Finding a website designer

[heyjude]

How to, please?

About a month ago I sent out maybe a dozen inquiry emails to designers who advertised their services online. I got back three responses. Two were "This is really too small for us to be interested in." One guy wrote back but clearly our personality styles weren't going to mesh. (I was sane... nevermind.)

So I did the site myself... I just want something pretty and small with a blog, nothing real fancy, but I didn't do so hot. Plus it confused me.

So, friends, how do you go about finding a web designer? Other people seem to manage just fine. Is it me? :tongue

[Williebee]

Step one: Know, to the very best of your ability what you want this site to do. Who do you want it to reach, SPECIFICALLY.

Step two: Know what you want to be included in the website, and have those materials gathered (the text, the graphics, the images, preferably already in digital form).

Step three: Know what your budget/time frame is.

Step four: Be ready to be flexible about Step two. The designer, in your budget, you choose may not have the capabilty/technology to do everything this time.

Step five: Contact local community colleges/high school's graphics teachers for referrals.


You were very wise to shy away from the guy who you didn't mesh with. At it's best, this is not a short term relationship.

Good Luck.

[Matera the Mad]

what the flying monkey said :)

[Medievalist]

Do you really want a Web site with a designer? Have you thought about using something like WordPress, installed on your server, and using it for blog posts and static pages?

That way you can update and maintain it yourself, down to changing the basic design.

[shadowwalker]

I gave up on "pre-packaged" web designs because none of them looked or did what I wanted them to. Did my own, took a couple of months to get the coding but now I can update, change, do whatever by myself, costs nothing but a bit of time, and I like it.;)

[heyjude]

Thank you so much! Williebee, that was fantastic advice, and probably pinpoints one of my main problems: I'm not totally sure what I want. I want someone to tell me! Ha!

Do you really want a Web site with a designer? Have you thought about using something like WordPress, installed on your server, and using it for blog posts and static pages?

That way you can update and maintain it yourself, down to changing the basic design.

I did (http://www.jlschubert.com). And I'm reasonably tech-savvy, but I just switched to a Mac and now things are different... it's a learning curve. I can't figure out why the comments are on a different page and to be honest I'd like for someone else to clean it up for me. :D But maybe you're right, maybe I should give it one more go before I cry uncle.

Thanks, all. I really appreciate it!

[Williebee]

I was going on the impression that you didn't have the tech-savvy. That cleared up:

What Medi said - sort of.

A wiki or a blog may well be all you need at this stage. Something to use to claim and manage your name on the web. (And something with down and dirty tutorials readily available on places like Youtube. :) )

Create the wiki or blog, then tell whoever is handling your name registration/DNS that www.yourwebsitename.com should point to the address of your blog/wiki. viola!

[heyjude]

Create the wiki or blog, then tell whoever is handling your name registration/DNS that www.yourwebsitename.com should point to the address of your blog/wiki. viola!

Ah, yes, should it be so easy... I tried this, got a note that Mac isn't supported. At which point I wondered if I should stop tearing out my hair and give someone else a shot at it (at the website, not tearing out my hair, haha).

[CheekyWench]

Heyjude, I rep'd ya!

[Medievalist]

The reason I'm increasingly hesitant about telling people to "roll their own" is that the browser support issues are a royal PITA.

[Williebee]

The reason I'm increasingly hesitant about telling people to "roll their own" is that the browser support issues are a royal PITA.

What she said (again).

[Matera the Mad]

Yea-ha, browser issues -- the main reason I keep IE around is for webbish testing. Not usually too much of an issue for me because I K.I.S.S., but there are hairy moments.

[ATP]

Hello folks.

I have completed approaching 3 out of 4 web designers/firms for quotations (the last is a template & package firm).

I have been quite clear on my requirements/'specs' in terms of type & amount of content, formats of content, type of CMS required, technical requirements like the necessity for a taxonomy in the back end etc.

It subsequently appeared to me that neither of the firms/designers had any experience with Wordpress, the CMS of choice. But, I didn't ask this question at the time of proposal discussion. I am pretty sure that the one
I spoke with face-to-face can do the job, as he indicated a knowledge of WP, and similarities between user-friendly CMSs. My requirements were/are very simple, so either these designers themselves will do it(or get one of their colleagues within the trade to do it ie. sub-contract; I am guessing here).

The point however is this: even if the firms/designers are busy, how long is considered a 'reasonable' time to wait to follow up on the quotation?

Thanks.

[alleycat]

The point however is this: even if the firms/designers are busy, how long is considered a 'reasonable' time to wait to follow up on the quotation?

The short and quick answer: a few days. Most firms (in whatever field) are generally quick to get back to someone with a proposal. Even busy firms want more work, and web design is certainly a competitive field.

[Tirjasdyn]

Few days is a reasonable time period. If they don't seem to know what you are talking about or try to sell you on a service you don't want, you don't have to hire them.

You can lean on your own, it never hurts to do so.

[ATP]

Following on from my earlier post, I wonder if there is any way that a novice customer can assess potential website designer/web designer ability?

