clients messing up their websites

[Emmanize]

There is nothing worse then seeing your clients mess up their own website you did…especially when its on your portfolio. I don’t think my clients want to pay for updates so they are doing it themselves. What do you do?



The one I did for Ryan I had a “Read More” link for updates….but his done it so its scrolling at the side. I feel a bit funny saying it doesn’t look good that way, but what do you do? I don't have many sites on my portfolio yet so i can't really descise it. :confused:

[ecsyle]

Its out of your hands. You might be able to work out some sort of maintenance deal with them, or to put together a policy or guidelines for them to reference. Other than that, you are out of luck. I have to deal with the same thing. I give them the ability to add content, but they don't know html or how to design. Just keep a screenshot of the site as you want it in your portfolio.

[M @]

Would it be completely unacceptable to host copies of the sites on your own site?

[EC]

^ It probably isn't a great idea to host duplicate copies of a site, the client could take an SEO hit for that. But a 1024x768 screen capture is something I'm giving some thought to personally.

Also, emma -- sometimes the client isn't aware that what they've done makes their site look funny. It may look great in their browser. Only web designers test the site out in different resolutions and software. Take a screen capture and email it to him as an FYI.

[BJMRGTIVR6]

I would use a screenshot and say original concept/design by you and then you can still use a link but with a note that you are no longer in charge of the layout and things may have changed.

[Sphinx]

I hear you! I've done a few that were really nice and now the client has destroyed them so bad I won't even give out the link. Happens quite a bit. I've offered to give them lessons in managing their site, but........

I just use a screencapture for my portfolio without a link...I don't giving excuses for someone elses mess.

[Virgo Nightingale]

What about giving a prospective employer or client the site burned on a CD? You can choose to use the site as it existed when you first finished and published the site, and perhaps include a disclamer somewhere on the CD jacket that site updates were not part of your contract with the client, and as such they may have made changes to the live site that you did not have a part in.

[CamarotaDesign]

now this is the scenerio where having knowledge of programming to build a web portal would be nice

[Piscosour]

That's why you have to offer your clients web sites with Control panels which allows administrators and users to edit, modify, delete information in general without ruining the front end

[Emmanize]

Control panels...don't these cost? I haven't really looked into these but I have seen a couple of websites about them.

Its maybe update pages, because they are always adding to it.

[Emmanize]

Ok I am in a pit of a pickle. They want to update one of the other sites I did by adding links but they say they can't because it makes the page go "funny". I know what it is, they need to amend a bit of the css and html. I feel I am building my sites to complicate for them to edit but I don't know how to make it any easy for them without using tables.

[CamarotaDesign]

Maybe there is a simple javascript you can use where all the client has to do is change a txt file and then upload to the site and a script can read it and plug it in to where it should be. like a txt file for links and one for text? There's gotta be something like that, there is for actionscript, and actionscript and javascript are very similar.

[ecsyle]

What about giving a prospective employer or client the site burned on a CD? You can choose to use the site as it existed when you first finished and published the site, and perhaps include a disclamer somewhere on the CD jacket that site updates were not part of your contract with the client, and as such they may have made changes to the live site that you did not have a part in.
My sites are all database driven, require server side scripting, and sometimes, 3rd party software running on the server. Burning cds is out of the question really.

now this is the scenerio where having knowledge of programming to build a web portal would be nice

That's the problem, give them a control panel to manage content, and they mess it all up.

[chris_bcn]

blog software - it's overkill in many cases, but it would solve this problem. or Adobe COntribute.

They're not all free, but really, how much is there time worth? they can buy contribute for $150 or spend countless hours trying to get their site to look good.

Or put you on a retainer for site changes.

Penny wise, pound foolish

[Emmanize]

Thanks chris,

I will try the Contribute programme.

How exactly does it work? I have read the adobe website but wouldn’t they still need to make amends the html?

[chris_bcn]

nope - you have to set it up in dreamweaver with editable regions, and they just pulled from the server, make their edits, as they would in word, click publish and they're done.

Not the most elegant solution in the world, and puts lots of inline styles inyour markup, but it is easy and it works

[Emmanize]

Would this work for container heights? as this is what the main problem seems to be.

[chris_bcn]

I don't see how that would be a problem - I assume you've made them scale, or have an overflow?

[Emmanize]

I haven't used an overflow; I made it so that the whole container scrolls. But for some reason it’s not resizing in height when the text reaches the bottom of the container. Have I missed anything? If I have Ill quickly make amendments.