thanxs for responding Sparks.
Firstly, I would like to point out that there is a difference between a live website and the live server. For development work etc. we would not be working on the 'live site' instead we setup a development version and work on this environment.
1.
What happens if there's a power failure on your end as you do so? Or some other hardware failure? Or a network connectivity problem?
What happens if you're tired and just accidentally thrash the file?
For us that would probally have greater impact if we only used a local test environment, as we have automated backup scripts in place on the live server which mirror rolling backups to a second machine in the server farm. So, in the event that we seriously lost some work through one of the events you mention we could i fact retrieve previous versions. This has not happened to date. I would also point out that we do in fact keep local backups too of all live sites and dev. work.
2.
What if there are two people working on two seperate problems in the one file, and A starts work, then B starts work, then B finishes and saves and then A finishes and saves? Or if the sequence runs A-B-A-B?
Normal version control procedures apply. There is realy no difference here between a localy or remotly hosted version.
3.
And what if someone tries to use the site as you're editing it?
We wouldn't be editing a live website that uses any sort of form post or anything else that may endanger the application.
4.
What if the hard disk on the live server gets thrashed? What if there's a fire in the server farm and you lose the whole box?
There is a far greater chance of this occuring with a local server than a machine in the data center. If we did have a fatal event with our live server our backup box would kick in with a maximum down time of 3 hours.
5.
End result, client thinks you're a cowboy because you're acting like one
no Sparks, anything but...
At the end of the day I am not trying to persuade anyone to change their own working methods, it is entirly up to you to do as you feel best.
For us this system works very well in terms of version control, security and risk management. Another benefit for us is that our clients are able to review work in progress and participate in the dev. process.
Again it depends on how you work. I personaly work on contract at several different locations when I am in Ireland. I also work abroad a lot (8 times last year). It would be far harder for me to carry all client sites on my laptop or whatever. At the end of the day the machines in the server center are always available for me wherever I am, so I find this very convienient.
best regards, webdream