web design and how to do it

Skyhigh

Good old notepad, none of this IDE business!

Notepad, comatible with HTML, JAVA, C#, C++, C, J#, PHP, Python, Perl, JScript, JavaScript....anything! )


Free online retail packages I can recommend are:
OSCommerce
CubeCart
Zen Cart

I can also highly recommend Mal's E-Commerce , which lets you simply add the ability to purchase items to an existing website, simply, without having to deal with a backend database.
For an example of a site using MalsEcommerce check out:
https://www.discworldstamps.com

If your webhost has a CPanel interface with Fantasico installed then you can easily install many online shops, bulletin boards, forums, chat rooms, blogs with only a few clicks!
(Providing you have MySQL availability)


:!:

bargainboy

thimk i might be out of my depth here. maybe try and do a night course on web design but in the meantime. ???????????????????????????

bargainboy

can anyone PM me if they can spend some time helping me out please. thanks

thePhilster69

Getafix wrote:

People still charge 3000-4000 for a website? I can't believe it. Even a fully working ecommerce solution shouldn't cost you any more than 2k these days.

Yes they do. I'm a professional web designer and whilst costs have reduced over the past few years, websites can still be expensive things. A company is likely to charge between £350 and £450 per day, with a bespoke ecommerce site likely to take 10-15 days at the least to complete. Even freelancers would come in at between £150 and £250 per day.

It really depends on your requirements. I used free software (osCommerce) and my own design skills to produce an online site for my other half, which we were able to get online for a total cost of about £400 in the first year (which included SSL, WorldPay, hosting and domain name).

If you don't need something bespoke, have a look at the free tools out there: Zen Cart, osCommerce and Cube Cart. You can actually buy templates for all of these if you're after an ultra low-cost solution, though if your budget would stretch, I'd see if you can get one designed for you, to ensure your site won't be a clone of several others.

koru

Sell Dreamweaver on eBay and get a simple package. Some website hosts have free online website creators (eg, 1&1, who are also dead cheap, but I have found pretty reliable).

Or, if you have an Apple Mac, they recently brought out a package called iWeb, which is incredibly easy to use to create a brilliant website. It is targeted at personal websites, but I have seen several great business sites created with it.

It is free with a new Mac or it comes with their iLife 06 package, which is about £50.

Getafix

barginboy...if you read through some of the older threads on the techie forum you will find lots of questions from people about setting up a website.

I don't recommend you try to learn web design just so you can build your own site. Everything you need to get up and running already exists if you know where to look.

You can download a template from somewhere like http://www.templateoutpost.com/. This will come with all the graphics and the code ready to run.

If you require an ecommerce solution, go with either Zencart or Cubecart.

You can have a Zencart shop up and running within 20 mins using the basic install. But it'll take you a lot longer to learn how to use the admin section! I understand you can buy a book on Zencart now.

Skyhigh

Getafix wrote:

You can download a template from somewhere like http://www.templateoutpost.com/. This will come with all the graphics and the code ready to run.

Hmm I notice they use the same templates as https://www.templatemaster.co.uk - mind you they are both affiliates of a certain Monster template retailer


Either way, these templates are usually quite good - some of the Flash templates simply require you to alter the main.html, info or just index files with your own information
- Although I wouldn't recommend a fully flash based site for an online retail solution, definitely not.

:!:

[Deleted User]

Websites cost lots of money - I use to do them myself in my free time/at uni. I'd done small sites for £200, and large sites for up to £4000. I always charged a flat rate based on estimate time to complete and how much I thought the client would muck me around.

Before you touch a computer, do some planning. What information do you want to convey and how can you organise this as best as possible? Do you want the website to stand unedited or do you need a means to edit it.

Personally, my favorite solution was for the designer to make it in a text editor (I use crimson editor), then to use Macromedia Dreamweaver to turn this design into a template. They'd then build the site using this template.

Finally, i'd get the client to buy Macromedia Contribute so they could edit the site further and create new pages. I'd spend a few hours with them getting up to speed with it. This is what I advised http://www.walesgenepark.co.uk/ after they had a tiff with their developers (after spending 14K on their website!).

Contribute is great, it's a cut down Dreamweaver, costs about 70 pound and does what you need to maintain a website

mercman_3

Have followed this thread with great interest. I had a site designed which cost a small fortune. I would like to update it myself or to make small changes but dont really have the skills or knowledge on how to do it.

I also (in fear of robbing this thread) would appreciate contact from some designers / developers who may be interested in earning A FEW QUID or FREE....i love that word, in helping me out

we have just had a baby and although was either going to go to evening classes or do an online course, this has now been thrown out of the window by our arrival

As i said, am looking to take my site forward and would welcome any contact


Regards


Pete

[Deleted User]

Mercman, Your site (i'm assuming its the one on your profile) looks like it was made in Fireworks/Dreamweaver. As i just said in my last post, you're best and easiest way of editing your site on your own is with Contribute.

Here's a link to the 30 day demo http://www.macromedia.com/software/contribute/

If you contact me by email i'll happily offer advice in getting you set up to use it