[dworin]

That metaphor doesn't work for two reasons. First, over time a car has grown MORE complex, while the tools to create a website have grown LESS complex. At the same time, improved quality in engines, motor oil, and service technology has made routine maintenance not only easier, but also less expensive. Second, auto repair, like most skilled trades, is a great example where specialization of workers gets involved. It's not that you can't spend the time to learn how to repair a car, it's that you consider your time worth more. But in many cases, the cost of building a website has come down so rapidly that it doesn't require a big time commitment for many people.

There will always be room at the high end to solve problems that are complicated, large, or rare. But at the low end, things that were new 20 years ago just aren't anymore. Website development is becoming less like a mechanic and more like pumping gas.

[gwgarry]

- Websites have become much more complex. It just appears that they are simpler. WP makes it seem like nothing to press a button and upgrade. Behind the scenes thousands of lines of code are doing work. When those lines of code break and you come to me to fix them. Fuck you for thinking I am going to charge you $100. You are going to pay me $1000 or you can do it yourself.

- If you want to use a theme exactly as it is then fine use it exactly as it is. If you want me to make changes to it, fuck you for thinking I am going to do it for $100.

- Websites are complicated as ever (with tools that don't match their behind the scenes complexity), they appear to be much simpler because a lot of stupid people have spent thousands and thousands of hours providing services for free through modules and themes. But when those things break down or don't work the way you want them to, you will pay for my 15 years of experience or you can just do without.

[goostavos]

Out of curiosity (not being snarky), how's that working out for you, and how long do you think it will be viable to charge that amount?

Web dev, as I see it, is undergoing a race to the bottom. As you say, "the stupid people" are generating good content for free. Yes, there are 1000s of lines of code behind WP.. but those 1000s of lines of code exist just so that the end user doesn't have to mess with them. Do people really pay 1000 to adjust a word press theme?

[gwgarry]

> generating good content for free

They are not generating it for free. They sell themes at $50 pop to at least 100 people. They make their $5,000. They also charge $100/hr for support.

> those 1000s of lines of code exist just so that the end user doesn't have to mess with the

Until things break. The developer goes away, etc.

> Do people really pay 1000 to adjust a word press theme?

Depends on what level of adjustment. If I charge them $1000 they will get $1,000 worth of services. But I am not willing to engage a client unless they are at least willing to spend that much. Not worth my time.

[_k]

When things break ... but websites for SMBs break less and less.

[commentzorro]

Hey, no problem. Me and about a dozen friends only have around 3-5 years of experience but are more than happy to do the work for about 1/3 the price you want to charge. If they don't want to pay your rates send 'em our way!

[gwgarry]

There are also people in the third world that will apparently do it for $5/hr until what you get are shit results that are an embarrassment to look at.

[jiggy2011]

In the case of Wordpress, the cost of labour for development and bug fixes on those thousands of lines (to the client) is effectively free unless you are extending it.

[gwgarry]

Yes but when you are extending it... it's not trivial. So the price curve jumps from a few hundred dollar to thousands of dollars if you try to do anything significant.

[jiggy2011]

I guess the point of the article is that WP and friends already offer a significant enough amount of functionality straight out of the box or with a very minimal amount of custom code.