When is a website considered "live"?

jenni

Imagine that you are starting a widget company, and that all widget companies must have a license in order to sell them. You are in the process of getting your widget license, and decide that you want to get started on your website. The website is very close to being finished, when you get a call from the widget licensing agency saying that it is illegal to solicite widget sales until you officially have your widget license.

You have not taken any widget orders and had no intention of actually selling widgets until you had your license. However, the widget licensing company believes that because your website was up on the web, you were planning on selling them before your license application was approved.

How would you convince the widget licensing place that even though your website was up, you had no intention of taking orders until you had your license?

I have a client in a similar situation. The person who developed the site is currently unavailable. Any thoughts?

pohopo

tell them that it takes months to build a site and even though it looks live it is not fully operational.

Weedpacket

Originally posted by pohopo
tell them that it takes months to build a site and even though it looks live it is not fully operational.

Which is why one usually builds a site somewhere private, and only moves it into public view when it's good and ready. When testing public access, have it tucked away in a dusty corner of your own web site, laced around with DONTFOLLOW directives so search engines don't index it.

If someone does manage to stumble acros it, just have a notice on the site, and on any order forms or contact details, that you're not yet taking orders and come back later.

AstroTeg

A website is "live" when the public can access it. Regardless if its a functional site or not. If anyone can get to it via a url, then its pretty much live. Of course, you could put a note on the site saying otherwise and that should work.

dalecosp

There are several ways to keep the site from public view. If you haven't used one, you've opened yourself up for such trouble. However, it must be quite a widget if the governing authority won't even listen when you say, "we made a mistake, and the site, though it appears on the web, it not currently operational...."