It’s fascinating how mysterious computers in general and the web in particular can be to most people. Little do they know that the web is just a bunch of text files sitting on a computer somewhere that instruct another computer to display words or pictures. It’s Microsoft Word with a network.
Of course it’s much more than that. But how much more useful and pervasive would the web be if people understood that it’s not magic?
Some people say I’m crazy to build systems for clients that they can update and maintain themselves. Aren’t I building myself out of a job, since they won’t have to hire me to do maintenance? Well, I do it because a client-maintainable site is just plain a better site – more timely and flexible. But I also do it because maintenance is irritating and fussy and doesn’t pay as well as design and programming. And I’d much rather move on to new projects than be stuck updating old ones.
Now I just have to line up some of those new projects.
No, you’re giving yourself more work because people will tell their friends, “Here’s my web site! And I run it all myself. This guy helped me set it up and shazam! I’ll post an article about this dinner party later tonight” “Oh really?” the friends will ask, “Who is this genius?” Cha-ching!