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Case Study - Eve The Restaurant
Rather than listing all the reasons for converting to a CMS, here let's go over the ways a conversion can go wrong. Read here for those reasons Over the years we have learned there are a few types of clients that you should be very careful about when doing a conversion. Right brain thinkers are random, intuitive, holistic, synthesizing and subjective - all things that will throw a wrench in any CMS conversion plan. This seems like it's unfair, but if a potential client is a chef, artist, photographer or musician we don't recommend you a fixed-price conversion, unless you estimate on the extreme high side. One particular project that comes to mind was EveTheRestaurant. It was a dozen HTML files created back when 80% of each page was formatting. There was javascript all over the place, some that appeared to be in there from some other project. What's the natual assumption? If you are starting with a site that's not all that "modern" then making it more modern should be well received. This is completely untrue. Our 10 hour estimate to convert the site ended up being closer to 50. (I think it was higher, but that's as much as I'm willing to admit) The solution? Write a nice detailed spec to spell out what's included and what's not. Wrong. Unless you're looking to really burn a bridge, never assume a right-brainer is going to read WHATEVER you write. The problem isn't with them or with you. It's generally that gap between how the two sides hear and see the world. The best advice is to use lots of screenshots to prototype what you plan to deliver and make sure they (the person who approves the work) makes to to see what you're planning. Even then, get ready for lots of revisions. e.g., Rev 1, Rev 2...
Even through all of this, we still love Eve and her very excellent restaurant.
If you're into fine food and find yourself hungry in Ann Arbor, we highly
recommend you stop by.
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Converting a site from static (straight HTML pages) to a content management
system often seems like the right thing to do. There really is a downside
to maintaining old HTML technology because it can become a burden if nobody
in the company has the time or skill to know how to add/edit what's there.
