Tricky Question - a client wishes to access the site that I have built for them, not just in a CMS context, but total access. There is no fall-out, it is simply about control (they have history in other parts of their business). I am not optimistic about the outcome, but at the end of the day, that is their choice.
How do they get access to a legitimate RW licence for 8.9.4? I am obviously not intending to give them access to mine. They will also need to buy a collection of stacks (fortunately the site was built with a relatively restricted collection).
Ideas welcome!
PS Perhaps someone has a RW8 licence that is unused and can be purchased?
Apparently, if you did not sign any contract assigning ownership of all project files, only the output of your work (the HTML files, etc.) that you already delivered, then, depending on local laws, they generally cannot demand your source materials unless they already own them by agreement or law.
Interesting thought Kent, thank you. The direct clients are friends, but the overall owners have some unusual ideas. Life is too short these days, so rather than argue, I am going to do as they ask and watch from the sidelines with a metaphorical bag of popcorn. It is a shame as it is a site I am proud of and the traffic is excellent, but āthey need controlā, so good luck to them.
This has happened to me in non-web related business.
I just handed over what they wanted & stopped working for them.
This always comes as shock later since customer is not told that my work for them is ended.
I liked the ālife is too shortā comment in the later comments.
Thanks for your support. I have got to the stage in life that I prefer to work on projects where work is appreciated. The owners have managed to lose 3 key staff members in the last year, so I will hand over the site.
If anyone does have a legit licence unused or know how I can purchase one, I prefer to hand over with good grace so there is the possibility they can get their āsuper brightā assistant to carry on the site.
I would hand over the RW file and tell them what stacks to buy and what version of RW to buy. Then make it clear you will be no longer providing any support or guidance for the sites ongoing hosting/development.
You could say that as a friend you feel it is better to have a clean break and they can then do what they want, without any falling out etc.
They need to purchase licences for RWC, along with theme, plugin and/or stacks licences. Given a few stacks developers have āretiredā that might not be straightforward.
If they have web developers, the published siteās code can be directly edited without use of these RW products, but will of course become out of step with the RW CMS. I had a client some years ago who got a Local Authority grant for a free website (with the LAās preferred IT partner of course). They took over the RW site I had built, editing the HTML / CSS directly. When the clientās one year freebie expired, the IT company turned out to be not so cheap, and the client wanted to come back. However, the website was now massively out of sync with my RW project so it all turned out to be an expensive mistakeā¦
Thanks for that thought Jannis, dare I admit I have never looked at RW Classic until today? Interestingly it opened the project, but would not show an InStacks content; blog or galleries
@Nick Having had a simialr experience, my suggestions are:
Never do work for a friend or family member;
Update or have an engagement letter that expicitly states you do not provide information on software used, but happy to hand over html files at an additional cost and if files are handed over you do not warrant them; and
Hand over the files on this occassion with a link to the RWC and stacks purchased and respect their wishes, but state it is over to them from here on as you will not have oversight. Perhaps suggest, if you havenāt already to build a CMS system, if they want to manage the site that way and you can continue to provide support.
I was in a simialr situation, and my client changed provider and the site is now boring and a mess.
Best wishes. And yes, sometimes a client does think they know more and want to control every nut and bolt. Good luck.
Iāve also had instances of this scenario in the past as Iām winding down my little web design business. An alternative solution Iāve offered is to re-build the existing site in WordPress using the free Kadence theme and blocks. Then you can āhand over the keysā to the client and let them get on with it. You get some cash for re-working the site and they donāt have to splash out on RW, Stacks, various stacks and so on.
Thanks for your kind reply, I have been working away, so apologies for the slow reply.
You are right in many ways, although a significant number of my clients are now friends. This one was more complex and only recently I was being praised to the heavens. That changed only when they realised that a new (and cheap) member of staff could do many of the tasks that I was contracted for, without additional cost to them.
Everything is amicable, but I will be relieved when I can hand over the site files and get away from their recent, but tedious internal politics.
Once again, Iām thinking about contingency going forward - youāll remember our discussions back in the day and Iām not getting any younger sadly. Like you Iām seriously thinking of WordPress rebuilds - likely with Divi - simply because itās so much easier for the client to take over. 95% of the time everything required is in the Divi core system. Not to mention that WordPress devs are much easier to find. Buying the various stacks I use would not only be costly, but not always possible as a number of the Stacks devs have shut up shop.
My thinking exactly. Iāve done this with one site recently where I was able to duplicate all the functionality of RW and many now-defunct stacks with the free version of Kadence. Itās a much neater solution when it comes to passing the baton over to the client.
I like the idea, but having replaced their original WP site with a (much more functional, robust) RW site, it would be a mistake for me + I completely detest WP.
I was re-reading this thread and the two of you are totally correct from a practical point of view.
The only thing I would say in my (stubborn) defence; the RW site has been 100% reliable since launched 11 months ago. The WP site was a nightmare and had to be recovered from server backup at one point as tan Elementor theme update crashed it beyond the capabilities of the (paid) Updraft Plus backup system that was in place.
Itās all water under the bridge now, so just musingā¦
I do think thereās also an element of good/bad luck in all this. Conversely I had a RW site which had been working fine, untouched for five years. I updated a single external link and all the CMS data disappeared and had to be re-built manually. Themās the breaks, I guessā¦
You are correct that WP is inherently more problematic. Having said that, the 5 corrupted sites we have taken over (and rebuilt) all suffered from a serious lack of maintenance / updates. The 30 odd sites we have in WP have been pretty much 100% because we do all plug-in, theme and core updates promptly.
When it comes to plugins / stacks etc, a lot depends on the availability of the developer. I had several sites using Nick Catesā Depth theme and stacks. An update to Safari left it with incompatible JS and all the parallax and some layout went haywire overnight. Nick had disappeared, refusing to provide any support, and it was only because Joe Workman stepped in that I didnāt have to rebuild the lot! (thanks Joe!). The same would apply to WordPress plugins. My view going forward is to only use products from bigger, hopefully more stable, developers
From my perspective, Elements looks excellent and Iām very tempted. The main issue is I will need to hand sites on, and WordPress is easier in that respect. There is also the cost. A Divi 5 ālifetime agencyā licence is the same price as an annual Elements one.
