to them.


Thanks for your help!
 
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chas_m

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I personally think iWeb is pretty nifty, but there's NO WAY I would use it for a commercial product, and you've hit on one of several reasons why -- the HTML code it generates works well enough from a user perspective but is HORRIBLE from a future webmaster's perspective.

Of the two, Rapidweaver would be the CLEAR choice if those were my only options. iWeb just isn't designed for anything beyond a personal website, and those who try to make it do more are just putting lipstick on a pig, and it's not even a pig that has a future, or produces bacon (code) that anybody would want to work with. Okay, I think I hammed up the pig metaphor as far as I could take it. No point in trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. :)

Really, if you're going to be doing websites for a living, I'd invest in either Dreamweaver, Flux or Coda -- the "big boy toys" of web design. For a small town and a small local business the "mid-level" stuff would probably do for now -- Rapidweaver, Sandvox, Freeway -- but if there's any chance you're going to be the one maintaining this thing, you are GOING to want to lay down a solid foundation that you can tackle on any platform using almost any tool, and that means using professional tools to design the site right in the first place.
 
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If its going to be a large site that may need a lot of updates, by people who dont necessarily know web development then consider a Joomla, Drupal or even a wordpress based site

The site template can be designed with tools like rapidweaver and dreamweaver, but since it will be a database driven site, it can be easily updateded, and by not being a series of static pages, but a dynamic site, Google will pick it up a lot quicker
 
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I haven't used any of these programs mentioned heavily on a mac. Which would you say is the easiest to get to grips with?
 
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I haven't used any of these programs mentioned heavily on a mac. Which would you say is the easiest to get to grips with?

How much do you already know about html, CSS and javascript

Your level of knowledge of the above 3 will determine which program(s) people here will recommend
 
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Design the site in Adobe Dreamweaver with editable areas and the client can edit with Adobe Contribute.
 

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