Professional CodeIgniter®

5.3. Meeting with Claudia

You meet with Claudia at her store. Her employees are quietly taking care of customers as you step Claudia through what you've built. You let her know from the very beginning that what she needs to concentrate on is functionality, and not look and feel, but even though she agreed to this, she still winces at every page.

"What's wrong?" you ask her, concerned that perhaps what you've built isn't passing muster.

"Well, I can see how we have just about everything we put on the backlog," she says, "But the entire thing looks a bit amateurish. It needs polish."

"Exactly what I was saying about functionality versus look and feel," you explain. "Think of web-site development as building a house. You always put in the foundation first, then the frame and electrical and plumbing, then the drywall and flooring. Later on we can worry about picking out the nice stuff, like the furniture and paint colors."

Claudia laughs. "I guess I want all the nice stuff now!"

"Well, you're in luck, because we're just about ready for all the nice things. We just need to go through the site and make an inventory of what needs changing."

Claudia looks a bit skeptical. "This is the easy part," you reassure her. "With CodeIgniter's help, I've built a fully functional eCommerce site in just a few days."

"Well, I don't see any place where I can add products myself," Claudia says, arching an eyebrow.

"OK, fully functional as far as the web-site visitor is concerned. I'll build the administrative ...