Small business hires webmaster for $15 a month; refuses to panic
Owners across the country report editing their own websites in plain English, safe in the knowledge that every prior version is kept and any mistake can be rolled back in one click.
Alexandria, Va. The owner of a five-table bakery changed her website's headline, hours, and hero photograph on Tuesday, then changed them back, then changed them again. Nothing broke. Nobody was called. No invoice was issued.
She typed the requests the way she would say them out loud. "Make the header blue." "Add our Saturday hours." The changes appeared in about a minute, each one presented for her approval before it went live.
The service behind the incident, SmallFry, builds and hosts websites for small businesses and keeps a complete copy of every version ever published.
That archive is the whole point. When an edit goes wrong, and edits do go wrong, the owner presses one button and the site is exactly what it was that morning, or last Tuesday, or opening day.
A review before anything ships
Every request passes an automated review before publication. Requests a small site should not attempt are refused politely, in writing, with a reason. The bakery's owner reports she has never once been made to feel foolish.
Websites start from real, working designs at the company's template counter, known to regulars as the Fry Bar: nineteen bases, each in five seasonings, all of them live sites a visitor can click through before claiming one.
"I broke it at 9:40. I unbroke it at 9:41."
A CONTRACTOR IN FALLS CHURCH, RELIEVED