Events Page

[stiney51]

I recently designed a site for an author who now would like the ability to update his events page himself. The page was hard coded html/css so and the client knows nothing about coding or even FTP to upload anything.

The only alternative I can think of is creating a back-end for that part of the site which of course would require a login to protect the validity of the information.

A few questions. One is there another easier way to do this? Two if not, how indepth are we talking here? My forte is certainly not in the realm of the coding world. Is there an easy package out there I could somehow use for that portion of the site through a wrapper or something (wordpress/Joomla or some other app) that would be an easy solution?

Already at about the end of the value spectrum for designing the site and am not really in the position to ask for more money. I'm inclined to offer free updates to that page rather than go through the hassle unless someone has any ideas.

Thanks,
Stiney51

[Jacorre]

Have him buy Adobe Contribute. They install the software on their computer. It's like a WYSIWYG editor where the user can edit content and change images, etc and then click upload and it will upload the changes to their server. Best thing about it is that you control what they can do or not do. Within Dreamweaver you can enable Contribute and then you send them a key which gives them access on their end.

[unleash]

You could ( I dont know if it is easy though) make an XML document in which you store the "events". Then you make the events page read that info put it in an array, and publish it on the site.

The owner only needs to change/ update the XML document and upload it to the server (which can be done very easy and with almost no technical know how).

I think that you should try to get him that prog of jacorre first though, that is less coding for you probably

Hope this helps though!

[Tamlin]

Originally Posted by unleash

The owner only needs to change/ update the XML document and upload it to the server (which can be done very easy and with almost no technical know how).

I disagree with that comment! I work with XML every day and you really need to know what you're doing when you're writing XML. Make a single error and your document will be classed as not well-formed and/or invalid.

[unleash]

True tamlin, but that is if you have really difficult stuff in your XML sheets.

If you just make a sheet like this:

<event>
<date>15 - 06 - 08</date>
<comment>Bladiebla blabla.....</comment>
</event>
<event>
<date>30 - 06 - 08</date>
<comment>snoooooorrreeeee</comment>
</event>

Than there isn't much that can be done wrong You could even write an app in flash to make those xml pages for you. Than he/ she only needs to fill out the form and hatsikidee there you have your XML page.

(I work with XML as well, not on a daily, but on a weekly bases )

[stiney51]

editing any kind of code isn't really an option... he even had me go into his amazon account to setup the affiliate program because he was lost. The time it would take me to code anything and then teach him how to do it would be more expensive than buying the software for him!

I'm going to have him evaluate Contribute and see if that'll work for him (It's easier than just about any other solution).

Thanks for the suggestions.

[unleash]

You could try the flash option,

Then the only thing he has to do is type in the fields ( like date, comment, author) and press the submit button....

But as said before, if you can get him to buy that software, do it that way

[DiscoS2]

A method you could use (very time consuming) is to database all the content that the person would want to change and instead of making tables, use place holders(i think thats the name for them) so that instead of the content being there it is called up off of a database that is online.
The person could then access the site via a login on the site where you would then have to create some sort of tool to edit content in different areas. I'm sure there are much easier and time efficient ways but its an idea.Wouldn't know where to start but good luck to you
Disco

[notjustgraphics]

Sorry for tagging this thread so far in, but I've been well, not here lol...

This is what I do day in and day out and it really comes down to a simple thing I have to remind myself of every day.

Q: 'What do you charge a client for?'
A: ANYTHING they would either have to do themselves, or pay someone else to do.

So whether it's updating the content for them or making it possible for them to do it themselves, it most definately should be a billable item.

The worst thing you can do is not address site maintenance up front. I know a lot of friends in the field who learned early on NOT to wait until the project is 90% done and have the client ask 'Will I be able to update it myself?'

If you are dealing with a typical client who has very little or no knowledge of HTML or other coding, you have little choice. They will either have to depend on you (or other providers) for updates, or you will have to give them a facility to do so themselves.

