Client can edit specific area of website remotely

[mearnswoodtech]

HI There,

I am working on a website and the client would like to update an area of the site with special offers weekly and monthly - does anyone know how to do this within the Xara platform and then give the client access to remotely update this area of the page ?

Cheers
MearnswoodTech

[steve.ledger]

Perennial question. Easy answer. No.

Xara software is not a platform designed for content management by clients. You may collaborate using a common file and republish, but this is rarely satisfactory as both sides need the application and know how to use it which introduces all sorts of silliness.
There have been numerous suggested work arounds over the years, mostly they are cumbersome and generally means the 'client' has to learn more than they really expected, result being nothing actually happens.

Really, a better solution would be to start from the ground up with something like Wordpress, Joomla and the like or offer to do the updates for them (quickly) for a nominal monthly fee.

[mearnswoodtech]

Hi Sledger,

Yeah thought you would say that but hoping you had a work around.

I had a look at Pagelime but was struggling to get it working also looked at snippetmaster which is an input class editable area then is remote for the client. But nothing really straight forward. I remember a few years ago cushycms did a wee snippet code and it worked a treat then you logged into their site and updated that snippet area - but they have gone all "full CMS" now

Need to have a wee think as I need a work round for this - google here I come ....

Cheers
MearnswoodTech

[richinri]

Well, my answer is different. If you use php, you can put a placeholder with a php include in it. (set your web server to treat all html as php to make it easy.) Then the client will only edit that file with the ad and upload it via FTP and bingo...the client has an editable area. Be sure to include the file format that uses the syntax that ignores the request if the file is missing.

[richinri]

Of course, this could also cause a disaster if they don't know how to properly format their ad. You might want to have them always make it a graphic to avoid having them mess up syntax.

[steve.ledger]

If you use php, you can put a placeholder with a php include in it. (set your web server to treat all html as php to make it easy.) Then the client will only edit that file with the ad and upload it via FTP and bingo...the client has an editable area. Be sure to include the file format that uses the syntax that ignores the request if the file is missing.

And this is where 99.99999% of clients eyes glaze over.
As I said, there have been many suggested work-arounds over the years all of which are too much for most clients.
Best to start with a system specifically designed for it.

[Big Frank]

The only method I ever used that actually worked and that continued to work for years, one that wasn't a CMS, was the PDF file method. But whereas this might be simple for the client, it is hardly responsive to the needs of his website visitors. People want instant access to information, they need to see what is on offer, not download and browse a PDF file.

But once you give a client access to fonts sizes and colours and imagery, you can be sure the page will be full of bold, italic, underline, font sizes that surpass elephantine and the most gaudy collection of colours and styles since the Bay City Rollers. How you get past this hurdle is your biggest challenge.

[Cloud]

May I present to you folks a solution, design the website, paste some simple code and the client simply changes what they need to change, sound too good to be true? go to http://www.stiqr.com/ for the details, I have clients using this and it is easy as anything.

[steve.ledger]

I'd love to meet those clients, obviously none of them live here.
Mine would make a dogs breakfast out of their carefully designed site in minutes...

[pauland]

There's always the fee to 'tidy up' the mess they make.