Craig Wood wrote:
And as far as those of you who say you build websites for clients so you don't want people to know you need a tool to get the job done since you can't do it yourself without it, I am glad I am not a client of yours. If you need this tool to create the websites you sell you are no better than I am, and I have no education at all when it comes to programming. And you are being dishonest to them by letting them believe you actually have the knowledge to do this all by yourselves. Coffeecup software enables me to do it all by myself, with no knowledge on how it actually works. You want your clients to think you actually know what you are doing, pretty pathetic if you ask me.
Sorry, haven't checked this out in awhile...I found this quoted statement bothersome.
It's like saying I have to let Adobe put their stamp on any photo I edit with photoshop, or any borchure I put together using InDesign. By your logic, I don't know what I am doing as a graphic designer if I don't know how to understand and program Postscript.
Finding good tools to create a site easier does not make you a bad website designer and is in no way pulling the wool over client's eyes. It certainly does not mean you don't know what you are doing.
I have built a lot of sites using any number of different methods, and the fact remains...Clients don't care what's under the hood. They do care if the site functions properly, is designed well, and looks good. Tons of companies use special tools to complete services, or create products that they don't tell their customers about. That is not dishonest. They want to maintain an edge over their competitors by doing things easier, faster and/or better.
It's not about what you did to put the site together, it's about how well it functions according to the clients requirements and how good it looks. No matter how you built a site, the client and everyone else only sees the final result. It simply has to be professional.
However, like any professional, you should make an effort to know your tools - and know them well before you start using them to provide a service to customers. That helps to separate the pros from the hacks. It gives you the power to make informed decisions and recommendations.
It's a basic fact that you don't have to know any HTML, PHP, Actionscript, or whatever your preferred programming language to create a site. This is because the technology has progressed.
I am all for taking any shortcuts I can find when it comes to creating websites. I avoid programming whenever possible because it consumes more time than dragging and dropping does (although I still often wind up doing some). My clients don't suffer because of this, they benefit. Both in the time it takes me to get a site up and running, and how much it may cost them. Not at all dishonest.
Please don't confuse the ability to fully program a site and all of it's features with the ability to create a good website. I have seen a lot of sites out there that were obviously done by a programmer who knew his stuff - could have programmed a response form or shopping cart from the ground up - but had no design skills, no human interface development experience, and no color sense. Sites that look like garbage that you get lost in if you go past the first menu selection.
I had no idea how to create a web based form when I started out creating websites, but I found Coffeecup's form builder, tried it out, liked it, learned it and have been using it ever since. My client's get a great form for their sites, and I can make them fast. No programming required - exactly why I like it.
My clients don't know the difference and they don't care. They just know it works. I count on Coffeecup's software to help me create a good site, and my client's count on me to create a good site for them.
I know the software's capabilities very well, and can accurately answer any questions my clients have as a result. As well, I know what I can and can't do with it. If I have to go beyond it's capabilities, I hire a programmer and charge the client accordingly.
Bottom line - implementing easy to use tools that you know well is not unprofessional, is not dishonest and does not mean you don't know what you are doing. it just means you are smart enough to use an advantage when you see it.
I personally didn't want the Coffeecup logo and link all over any online store I create with their software because of the way it was implemented at the time I first ran into it.
It is distracting, and it looks bad. The link had the potential to take customers away from the storefront by opening the Coffeecup site in the same window. Just having a link that allows the customer to lose focus and further cost the client a sale was not a good thing. And yes, it gives up a little company secret for me that I don't necessarily want my competitors to know about.
P.S. Sorry for the long post, everyone.
