Site5 Web Hosting Blog

Stop Being Selfish… Tell Me What I Get.

Posted by Kevin Hazard, November 7th, 2006

Star Date: 1312.4: A look at what Flashback can do for you.

I don’t know why I started this post with “Star Date,” but it seems like a good way to express the inner-geek in all of us. Based on my 8-second Google search, I chose (with a 50% confidence level) the first “Star Date” mentioned in the Star Trek series. Ardent Trekkies will probably have me shot and killed if that claim is made incorrectly, so I am open to correction if it is found to be necessary.

Back to the real intent of the post: “What can Flashback do for you?” (What’s that you say about some United Parcel Service tagline? Never heard of it…) Our initial re-announcement about Flashback, a certain cult-classic car, and an upcoming release from what would seem to be a very large fruit company garnered a bit of attention from the tech universe, but a resounding sentiment was echoed back to us:

“That looks like awesome system, but I don’t understand how I could use it.”

Rather than go through miles of paperwork with the folks at the United Artists studio to secure Tom Cruise in what I believe to be a great idea for Mission Impossible 4: Explaining what Flashback Can Do Without Excessive Marketing Hype, a blog post may be a bit quicker and a lot less religiously charged.

Three Simple and Practical Uses Of Flashback

1. A Life Saver for Website Updates

   Whether you are a webmaster-in-training or a seasoned veteran, you know the trials and tribulations inherent in making major changes to your website’s code. Flashback can function as a “Peace of Mind” resource in case your site didn’t quite come together in a production environment as you laid it out in Photoshop (or in a more “What you see is what you theoretically should get” app like Frontpage).

2. Seasons of Sites

   Without going to the Clark W. Griswold school of Seasonal Decoration, you can make subtle changes to your site during seasonal period and easily revert back to the original look later.

   

   You would upload the seasonal images, “overwriting” the current versions and flash back to the originals when you are done with the seasonal images. IMPORTANT NOTE: This functionality does not mean it is okay to have crazy blinking graphics or eye-sore colors at any time of the year.

3. Track the Changes to Your Site

   With Flashback, you will be able to monitor the changes being made to your site and reverse them if necessary. This could be particularly useful if you work on a site with other people and sometimes have the need to undo the damage they have done… Newton’s first law of motions (or website damage) says that an object in motion (or website that gets ruined) will stay in motion (or stay ruined) until it is acted on by an unbalanced force (or webmaster with l33t Flashback skillz). You can’t argue with physics… Unless you are Chuck Norris.

These are only a few of the ways Flashback will make your hosting life easier. Whether you want to have a pink version of your site (which we have had in the past) or you like the idea of being able to return to a stable site if you get a little too ambitious with your site changes, Flashback will be there to help you out.

P.S. The title is only semi-related… This post talks about what Flashback can do for you, but a statement like that is just inherently humorous.

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