what if your webbuilder goes bust with your code

[dan74uk]

hi
i am building a series of 100 sites and am worried if the builder goes bust i will not be able to change any of the sites
what should i be asking for technically before webbuilding is finished

[toby01]

Depending on the agreement you have with your developer, you should receive the full source code and possibly copyright.

Having the full source code will allow any other developer to look through and make changes relatively easily.

[NextPoint]

Having the full source code will allow any other developer to look through and make changes relatively easily.

Ahem - that is assuming that the developer has:

* Structured their code well
* Commented their code
* Documented their code


Unfortunately a large number of web developers don't do either of these. I recently took on code that has none of these and figuring out how the code works has probably taken more time than it would take me to rebuild the system with good quality code I have in my library.

[Kev Jaques]

Have you tested 1 site yet before embarking on 100 of them? Sounds a bit excessive imo without doing any kind of testing, also why not go through the sites in stages, build 10, test, build another 10 if they're going as expected.

I always comment code sections where needed as 6 months from now I need it to remind me of wtf I did it that way for lol ;)
I've always been one for putting funny quotes or comments into my code, developer humour ;)

I see you have not met the Klingon coder yet then NextPoint ;)

[liams7]

100 sites thats awesome.

In respect to answering your question.

Yep all you can do is make sure you get all the source code and get the FTP access for the sites.

Other than that not alot you can do.

If you are having 100 sites done though surely you went with a reputable company who arent going to fold and so this shouldnt be an issue.

[Silent Web Solutions]

If your web developer goes bust then everything will go down if they are also hosting your websites. Now the source code does not belong to you until you have paid the full amount owed to the developer so you will not be allowed to use it.

As you are having 100 websites built I suggest that you pay the developer in full after each website has been completed and fully tested and get the developer to provide you with a full backup of your website and also the FTP access details to each website so you can also make your own backup to be double sure.

It sounds a large contract you have with your designer/developer if they are doing 100 sites for you so this should keep them busy for a while.

[sarah844]

why would you have 100?

[NextPoint]

I see you have not met the Klingon coder yet then NextPoint ;)

Commenting in Klingon can't be a good idea - I'd hate to see what his variable names look like ;-).

[extremedistro]

also interested to hear why you need 100 websites??? :o)

[alphanumeric]

why not pay for the server that the sites will be built on, at least this way you know you have access and you can create backups if needed.

Try to pay in stages, and ask that any code written up to that stage is owned by you, also try to get some favorable clauses written in the case of them going bust etc.

Also have you thought about employing someone on a contract bases for the work? It might be cheaper as you have quite a bit to do.