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Save me weeks, I'll love you forever

    • Eoin's Avatar
    • Eoin
    • Hero Rocketeer
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    Save me weeks, I'll love you forever

    Posted 11 years 9 months ago
    • Hey hey,

      It strikes me as there is a process which slows me down, but you guys could facilitate a much faster process for me.

      So I would like an option here, not to have the demo data in the template but to have lorum ipsum in the template rocketlauncher.

      You see then it makes it a simple process for me to say to a client, how about something like this, stick their logo onto a template and remove the rockettheme branding.

      Presently I have to delete all of the data and change it to my own (painstaking). Its not that I really want to start blank, because you always have it set out nicely, and that part does save me time, I just don't want references to gantry etc. everywhere.

      And even with a blank template if I put the stuff there myself, I still need to make my own demo data, which granted may well be easy enough to import, but I'd have to put it into modules and yada yada yada, so it's not gonna save me a tonne of time.

      Others might even want a way to have their own data instead of lorum ipsum so some kind of turbo importer thingy majig might be nice. [just an idea out loud]

      There must be tonnes of other people who would love you to offer this feature. So I beg you, on my knees, can we please [oh please] have this option? Please reply soon so I don't get repetitive strain injury from typing on my knees.

      Much love & gratitude for all your hard work so far. If I could marry a company I'd marry yours.
    • Owner of Square Balloon
    • David Goode's Avatar
    • David Goode
    • Preeminent Rocketeer
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    • Web Designer and Host

    Re: Save me weeks, I'll love you forever

    Posted 11 years 9 months ago
    • Hi there,

      As a self-employed web developer I still tell clients that all my templates start from RocketTheme. There are good reasons for this...

      Firstly, it shows that I am being honest with them. Believe me, sooner or later a client will catch you out!

      Secondly, they feel more comfortable that should I get knocked down by the big red bus there will be someone that can help them going forward as they can see it is a big community here. 8)

      Thirdly, when I show them some of my sites and then show them the original demo template they often say "Never, can't be the same template!". This just serves to boost their faith that they chose the right developer for the job.

      And the last reason, probably the most important reason. Why would I want to pretend I designed a template and steal the glory that rightfully belongs elsewhere e.g. the RocketTheme dev team. I know I get frustrated / angry / furious when someone takes one of my ideas and pretends it is their own.

      This post has reminded me of saying I have on my office wall...
      If you succeed in cheating or pulling the wool over someone's eyes, don't think that the person is a fool...

      ...Realise that this person trusted you much more than you deserved!
      Regards

    • Please search forums before posting. Please make sure your post includes the version of the CMS you are using and a link to the problem. Annotations on screenshots can also be helpful to explain problems/goals. Please use the "secure" tab for confidential information
    • Eoin's Avatar
    • Eoin
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    Re: Save me weeks, I'll love you forever

    Posted 11 years 8 months ago
    • I have no problem with honesty, and my clients value that. The only reason I can sell is because I like what I do, I'm passionate about it, and I'm believable because I'm genuine.

      I have a problem with clients knocking me on the price. Clients are not honest with me, if they say it will be 5 pages, it's normally 10 and so on. There is some value to me having tried a few template clubs and decided that RocketTheme gives the best options in terms of design, flexibility and stability, but by giving the client RocketThemes name, they negate that work and devalue it.

      When my clients hear template, they assume that their site is not going to be unique, and they assume that everyone has their site. I know you have put the argument forward that you can show the difference, but I personally prefer to avoid the situation altogether. It's extremely hard to show a client what their website will look like via templates, because often you will change how things look, including the positioning of elements.

      To be honest, when I let a client lead the design, that's when my job takes ten times longer and gets a worse result. And if they see the templates, they will either try to lead the design or be unable to envisage their site in one of the templates and start looking at other template clubs, making other suggestions or demanding bespoke templates, which probably won't be as good as the RocketTheme templates, and will spiral the cost, leading to someone else winning the business. It's not their fault, they just don't have my knowledge or experience, so I'm happy to guide them as I see necessary.

      I know my clients aren't fools, I don't think of it as cheating, I think of it as good business sense not to design a fresh template from scratch each time when you do not have to. In the same way I'm sure my clients have systems and techniques to reduce their costs, and that they know more about their job than me.

      Since you're in the business of giving advice though, I do have a question. One part of my business that suffers time after time, is the client doesn't provide me with the content promptly, I've tried giving gantt charts where they can see the knock on effect of the build time being delayed, I've tried explaining that projects that overrun may be delayed substantially as I pencil in other clients into the diary, I've even put it in my Ts and Cs that they can be charged extra for not providing this content. I don't want to fleece people on a fixed contract, but it effects my business and I'd like to know how others deal with this issue.
    • Owner of Square Balloon
    • David Goode's Avatar
    • David Goode
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    • Web Designer and Host

    Re: Save me weeks, I'll love you forever

    Posted 11 years 8 months ago
    • Hi Eoin,

      Getting content on time is probably the second largest problem in this game. The first is getting them to pay their installments on time.

      I still have not found a way to make people provide all content on time. As you have already mentioned, a good penalty in the contract can focus some clients.

      An alternative I use for those occassions is to add lorem ispum and sed ut text as fillers. They then get a choice - page is there you update it and I won't invoke the penalty or I update it when you get content to me but only once the penalty payment is received and cleared.

      Hope this helps 8)

    • Please search forums before posting. Please make sure your post includes the version of the CMS you are using and a link to the problem. Annotations on screenshots can also be helpful to explain problems/goals. Please use the "secure" tab for confidential information
    • Eoin's Avatar
    • Eoin
    • Hero Rocketeer
    • Posts: 424
    • Thanks: 18

    Re: Save me weeks, I'll love you forever

    Posted 11 years 8 months ago
    • That sounds like a good solution! Cheers. So long as they don't suddenly remember another 10 pages they really need but forgot to mention ha ha. [sigh]

      I still think it would be a useful feature to be able to install lorum ipsum text to start off with. Even if I tell them that RocketTheme templates are the one I use, and why, and convince them that the template will not look the same as everyone elses.... I'll still be answering questions about "what's gantry" etc from the dummy text. Lorum Ipsum is designed to avoid that, which I what I also want to do.
    • Owner of Square Balloon

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