Could there be some sort of standard steps that one ought to go through before parting with one's very hard earned money?

All suggestions & guidance accepted from other web designers or customer/members who've gone through the process...

Thanks very much.

[Summonere]

Following on from my earlier post, I wonder if there is any way that a novice customer can assess potential website designer/web designer ability?

Could there be some sort of standard steps that one ought to go through before parting with one's very hard earned money?

All suggestions & guidance accepted from other web designers or customer/members who've gone through the process...

Thanks very much.
Portfolio. Client list. Word of mouth.

Regarding the portfolio, how diversified are the sites they've built in terms of look, function, content? It seems that many designers crank out sites that look very much alike from one client to the next, or that they specialize in certain areas that may or may not be of much use to you.

[Tirjasdyn]

Following on from my earlier post, I wonder if there is any way that a novice customer can assess potential website designer/web designer ability?

Could there be some sort of standard steps that one ought to go through before parting with one's very hard earned money?

All suggestions & guidance accepted from other web designers or customer/members who've gone through the process...

Thanks very much.

Ask to see a portfolio. The websites may not be up anymore but they should have screen shots.

Talk to other clients.

As what software they use. You don't want to be paying someone for using Iweb to design your website. They better be using dreamweaver or can code themselves.

Are they using CSS based websites or are they going to use tables. If they are still using tables, run away.

Do they require that you host with them, or have software you must use to work with them? if they say yes, you may want to look elsewhere.

Will you be able to update the website yourself or will they require that you come to them. If they require that you go through them after the site is done then run away.

Make sure that if they are going to register and set up hosting that it will be put in your name. When you look up your webpage in Whois you should see your name there.

A lot of companies, big and small get taken because they don't know enough to question the web designer. I've had a lot of clients that we're being taken for 10,000 or more a year by web designers holding them hostage. The only time that a designer can hold your website is if you do not pay them.

[Matera the Mad]

iweb -- omfg lol! horrorz!

Didn't mention Flash. WARNING! Flash is not a website, it is an abomination. Slow loading, annoying, not sensible. Not updateable by site owner. Maximum suckage. Do not do Flush(sic).

In one word: Wordpress.

[ATP]

Hello again all.

Well, I have narrowed the list down to 2 designers: one is actually a division within a larger design firm, & especially deals with "the low end of the market" ; the other is a freelance "designer" if you could call him that.

The low end division sells a variety of packages, with the basics of a choice of a template, plus a choice of cms & some other value-added services.

The freelance "designer" specialises in coding, and has basic design skills.
I have seen some examples of his work that he's done for himself, and they are functional. I am not looking for design "fireworks".

They are approximately the same price, with the low end division of the design firm being a bit more for a value-added package.

My question concerning the low end division product is this: if they are supplying a template, why would they also have the choice of a cms, if the template functions seemingly do not allow the end user to make any additions?? In other words, I might add Wordpress, but I do not think that I would be able to make any additions given that the template apparently would not allow them? I add that I would be required to pay for the addition of Wordpress (despite it being free for them, I think).

Is this correct? Or have i got it all backwards? Any out there kind enough to explain this to me?

Thanks.

[bethany]

You may want to check out web designers who specialize in authors. I got quotes from several designers and have been very happy with mine.

[Tirjasdyn]

It's free for them and you. You download it from wordpress.org or install it via your webhost for free. Usually you can do both if you want.

If they are putting in your contract that you cannot make changes yourself and must pay them for any changes RUN AWAY. If they won't use your CMS of choice run away. I prefer wordpress and install it for most of my clients. However if they are using drupal or joomla and want to stick with that I do force it down their throat. Design wraps around the CMS. and technically you can take any template and apply to wordpress.

In a self hosted wordpress installation. You can edit template files under Appearance, and Editor. There are a lot of files but using the default 2010 them you really only need to worry about three.

Style.css - the css file that styles your website. Colors, layout etc
Header.php
Footer.php
These to files may need editing if you just want to change stuff around. The default theme lets you add custom heading pictures, and backgrounds.



My question concerning the low end division product is this: if they are supplying a template, why would they also have the choice of a cms, if the template functions seemingly do not allow the end user to make any additions?? In other words, I might add Wordpress, but I do not think that I would be able to make any additions given that the template apparently would not allow them? I add that I would be required to pay for the addition of Wordpress (despite it being free for them, I think).

Is this correct? Or have i got it all backwards? Any out there kind enough to explain this to me?

Thanks.

[ATP]

It's free for them and you. You download it from wordpress.org or install it via your webhost for free. Usually you can do both if you want.

[QUOTE=Tirjasdyn;5971806]
If they are putting in your contract that you cannot make changes yourself and must pay them for any changes RUN AWAY. If they won't use your CMS of choice run away. I prefer wordpress and install it for most of my clients. However if they are using drupal or joomla and want to stick with that I do force it down their throat. Design wraps around the CMS. and technically you can take any template and apply to wordpress.

