[wp-pro] Need someone to upgrade multiple WP sites

Tue Mar 25 21:07:10 GMT 2008

Hi Peter,

I don't believe that a large army is needed to accomplish any project
that you may be seeking to implement in WordPress.  But, what is
required is a developer who can offer a pragmatic approach.  Of course,
a pragmatic approach can only come from someone who understands what
WordPress does "out of the box," and the type of functionality that
*can* be added, and the time required to implement any addition, and can
thus offer good advice (operative word: good) as to how to accomplish
what you're seeking to do.

I've implemented WordPress as a CMS with varied workflows, and
understand the challenges in doing so.  What I would suggest to you is
that WordPress has strengths and weaknesses as a CMS w/ specialized
workflows, since the system was originally designed as a personal
blogging system.  But, what I personally like about the WordPress
framework, which explains why I think it's worth the effort as a CMS
framework, is the Admin Panel.  The Admin Panel is one of the most
user-friendly Administration back ends out there, and it is extremely
extensible/configurable.  One good example of how extensible the
framework actually is can be seen at http://podbean.com.  The website
represents an extremely customized implementation of WordPress,
incorporating a very customized workflow.  This illustrates what can be
done with the framework.

I've also had experience w/ WordPress MU (the multi-blog/multi-user
version of WordPress).  We recently launched (and are now publicizing) a
site named skaneatelestalk.com (targeted to our home town, Skaneateles,
NY).  Working with and customizing WordPress MU requires quite a bit of
integrative skill, since the development docs are limited for the
program (often, the code itself is the documentation!), and the system
is not trivial.

So, I would suggest to you that the *right* consultant is more critical
than any 'army' of developers.  The right consultant will be able to
handle all aspects of what is needed, and will guide you down the right
(read: most economical and pragmatic) path, while still accomplishing
your goals.

I hope this helps.  :)

Cary Briel

--
Cary Briel
Skaneateles Design
briel at skaneatelesdesign.com
(315) 685-2492

Visit us at: 
http://www.skaneatelesdesign.com

In Skaneateles:
http://www.skaneatelestalk.com - "Stuff your mother never told you about
Skaneateles"
Community blogs, wiki, discussion forum.

>-----Original Message-----
>From: wp-pro-bounces at lists.automattic.com 
>[mailto:wp-pro-bounces at lists.automattic.com] On Behalf Of 
>Peter A. Chapman
>Sent: Tuesday, March 25, 2008 2:56 PM
>To: wp-pro at lists.automattic.com
>Subject: RE: [wp-pro] Need someone to upgrade multiple WP sites
>
>
>I'd find information about hiring WordPress professionals useful.  
>
>I first learned about WordPress about 20 days ago.  Since that 
>time, I've asked lots of people lots of questions about 
>WordPress' capabilities and ability to be enhanced.  Nearly 
>every answer I've received tells me that through the power of 
>plug-ins, scripts and other programs, anything is possible -- 
>content can be entered into WordPress seven ways of Sunday and 
>content can be automatically exported in an infinite number of 
>ways.  What I can't get a handle on is how big of an army is 
>required, at what potential cost, and on what kind of a time 
>table.  To my surprise, everybody I've talked to gives me the 
>impression that I'm the first electronic newsletter publisher 
>with existing products that's ever contemplated using 
>WordPress to decentralize and streamline our authoring and 
>editorial processes.  
>
>------
>
>At 02:11 PM 3/25/2008, David Coveney wrote:
>>I'm sorry but it's not 'simple enough'.
>> 
>>What plugins, what WordPress versions (from and to), what 
>themes, and so on.
>> 
>>All I could quote for this is our standard hourly rate.  You 
>never know - might take five hours, might take fifty.
>> 
>>I've been debating writing a blog post (our blog is 
><http://www.liverpoolwebdesigner.com/>http://www.liverpoolwebde
>signer.com) on the subject of how to hire a WordPress 
>professional.  I have a feeling that many out there are 
>looking for simple solutions to what are often complicated 
>problems.  Messages like this which state things like "simple 
>enough" and "knock it out" suggest that this is a 
>straightforward and easy thing to do based on almost no 
>information.  Real professionals don't just "knock out" their 
>work.  In something like this a real pro would be looking at 
>the versions involved, checking or advising on what issues 
>there (do they need to stage the upgrades, for example), 
>taking database and server snapshots and so on.  Then there's 
>the issue of malformed content (in particular special 
>characters), which can get messed up during an upgrade - will 
>you want this to be corrected or are you happy to search 
>through and find these yourself?
>> 
>>Sorry to come across all tetchy.
>>
>>Dave Coveney
>>Interconnect IT
>> 
>>
>>----------
>>From: wp-pro-bounces at lists.automattic.com 
>>[mailto:wp-pro-bounces at lists.automattic.com] On Behalf Of Ink Trails
>>Sent: 25 March 2008 17:55
>>To: wp-pro at lists.automattic.com
>>Subject: [wp-pro] Need someone to upgrade multiple WP sites
>> 
>>
>>Need someone to upgrade multiple WP sites. Note: I need for 
>all the plug-ins to function properly. Simple enough, right? 
>Get back to me with price per and how soon you'd be able to 
>knock it out.
>>
>>Thanks,
>>
>>Jason
>>_______________________________________________
>>wp-pro mailing list
>>wp-pro at lists.automattic.com
>>http://lists.automattic.com/mailman/listinfo/wp-pro
>
>
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