Got Web Ideas? Fishing for the Answers?
Think Outside The Code First!
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Facts, Thoughts, and Opinions About Web Development and Business Strategy
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I have dealt with this a couple of time recently so I thought I would blog it. There seems to be a handful
of ISPs or fly-by-night developers out there who are using Content Management Systems (CMS) as a way of
offering Website design without explaining to the client that they are using it in order to offer rock
bottom prices for design a canned CMS program is used.
First of all, if a canned CMS product is used then the client should be informed of it so they can at least
update their own pages. However, using a CMS product is kinda-sorta shady when it is used to create the
perception that the developer is actually building the Website.
More troubling is the fact that the CMS system being used is built with an out-dated technology. I recently took
on a new client who has a CMS system for their site. They did not know it and worse it was built in Classic ASP
despite being commissioned in the Fall of 2007. The CMS system would have been a great product 8 years ago but
not by today's standards. Fumbling through blocks of inline scripting code and tons of include files is not fun.
The CMS system also pits the client in a bad position as far as customization. In my case, we needed to perform
several taks when my company took over includung Search Engine Optimization and modifying the business logic of
the shopping cart. This is basically impossible with the CMS system that is in place. Complicating matters further,
it was just thrown together by the former developer and many of the built-in tools the CMS system does have that
would benefit the application such as META keywords and titles has been ommitted from the pages. It was a quick and
easy way to get a Website up but not a solution that was beneficial to the client who would have paid more for a
custom solution.
It is so easy in the business to dupe people in return for fast cash. Developers should be covering all the bases
and actually show that they care about their clients and their success. Unfortunately, what I described above is what
many developers consider success - the ability to make fast, low-dollar cash.
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