PHP/MySQL is my preferred choice for creating manageable websites as I can implement a simple backend rather quickly. XML, as Tamlin has pointed out, is very prone to format errors and is not really a feasible 'average client' tool unless you build an XML generator for them in which case, you're reinventing the wheel.

There are a few plugin scripts available at HotScripts.com and of course there are countless CMS systems such as Joomla which tend to carry far too much overhead and have a steep learning curve for the client that often outweights the benefit.

If you are comfortable in PHP and HTML Forms, a dynamic site with a simple to use backend is not all too difficult.

If its not too late, and you need a hand Stiney, send me a PM

Cheers!

[stiney51]

It appears that the client was content with the Contribute option. What this came down to was a misunderstanding to some extent as to what his needs would be and a decision on my part to try to avoid getting in over my head and spending too much non-billable time.

This was a friend of a friend situation to help get me through the unemployment crunch. I gave him a discount and he needed an easy and quick site. I wanted the easiest way out possible I could find honestly and it appears that the Adobe Contribute idea was one that kept us both happy and was fair.

It's a situation where you sell someone on being able to provide something and being caught with the realization that it wasn't going to be as quick and easy as you thought. Oh well, the client is/was happy and the end fee was pretty much worth what I got for it.

Thanks for the help and welcome back to the forum Mike.

[notjustgraphics]

Good to hear it worked out for you Stiney...

I'll admit I'm wholly unfamiliar with Contribute software.

Would you recommend it as a viable option for studios providing self-managed sites?

I think i'll look into it.

Cheers.

[stiney51]

There's a few pieces to it you can get. Essentially its Dreamweaver dummed down a bit with all the ability to edit/add/create and the ability to restrict certain things if you wanted to get into that.

You input the ftp info of the site and it pulls the site up for you to view. You then navigate around the site like you would in a browser and go to where you want to edit. Hit the edit button make your changes and hit publish.

It's ingenious in its simplicity and ease of use actually. Not something we would choose to use as an editor but I was pretty impressed dabling a little with it. Naturally there's a 30 day trial so it worked out well to have him test it out.

Adobe - Contribute CS3 : WYSIWYG HTML Editor, HTML Editor Software

[synthetic]

I setup a website for my stepmother this last winter. She has a catering business and I wanted to make it so she could update her own menu or bookings if she wanted so I used Joomla. I showed her how the text editor worked and gave her link to login as admin and she seemed to do ok with it although she still doesn't understand some of the more advanced formating features and options but she was able to handle it with some guidance once in a while.

Never considered Contribute probably because I never looked into what it really was

I will have to look into that more

[notjustgraphics]

I was once probably one of the biggest supporters of Joomla... and in fact, i still recognize it's strengths fondly. However, I find very few situations where the massive overhead of Joomla and it's inherent security exploits to be warranted.

I can often build an appropriately simple back end tool for my clients in less time than it takes to install and configure Joomla...

I then save even more time in coding the design as I am not bound by Joomla's somewhat restrictive templating system.

But for those who do needs most or all of Joomla's functionality, it is quite brilliant!

[synthetic]

Originally Posted by notjustgraphics

I was once probably one of the biggest supporters of Joomla... and in fact, i still recognize it's strengths fondly. However, I find very few situations where the massive overhead of Joomla and it's inherent security exploits to be warranted.

I can often build an appropriately simple back end tool for my clients in less time than it takes to install and configure Joomla...

I then save even more time in coding the design as I am not bound by Joomla's somewhat restrictive templating system.

But for those who do needs most or all of Joomla's functionality, it is quite brilliant!

that's understandable. Security issues is one of my biggest worries with that system too... but I think its the same issue with any open source development

and setup is a bit time consuming... I don't mind the template system so much now I understand how it works and can design my own if needed but... again more time

I rely on it a lot simply because I don't have a lot of php and MySQL programming experience myself and only know enough to mod existing code so makes sense that if you know the code better it might be more sensible to create the database system yourself... unfortunately I am still more of a designer than a programmer so I look for all the coding shortcuts I can find