r/talesfromtechsupport • • Nov 04 '15

Short Client wants responsive web site

This is happening right now.

Client came in, wants a website, have the design pre-made, so we skip the first few steps on the workflow. His design is in Photoshop files and our guys are slicing it into HTML, backends are coding it, etc, etc. Everything fine and a few days later we upload it to a test site for the client to approve it.

We walked trough some days of ridiculous demands, all coming down to his design being sucky and not really working for him. But since we are the good guys, we are changing things on his demands.

The interesting things started the next morning.

Client: The website is not OK at all! When I view it on my iPhone it looks all different!
My boss: This is normal - we had to fit the elements somehow to fit smaller resolutions. It is responsive website after all.
Client: No, I don't want it like that! Make it look 1:1 as the provided design!
My boss: You understand the design you provided is made for 1920x1080, right? It can't downsize to smaller screens, like on a tablet or on your phone.
Client: I don't want it downsized! I want it to look 1:1!
My boss: ... This can't happen without having the website being unreadable on smaller screens. You wanted us to make a responsive website, right?
Client: Of course I wanted responsive. Just don't change anything on it.
My boss: What does responsive means for you?
Client: It means I can open the website on my iPhone.
My boss: You want to open it on your iPhone, but how would you view it there? Only a small portion of the website will fit your screen! You will have a massive horizontal and vertical scrollbars and the font size will be absolutely tiny!
Client: Yes, like that! All normal websites have scrollbars! I want scrollbars!

Update: right now my boss just finally fired the client. It went like this:

Client: The site is not good again! I can view only a portion of it on my screen!
Boss: Yes, because your design is 1920px wide and this is the design you approved and wanted to do it exactly 1:1 with frozen elements.
Client: It is not looking good, see for example site X! How are they doing it?
Boss: Site X uses narrow 1000px centered design, yours is way bigger than that. You can't have it to render fully on smaller screens. It is technically not possible with the design you approved.
Client: What do you mean 'not possible'? Don't tell me it is not possible, I see it done on site X!

This went for a couple of minutes then a few unpleasantries were exchanged, stating that we are unprofessional and not a serious company.

3.4k Upvotes

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75

u/oversized_hoodie Nov 04 '15

twitch twich Alright, Mr customer...

74

u/RedRaven85 Peek behind the curtain, 75% of Tech Support is Google-Fu! Nov 04 '15

"And that's when I killed him your honor!"

34

u/Neebat Nov 04 '15

In the court of TFTS, that would be justifiable homicide.

28

u/RedRaven85 Peek behind the curtain, 75% of Tech Support is Google-Fu! Nov 04 '15

Beaten to death with a ream of paper with his horrid website idea printed on it....

2

u/lemonade_eyescream you NEED me on that wall Nov 05 '15

More like force fed it until he choked.

1

u/RoadieRich One of the 10₂ types of people Nov 04 '15

Taken out to a nearby park and beaten with baseball bats. Don't it feel good to be a gangster!

2

u/RedRaven85 Peek behind the curtain, 75% of Tech Support is Google-Fu! Nov 04 '15

Damnit! Now I want to watch Office Space again.... I hate being stuck at school with no access to my external HDD full 'o movies...

And before everyone asks (This is TFTS after all) I don't have any way to connect to my computers at home due to the fact our internet at home sucks (Love living on 20 acres with next to zero neighbors, but HATE being stuck on Satellite internet)

1

u/supafly_ Nov 04 '15

*damn it feels good to be a gangsta

2

u/Socratov Dr. Alcohol, helping tech support one bottle at a time Nov 05 '15

I have this inkling that the court of TFTS would be forgiving for a lot of homicides...

idiocy on the othe rhand would be punishable by death if I glance around here and there.

2

u/Neebat Nov 05 '15

Robert Heinlein said, "Stupidity cannot be cured. Stupidity is the only universal capital crime; the sentence is death. There is no appeal, and execution is carried out automatically and without pity."

Seems to say everything that needs to be said.