Build the convention, not the feature

A print shop client wanted a “get a quote” popup on his store, which is simple enough on its own. The useful part was the ask underneath it. He wanted to attach that same popup to other buttons, image blocks and menu links later, on his own, without coming back to us for code every time.

What we did

We built the convention instead of the feature. Rather than wiring the popup to one specific button, we made a rule. Any element on the store that points at it opens it. So a button, an image or a menu link becomes a trigger just by pointing at the popup, which is a change he makes in the theme settings rather than a developer ticket. The image inside it swaps from the theme settings too.

The result

He can drop the quote popup onto a new spot whenever he likes, in the customiser, in about a minute, without us. We built it once and it keeps earning every time he needs it somewhere new.

What to take from it

The custom work worth paying for doesn’t just solve today’s request, it quietly handles the next ten as well. When you are paying someone to build something, it is worth asking whether you will be able to reuse it yourself, or whether you will be back with the credit card every time you want the same thing in a new place.