Rule: The more idiot-proof you try to make something, the less useful it becomes.
Corollary: Any idiot can be useless.
So, I’m working on a price calculator. Something that takes the form data that the client has filled out, and tells them how much they can expect to pay to have it printed before they even send us their files. I’m doing this in PHP, a quick little form that sends itself variables and calculates results.
I found a whole bunch of handy scripts designed to find the the difference between two times. I set it up to automatically feed in the time the form is submitted, compare that to the due date selected, and calculate if the job is a “rush” or not. And then I hit two snags.
Holidays and weekends.
I can’t figure a good way of convincing the script that we’re closed on Saturday and Sunday, let alone handling all of the exceptions for University holidays. All of my attempts to idiot-proof the form quickly became complex, buggy and useless. So out they went. What I’ve finally come up with is a much more streamlined system. It takes the incoming data on paper size and type and prints out a schedule, with normal and rush fees listed.
This leaves the choice entirely up to the client. They can decide if it’s worth it to absolutely, positively have it right now, or if it can wait until tomorrow.