Need help with interaction.. XARA web designer Mx Premium

**FMETY** · 24 April 2012, 01:42 AM

Hello All,

I am in need on how to give my client access to the website that i designed (using Xara web Designer MX Premium) to update photos, menu prices etc. How do I do this?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Thanks
Lissa

**mwenz** · 24 April 2012, 02:00 AM

Hello Lissa and welcome to T&G.

They will need their own copy of both Xara and the Web file.

Take care, Mike

**FMETY** · 24 April 2012, 03:05 AM

thanks for the welcome

To give the client a copy of Xara would that be the $10. additional cd or do I get another $99. program. Not sure what people normally do. Also, should i get another web building program that i would not have to do this with? Please advise.
Again thanks for your help Mike I really do appreciate it.

Thanks,

Lissa

**mwenz** · 24 April 2012, 03:12 AM

The easiest option is to point the client to the Xara web site for the product you used and tell them to purchase and install it. So yes, the full price of the application.

Any application short of an OpenSource web building software requires each separate entity to purchase their own version.

Take care, Mike

**steve.ledger** · 24 April 2012, 03:32 AM

Totally agree with Mike.

Xara Web Designer isn't the right software for creating a site where the client insists on updating it and possibly looking after future maintenance.

Better to use a CMS system such as Wordpress then hand over admin access to the client, which is what many people in a similar situation do.

But whichever system you choose, more often than not the client is quite unprepared for the learning curve involved in getting to grips with it.
More often than not they will throw their hands in the air and ask you to take care of updates, which is of course should be part of your service initially (fee includes 12 months minor updates... blah blah). After 12 months they will be quite comfortable with the arrangement and you will of course offer the continued service for a monthly fee

This way you can retain a working relationship and not have to repair a website which the client has made a pigs ear of from lack of knowledge and skill.
Leave it to them and the will expect you to fix their mess (for free of course)

After all, if they knew how to build a website they would never have come to you in the first place, right?

**FMETY** · 24 April 2012, 03:41 AM

Thanks Mike, I just opened a business and i was pointed to xara for web building for clients.
Do you think this is the best option and is their an open source web builder that you would recommend?
Just not sure if I complete this website if their are blocks so that the client cannot undo and screw the site up. and is the affilliate program the way to go in this case because i will be building lots of sites.
Sorry to ask all these questions and i truely appreciate your help. thanks again Lissa

**mwenz** · 24 April 2012, 02:18 PM

Hello Lissa,

Starting a business is tough. No, I know of no OpenSource WYSIWYG editor (like Xara) that I would recommend. Most of them had development stop years ago, have far fewer capabilities and are still buggy.

There are OpenSource solutions for sites where clients that desire to add and alter information can do so. Steve mentioned one, WordPress and another is Joomla. Both of those platforms are quite extensive and if one desires to customize the site beyond a template, there is a bit of a steep learning curve. I use them both where appropriate but they are extensive to install and set up on a server. Then one needs to train the clients how to use them if they plan on adding to or altering the site.

I use a different WYSIWYG software when I absolutely have to. The only times I do are when a client has begun a site in this application and cannot finish adequately for some reason. My clients are typically other developers, not the end user. Once I took over development for a person who had begun the site in this other application and themselves could not progress. Once finished and turned the site over to them in the middle of last year, I have been hired three times to fix what they screwed up. The software packages that I use for the typical web site are expensive and can be quite involved to learn. And I turn down and or price myself out of contention for most request for quotes on web building that I receive.

Really, you would do well to use Xara and with the few clients that you do work for, make it clear that they need to purchase Xara should they want to continue to add and edit in the future. Or, add that extra $100 amount into the work and buy it for them. Those clients who can install Xara, run it and alter your Web file will find it far easier than some other WYSIWYG web building softwares and those who just muck things up will likely hire you for the ongoing work.

Alternatively, when you quote, make a service contract sound appealing to them. X number of major/minor alterations or additions for Y price. Suggest one set of variables (amount of work for an amount of money) for a 6 month period, and another, larger amount for a one-year contract. Chances are that if you sell that concept to them at a reasonable price, they will simply budget it.

Good luck. Mike

**andymack** · 24 April 2012, 06:58 PM

This query crops up quite a lot to the regulars of this Forum, and we like to help the newcomers in any way we can. Xara does not lend itself to client interaction, unless they want equal billing in the design of the website. I keep referring to my own method of giving the client a page of their own to create and edit away from the site itself. I create blogs for my clients using blogger dot com (another Google acquisition) and then embed it entirely into the webpage. To the average visitor to the site (and to the client) their input looks just as part of the site as anything else and does not just link you away from the website to the blog page.
It is very easy to do with blogger ( not with Wordpress though). You can call it "news" or "info" and let them edit the blog and the changes are reflected immediately in the web page with no web designer intervention. That is how I have 'pacified' a couple of my clients. Here is a couple of examples of mine: http://www.fvlhomes.org/newsletter.htm and here http://sandysbythesea.com/blog.htm
I am still pretty sure this is the best way to go if you are using Xara to create sites which your clients wish to contribute to.

**Jimmy399** · 29 April 2012, 04:47 AM

Another option in this situation would require providing the client with access to the site's cPanel and teaching them a little bit about HTML so they can edit the HTML directly on the site. I think that once the client sees how daunting this task can be, they will be glad to pay a small fee to have you do it for them.

**dario** · 26 May 2012, 01:34 PM

Originally Posted by andymack

This query crops up quite a lot to the regulars of this Forum, and we like to help the newcomers in any way we can. Xara does not lend itself to client interaction, unless they want equal billing in the design of the website. I keep referring to my own method of giving the client a page of their own to create and edit away from the site itself. I create blogs for my clients using blogger dot com (another Google acquisition) and then embed it entirely into the webpage. To the average visitor to the site (and to the client) their input looks just as part of the site as anything else and does not just link you away from the website to the blog page.
It is very easy to do with blogger ( not with Wordpress though). You can call it "news" or "info" and let them edit the blog and the changes are reflected immediately in the web page with no web designer intervention. That is how I have 'pacified' a couple of my clients. Here is a couple of examples of mine: -...- and here http://sandysbythesea.com/blog.htm

Hello andy -the Sandy-Site is very great - i like it! Can you tell me how you build in the Blogger-Blog and where to find the 'Contact'-form? tia dario