The Rantings of a Web Designer
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The following is a list of websites we once created that have undergone an exceptionally horrible decline in quality and/or functionality after the site owners either moved their websites to cheap website hosts or transferred their site development to the high school student who mows their lawn. The hack developers who ruined these sites will remain nameless because mentioning them would be free advertisement on their behalf, and would also likely result in a lawsuit that would be laughed out of court when the judge sees the following side-by-side comparisons. After all, the truth can’t be held as defamation. These are their stories… Table of Contents
Hopefully making mistakes is a learning experience. This learning experience involves giving FTP access to clients who don’t know what the hell they are doing. The original Paris Gibson Square was a fine representation of the look and feeling of their museum. However, being a relatively non-profit organization, they didn’t want to spend a ton of money on the required maintenance. They opted for purchasing the website editor, which worked well for them… up until they hired a self-proclaimed ‘web developer’ to do the work on their site. Apparently the web editor ‘wasn’t enough’ for him, and he requested FTP access, which gave him free reign over the Paris Gibson site. It didn’t take long before he botched every PHP script on the index page, and finally resorted to (literally) wiping the slate clean and making a whole new site in flat HTML. He has stripped the site out of all of its character and individualism, leaving behind an empty shell of what it once was, all in a bit to cover up his own errors. However, because now that the website is coded in HTML, changes to the website have to be channeled through Mr. Web Developer instead of anyone who has permission to use the editor. He screwed up the website and in doing so created job security. Kudos, Mr. ‘Web Developer’.
This is the usual story of someone who has a son/daughter/nephew/niece/friend/cat-sitter who took a semester of high school HTML and thinks that they can maintain their website with results on par with, say, a guy who received a Bachelor’s Degree in web development and has years of experience under his belt. After all, creating a website is as effortless as typing up a Word document, right? Not only was everything dynamic (searchable, database driven, uploadable, editable, etc) in this website stripped out and hard-coded into the pages, but a majority of the style elements were lost. All of this was because she found internet hosting for $5/month. However, the ‘cheaper’ host’s package didn’t include the database or even the basic PHP functionality that her website once required in order to work. The real kicker is that when the website was ‘redone’ by this lady’s son, he changed the “Designed by” credit at the bottom of the page to reflect his own website company. We were offended at first, but after reviewing his work on this site (and his work on his own web development/quilts/painted plates website), we thought he actually did us a favor. In our mind it’s like owning a nice car that has your last name on the license plate: When the car gets trashed, you get a generic license plate so that other people in the parking lot won’t know it’s yours. All in all, it was another classic example of someone taking their $2000 professionally developed website (design, dynamic features, etc), and flushing it down the toilet because they didn’t want to spend an extra $50/year on website hosting. That’s like saying “I have $2000 in a savings account, but I’m being charged yearly for capital gains tax. To avoid the tax, I’m going to put the $2000 into a paper bag, and set it on fire.” If you are this ‘financially savvy’, then you have the IQ of a tube of Chapstick.
“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.” – Einstein As web developers we have learned that no matter what level of product you produce for your clients, they will 99% of the time want something LOWER. The example above is classic: we created a rough draft of a web page concept using the guidelines they gave us. When presenting this to the client, they turned their noses and later sent us the ‘after’ picture, and told us to copy it EXACTLY. Normally, this wasn’t considered ‘out of the norm’ for our harder-to-please clients, but then we saw the picture they wanted us to reproduce (see ‘after’ picture again). I’m at a loss for words… It’s like owning a restaurant and your customer orders a steak. You make a decent steak, but when you present it to them, they tell you to take the steak back, buy a can of dog food, and microwave it for them. And they still pay for the steak! After this project, I lost all hope for humanity. Seriously. It’s abysmal. After some ‘political fallout’ with the customer (or actually the project coordinator we have been dealing with) regarding implied trade-offs to compensate for the web work, we took down their site and they have since found a new coordinator and a new web developer. The results are not much better. How our ‘competitor’ keeps business is beyond my understanding. Maybe I should quote Einstein again: “Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.” – Einstein |
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4 Responses to “The Rantings of a Web Designer”
Super post, Need to mark it on Digg
bleh sounds like work sucks with you just be careful that your clients or bosses dont see this post or you can get in trouble
Hi LaughingMan,
First thing, thanks for visiting my blog and commenting on my pots.
I read your post and it’s really laughable.
Yes, the design you done looked nice and the job they did was terrible. Yes, “stupidity” is the correct word to use for those type of people.
Anyway, one thing to keep in mind is “customer first”. If you can’t convince them to use your design, then either you are not giving enough words, less say, no 10 page report stating the benefits of your design. OR, they are too out dated. It’s more likely the latter, because they are outdated and unknowledge that’s why they hire someone to do the job. However, that’s also why the first case come to play too. If they understand your design without explanation, they probably may not be hiring you… It’s their ability is too way lower than you, that’s why they pay.
Your design rocks. Keep up the good work and I will read more of your posts when have time.
One last comment: Your comment form is too dark. Please, I can’t read it. Luckily I’m a expert of 10 finger typing otherwise I would be spending hours just to type this much.
Cheers,
Binh
Hi Mr. Nguyen,
Thanks again for your blog post, it helped out a great deal on that technical issue I was fighting with.
Good eye on comment box being too dark to read. I’ll fix them, plus a few other things I’ve noticed as well.
Your words were definitely enlightening and well appreciated.
At the time of posting I just needed to vent. In the first two cases, we built their websites exactly as they specified, as fairly lame as they were. Both brought in precise mock-ups of what they wanted, and we gave it to them, no questions asked. Then, of no fault of our own, both put control of their sites in the hands of the inexperienced in an effort to save some money (which is understandable). One part of the story I neglected to add was that one of the site owners was extremely upset towards US for their site being destroyed by the novice, and that whole situation fed my need to rant.
Looking back at the last site, I probably couldn’t have warranted the ‘human stupidity’ remarks if not for the “I’m right, you’re wrong” attitude the client presented, as well as some of the behind-the-scenes backstabbing by the client’s agent/representative. Most of our other clients (ex: those who have never even used a computer) we treat with a great deal of respect and do our best to enlighten them as to why their needs would be met better with our methods. However, every so often there are people who get so horribly offended over any suggestion, regardless of how politely we try to explain our position.
I think that my entire rant can be summarized like this:
“I’m extremely angry that most people belittle website work and think that it is as easy as typing in a Word document. The common belief is that someone who took an HTML class in high school is on par with the work of specialists with college degrees and years of experience.”
Do you ever feel that way?
Thanks again for your wise words.
-LaughingMan
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