Hello,
I own a web development company. I am trying to figure out how to make Toolset a major part of my workflow. I have built a couple of website with Toolset. I am getting the hang of where everything is and what everything does. As I move through the process of building my websites using Toolset, a few questions/concerns have presented themselves. I hope you can shed some light on these topics:
1.) First, I am enjoying the power Layouts has given me in developing my layouts faster. This has been a time saver for me. I redesigned and developed my company's website with Toolset. It was great! The second website I have developed was for a client. This is where my concerns lie. My client is requesting editing access.
Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, as most of the editing would be done in the page/post, or a custom post type editor, or in a widget. I developed the website using Layouts, and many of the sections of the website are in Layout cells, instead of widgets. This means that in order for my client to have editing access to this content, they will have to go into the Layout for a particular pages/section, and edit from the Layout.
I am worries about this for a few reasons ... if my client goes into the Layout section, they can potentially mess a lot of stuff up that I worked really hard on. They can decide that they want to play around, dragging stuff here and there ... it can make more work for me that I don't want or need.
Secondly, Layouts, and Toolset as a whole can be complex. There are things that I am still trying to fine tune in my own workflow. I would prefer my client not be presented with another layer of complexity that they don't need. I'd rather have a way to give them little sections of editable content that are confined to a single item/task, without them seeing EVERYTHING.
Another concern is more about keeping up appearances than something technical ... Toolset is a great development tool, and it makes my job really easy, but I don't necessarily want my clients to "see behind the curtain", so to speak. Do you know what I mean?
... This is all a long way of asking my question ... can you give me any suggestion on how to address any of these concerns? How much control do I have with giving my clients ONLY the access I want them to have, as opposed to the whole crazy picture? Can I give a client access to only a small portion of a Layout? If not, is there a way to still have the editing take place in the WordPress widgets section, and be able to call the widget into a cell in Layouts, as opposed to actually having the widget live in Layouts?
Please be as specific with any solutions as you can.
2.) My second question is more about the future of Toolset. I was wondering if you have any plans of developing Layouts to give the user the option of editing either in the back-end OR the front-end? It would be really great for Layouts to be used like this:
You have a developer, and you have their client ... it would be nice if a developer could use Layouts in the back-end to create a whole bunch of layouts, to design them, to rearrange them, to place all of the content cells in the correct places, to add IDs and classes, etc. THEN, when the website is launched, and control is given to a client, the client never sees the back-end editor. Instead, the developer clicks a switch (or perhaps the Access plugin is used) to make the Layouts plugin push the editor to the front-end of the website, so when a client is logged in, they can go to any page/section, and edit the website from the front-end.
This can be HUGE!
Do you have any plans on taking Layouts in a direction like this? That would be AMAZING.
3.) Are there ways to add things to Access that I want to give/remove access to a client? Currently, there are a set of things that Access controls. What if the thing I want to give access to isn't in Access? Can I easily add it?
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I think that is all for now. Like I said ... I am trying to figure out the best ways to take advantage of Toolset for both internal use (building website for my clients), but also not giving up too much control. I can see things getting out of control, if a client has access to too many things.
K.I.S.S. is my favorite concept (keep it simple stupid, or stupid simple) ... I like to give my clients ONLY the stuff they need, so they don't get overwhelmed. As we all know, most clients aren't very savvy, and I don't want them to have to get another degree in order to edit their websites.
Thanks so much for your time!!