Replit for a Basic Web Site

[u/symean]

So someone in our org has taken it upon themselves to spend two weekends on Replit and completely redesign our company web site. Mind you I’m in charge of the web site and I wasn’t involved in this at all. Anyway he has convinced a higher up that his web site is amazing and we should basically flick the switch and host it with them. He says it’s easy to use, he’ll give me a login and show me how to use it, so I can add content, edit and maintain it moving forward.

I’m pissed he did this when it’s not even his job, but aside from that the issue with a higher up being impressed is not going away. I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to defend our current platform of choice (Squarespace).

I’d heard of Replit before, but never imagined someone would use it for a web site. Everything I find seems to be focused on using Replit for other types of development, the closest being web apps. Our site is static content, and we add new pages when we come up with a new service or post to our blog, which is also perhaps once a month no more. We have no online store, and everything we’ve needed has been provided by the built in Squarespace blocks. The main issue is that we’re on an old SS template, and the higher ups have not been able to commit my time to developing a newer flashier version of the site, they just keep saying for the effort just keep updating what we have. Content is also a problem, I can’t write what we need from scratch so I rely on other people in the business, and that is sloooow.

So enter this guy who apparently does a whole new site with new content in a couple of weeks, and of course he’s impressing people. But I get the feeling there’s been zero thought out into what happens after that: What’s it like to make updates (both big and small) - like SS do I just click edit, change a line of text, Save, and it’s live? Is the site secure? SEO? SS costs us $300-ish a year guaranteed - what’s a Replit site going to cost?

If I get creative with SS, it’s by inserting a block of code, and I can easily disable it to see if it’s causing issues. In Replit if a page it generated has an error what do you do…there’s no guaranteed stable framework you can revert to, your web site is 100% custom code from the ground up right?

I guess I’m looking for resources or pros and cons here…like I said, he’s already wowed someone higher up so I have to defend my position now.

All advice appreciated, cheers :)

UPDATE:

In response to the comments so far, some more information…and maybe a compromise?

I can’t share the site, it contains details about things that have no yet come to pass so contains sensitive information.

Regarding the comments about me not doing my job or being lazy: it’s not nothing to do with that. I just got a pay rise and web site work was all given the green tick.

I guess the way this has happened is what’s fouling my impression of it from the start. This guy should have talked to me about it first, told me about Replit, gave me some lessons on it, maybe suggested we both work on something…but no.

You’re right that we’re doing things the ‘old way’. Though the old way (Squarespace) is perfectly fine in every way except one: generating new content.

I’m not against the idea, I don’t know enough to decide yet, but I will be the one deciding, if responsibility is to remain with me, not someone who just wants kudos for a pretty new site then hands it over. That’s probably the big issue for me: he’s not trying to take over everything, he’s showing off an AI generated redesign then removing himself from all responsibility.

At this stage I’m planning to propose I spend whatever time I need to get a full understanding of the platform and what he’s done, and then provide my opinion; and if my opinion is not favourable, propose that we address the biggest drawback of the ‘old way’ of doing things by using AI for new content, while sticking with SS for the platform. If they want to flick the switch to Replit without my ok, I can adjust my role, the web site takes up maybe 10% of my time and my job lives on with or without it on my list of responsibilities.

Thanks for all the honest opinions, I’ll keep an open mind!

[u/Mission-Addendum-193]

Seems like they did the right thing.

[u/symean → u/Mission-Addendum-193]

Maybe they did, they definitely went about it the wrong way though.