Let’s Backup a Minute!

Let’s Backup a Minute!

Jun 19, 2017 | Projects | 0 comments

We recently enjoyed Bill Nye’s (‘The Science Guy’) new series on Netflix where Bill Nye Saves The World! In each episode he delves into a scientific subject and brings it alive with insightful explanations, demonstrations and discussions with an expert panel. In some episodes he likes to Take A Minute to make a passionate point about a topic. Subjects include climate change, alternative medicine, artificial intelligence, vaccinations and many more in the 13 part series. So it inspired us and we decided we should Take a Minute and discuss disaster recovery strategies for backing up and updating WordPress based websites. Lots to Think About In a nut shell you can adopt one of several backup strategies: Do nothing. Rely on your hosting ISP to have backups. Make a backup copy of everything before doing any updates. Routinely backup the site on a scheduled basis. If we decide backups are a good idea we then have to decide where to backup to. Options include: On the same ISP server account. To a cloud account like Dropbox. To a local machine, like your own desktop or office server. To an email account as an attachment. We also have to decide what to backup: WordPress core (not really necessary because WordPress keeps archive copies of all releases) Themes Plugins Customizations Database (WordPress always uses a database) And then we have to decide how to backup: Via FTP Using a plugin (there are several) Relying on an ISP process Some combination But there are other factors that need to be taken into account: How often do you update the site content? How often...
Why Do I Need a Contract?

Why Do I Need a Contract?

Mar 8, 2015 | Projects | 1 comment

Perhaps a better question might be ‘Why do we both need a contract?’ When we make a proposal we include a project scope, pricing and payment terms. Before we start work we exchange contracts, collect any down payments and sign off on the project scope. The two, proposal and contract, are connected so that we have a firm legal foundation that we know will cover all the likely contingencies. But the basic reason is that you the client will know and agree to what we are going to build and how much bang you will be getting for your buck. We then also know the extent (scope) of the project. We find this minimizes any misunderstandings. During execution, working with the client additional great ideas often come up and these can be folded into the project in a couple of ways. Either we can add an additional Statement of Work or prepare a separate phase 2. Clauses in our contract cover such circumstances. In this way, an exchange of documents keeps everything professional while providing a lot of protection for both of...
How Much Does a Website Cost?

How Much Does a Website Cost?

Mar 5, 2015 | Projects | 0 comments

We are often asked how much does a website cost. It’s a good question because without proper funding a website project can be short changed and the results less than desireable. We like the analogy of building a house. It’s cost will depend on a wide variety of factors. How many rooms, what types of fixtures will be used, whether an interior designer will be involved, whether an architect will design the house. Websites have parallel equivalents in say the number of Pages, how users will interact, whether graphic design will be needed for a unique look and whether custom features will be needed to perform special business functions. So what do the components of a project look like? First a project will need a domain name or ‘address’ that visitors and search engines will use to find the site on the internet. Next a hosting service will need to be engaged to actually carry (host) the files used to deliver the site’s content, behavior and appearance. Some free or premium themes can be used as a basis for the site’s appearance. Some free or premium plugins can be added to extend the functionality A graphic designer can then develop a site’s appearance, layout and branding Coders can add custom functionality on top of or in parallel with plugins already installed Copy editors can prepare and fine tune the needed content. Photographers can capture needed imagery. Videographers can make film clips and tutorials. And this doesn’t cover the effort that might be needed for social media, email and other marketing campaigns. Without an agreed upon project scope, getting a...