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First law of web site development: The client's copy never arrives by the agreed deadline. Second Law: After the copy deadline, the client says they are a bi

by bdfh42 15y ago

First law of web site development: The client's copy never arrives by the agreed deadline. Second Law: After the copy deadline, the client says they are a bit busy so could you just put something suitable in.

Jem 15y ago
Upvoted for truth. In 5 years of professional web development I don't think I've ever had a client meet a copy deadline.
davedx 15y ago
Third Law: After putting the copy in, the client changes their mind and sends you a Word doc without using outline mode so you can't see the changes and have to copy everything back into the site again from the start.
- waitwhat 15y ago
  Saves as .txt and a text diff utility can be a real life-saver. It's not perfect, but with a reasonably-skilled user it should be a lot faster than redoing everything from scratch.
  - eftpotrm 15y ago
    Actually, CSDiff allows you to diff Word documents (at least old versions, I've not yet tried it with .docx files) and it outputs a new one formatted set up with Track Changes on and highlighting the edits. Very useful.
- aspir 15y ago
  That still sounds like a contract issue. It should be included in your contract that if the client does something like that, then they should pay extra. If that still doesn't alleviate the frustration, you aren't aren't charging them enough.
netcan 15y ago
When it does arrive, instead of a headline + 100 words for the little box, it's a 5 page essay.
- Jgrubb 15y ago
  Or vice versa. I should've just dropped the first sentence of Lorem in for most of these pages.
dspillett 15y ago
Or you (directly or via the agreed project plan) tell them it could take seven days to sort everything after the copy is delivered. They deliver the copy very late (and not in the agreed format) and get upperty when they find not absolutely everything has been done by 0900 the next day. Because you should have been organised and ready to deal with the content as soon as it arrived...
aspir 15y ago
My caveat to the second law: copy rates are 2x that of design. Now our team is more than happy to write for you. Add that as a rider in the contract, and your problems will begin to disappear.

by bdfh42 15y ago

Jem 15y ago

Upvoted for truth. In 5 years of professional web development I don't think I've ever had a client meet a copy deadline.

davedx 15y ago

Third Law: After putting the copy in, the client changes their mind and sends you a Word doc without using outline mode so you can't see the changes and have to copy everything back into the site again from the start.

waitwhat 15y ago
Saves as .txt and a text diff utility can be a real life-saver. It's not perfect, but with a reasonably-skilled user it should be a lot faster than redoing everything from scratch.
- eftpotrm 15y ago
  Actually, CSDiff allows you to diff Word documents (at least old versions, I've not yet tried it with .docx files) and it outputs a new one formatted set up with Track Changes on and highlighting the edits. Very useful.
aspir 15y ago
That still sounds like a contract issue. It should be included in your contract that if the client does something like that, then they should pay extra. If that still doesn't alleviate the frustration, you aren't aren't charging them enough.

netcan 15y ago

When it does arrive, instead of a headline + 100 words for the little box, it's a 5 page essay.

Jgrubb 15y ago
Or vice versa. I should've just dropped the first sentence of Lorem in for most of these pages.

dspillett 15y ago

Or you (directly or via the agreed project plan) tell them it could take seven days to sort everything after the copy is delivered. They deliver the copy very late (and not in the agreed format) and get upperty when they find not absolutely everything has been done by 0900 the next day. Because you should have been organised and ready to deal with the content as soon as it arrived...

aspir 15y ago

My caveat to the second law: copy rates are 2x that of design. Now our team is more than happy to write for you. Add that as a rider in the contract, and your problems will begin to disappear.