Back in March I created an updated Web design for a client. It solved quite a few issues they were having with the site and did represent a slight change in the overall look. At that time, I was told by an intermediary that the new design wasn’t acceptable and yet no details on what needed to be addressed.

On a couple of occasions since the redesign (which is not visible to site visitors), I was asked to do something that was already part of the redesign. This always led to a debate and I always asked the intermediary what I need to change to make it acceptable. I got no answer.

This week I was asked again about adding something and I tried to explain that it was a major problem if we didn’t do a redesign. I asked the intermediary once again if they could look at the new design and let me know what I needed to correct. It wasn’t long before I got a call back saying that the new design was pretty good.

I wish I could explain how things changed between March and now. My only guess is the intermediary just wasn’t looking at the design. I’m just excited that we can finally move forward on the project as keeping two copies of the site updated wasn’t very fun.

Last week I had a suggestion from a customer for CorelDRAW X6 Unleashed. The customer wanted a way to search the PDF. I explained that such functionality has existed in every version of CorelDRAW Unleashed we’ve published as a PDF. It was so important that we’ve included a lesson on “Getting the Most From the Book” in the last three editions and one of the topics covered is the search functionality. One thing I’ve done in CorelDRAW X6 Unleashed is to make this important information more obvious.

It would be easy for me to list many more examples where “problems” have already been solved if the person reporting the problem would simply look at it. So the next time you think something isn’t what you expect, make sure you look at everything first.