SiteCrafting Blah Blah Blog
Jan. 11, 2007 at 9:35am
Flexibility in foul weather
I'm working from home today mostly because Ma Nature dumped about six inches of snow on my house. In an area where an inch will shut down the city, this is a bit more serious. It really pays, however, to have a flexible employer so I don't have to brave the hills around town. The beauty of the web and digital communication is that it allows for these kinds of opportunities whether the weather, saving some fossil fuels, or even emergencies are concerned.
Most of the web applications we create allow for access to manage your website from anywhere. When information needs to be available, especially on days like today when snow can effect your operations, it's just as easy for someone to make an update to their site from home. This kind of ease of access can really help your website or intranet become a resource others can rely on.
One client I worked with a few weeks ago after a wind storm pelted the area was in need of posting an emergency-related notice on their website. We haven't yet helped them create a content managed system for their public website so while operating in their emergency center they didn't have the right software to get the job done. They contacted me directly, and provided me with information to manually update their old site via FTP. Fortunately I was available, despite the weather, and made the change right away. If they had a web managed system, however, they would've been able to make this kind of change anytime on any internet-connected computer regardless of the software on it. If it can browse the web, it can be used to update a website.
Clients should always be able to manage their site themselves without needing to ask a developer like me to do it for them. Putting content in the hands of the people who know it best -- it's a kind of "enabling" that makes my job so rewarding. And on days like these, it can make a lot of people's lives a little bit easier if the info they need is available when they need it.
Posted in Deep Thoughts, Odds 'n Ends by Kevin Freitas
Comments (0)
Add your comment below