Most of the time it’s fine. Clients are open to our ideas, as we are the professionals, and we can convince them of best practices and standards. We can tell them how frames are nightmares, popups are annoying (and mostly blocked, rendering them inefficient for anything), and how Comic Sans should never. ever. be used.

However, sometimes clients get the wrong idea about something, and no matter how hard we try to convince them otherwise, they won’t budge.

It’s times like these that I feel like I’m not a web developer – I’m just a web prostitute.

Case in point: I am currently digging through Google trying to find a bit of Javascript code to disable right clicking. One of our clients had some images pirated recently, and they are convinced that disabling right click is the way to go, even though we tell them that they’re essentially just throwing away their money. Seriously – I can think of five other methods off the top of my head to save an image off a website without right clicking. But apparently their uncle’s cousin’s friend who is “really good at web” tells them this is an awesome solution. You know, the kind of guy who will build you a website for $40 and a case of Bud Light? So I’m looking through Google and having little luck – typing in ‘disable right click’ provides you with a slew of results on why you shouldn’t do such things. Rightfully so. I remember the disable right click feature back in 1997, but I haven’t seen it being used in practice in years.

But, the client wants it. So I have to find a way.

I feel so dirty.

But as a business, do you allow your employees to be transparent, knowing your clients may read what they have to say?

Companies are starting to spill the beans, and people are listening with open ears. One of my favorite examples (of course) is PayPerPost.com – between the blog and the reality show, they’ve proven to be pretty transparent. It seems to be working – and rightly so. The web industry changes so fast, there’s no way we can always develop flawless cutting-edge web applications – we make mistakes, but we learn from them.

It’s why transparency works. Blogging about your mistakes as well as your successes builds authenticity. If your reader is relating to you as a person, they’ll be more forgiving when you slip up.

But if you get in this game you have to be honest. Completely honest, because in this world of Google you’re only as good as your ‘net rep’. Being caught in a lie is worse than not being transparent at all.

So is transparency the way to go? I suppose only you can decide for yourself and your company, but personally, I think it’s a great idea, both as a professional and a consumer. There’s a level of trust on the Internet, and it should be respected.