No contract as yet, but the division "chief"/head has indicated that I may choose to make changes myself-as many others before me have also indicated


Design wraps around the CMS. and technically you can take any template and apply to wordpress.

Great--ok. The head has indicated to me that there are limitations to the template eg. content can only be added to two "tiers"/levels, when I started to move into wanting or needing three "tiers"/levels.

I then asked myself what other limitations on functionality and design does a template impose? If this, then is wordpress necessary? will the template actually prevent use of much of wordpress functionality?

Thanks.

[Medievalist]

ATP

Have you tried playing with WordPress yet?

You really need to do that first.

The tiers thing--that doesn't make sense. You can create Pages, which can have a Parent page, but don't have to.

I've created Pages using WordPress that have this kind of tiers structure:


Books
Genre
Fatasy
Urban Fantasy

Etc.

You can get a pretty good idea of what's possible using a free throw away account on wordpress.com

[Tirjasdyn]

Great--ok. The head has indicated to me that there are limitations to the template eg. content can only be added to two "tiers"/levels, when I started to move into wanting or needing three "tiers"/levels.

I then asked myself what other limitations on functionality and design does a template impose? If this, then is wordpress necessary? will the template actually prevent use of much of wordpress functionality?

Thanks.

He's wrong. I've created sites with more than six levels down. Wordpress now contains it's own menu functionality tied to its pages. When you create a page you can select it's parent and it will automatically populate the menu. New templates should be using the wordpress menu.

IF he's creating a template that will limit wordpress functionality (people do this and it sucks), then maybe you should look for something else. A template does not impose ANY limitations unless they do it on purpose. That screams to me that he either has no clue what he's talking about or that part of their policy is to make things difficult for you so you have to go back to them.

There should be no limitations on wordpress from a template.

[ATP]

Earlier on 28-3-11, I wrote about those designers I had placed on my finalised shortlist post #20.

Now, despite the fact that they are much the same price-wise, their product was 'different'--or so I thought.
One providing a template w/ some changes permitted, the other I thought doing his own 'design'.

With the independent contractor designer, I think I have come to a major problem(s):

i) in an email today he informed me that my indicated requirement requires more advanced programming, which is beyond the skill he currently possesses;

ii) our work & personality styles are different, and this has created some tension just today re. our communication & his other commitments work and family-wise, which had not been previously discussed. I have indicated some indecisiveness though in terms of wrestling with the content of one section or page, & whether this may require the addition of an FAQ or not. He told me that he is not working on that section at the moment;

iii) no formal contract has been put in place beyond he informing me of his price and I saying that
I acknowledge this. He seems to have gone on with it, while I have assumed that the preliminary designs he has shown me are but templates, which he has done very little work on.

He is the 2nd designer to indicate that what I had suggested--or something like it--is 'complicated'.

My thought at the moment is to either halt further production entirely, & seek someone else with more skill & ability, or negotiate a formal contract to deal with these & other issues, and then continue.

If I halt entirely, this then puts my schedule back. But, perhaps I save myself trouble down the line, and my very big fear that shit will happen, and I will be forced to do the whole thing all over. I do have access to other designers, with some apparently quite experienced, but it is unknown if they will accept a fixed price offer or not, though such is frequently offered.

What do the other members here who've had previous experience with web designers think?

[Tirjasdyn]

What is he saying is complicated?

As with fixed price it will depend exactly what you are asking.

As for the personality problems...are you calling him at all hours?

Without a contract is...scary to say the least.

[cameron_chapman]

As a designer and someone who writes about design for a living, I'd like to offer my take on your situation, and on finding a web designer in general. (As an aside: I'm not currently taking on any new projects, and won't be for the foreseeable future, so this is in no way a pitch for my own services.)

First, if you have a very small budget for a website, and by "very small" I mean less than $500 at the least (for a basic site that's little more than an online brochure), you're better off going to a service like weebly.com (http://weebly.com) and setting up a site with one of their templates. You'll actually get a better end result than you will with 95% of people you can hire for less than $500. With weebly specifically, you don't have ads on your site, you can host it at your own domain name (yoursite.com, etc.) for no extra fee, and it's easy to create and update yourself.

If you're looking for a blog, without many other pages, then setting up a wordpress.com blog might be your best bet (you can pay extra to have your own domain name, I think it's less than $20/year with the domain registration). Even some "professional" authors have Wordpress.com (http://wordpress.com) blogs, so it's not going to indicate you're an amateur or unprofessional by any means. Wordpress.com has over 100 templates you can choose from, and many of those support a custom header and background. If you want a completely custom blog design, with setup, expect to pay $1000 or more for a professional designer.

If you don't know exactly what you want, don't work with students or hobbyists. Most students, even those with design talent, aren't great at project management yet. They, along with hobbyists, have other priorities at the moment, and often aren't very professional. There are exceptions to this rule, but for the most part, it's not the best idea to work with students/hobbyists unless you're willing and able to act as the project manager.

I don't know what your budget is, so I don't know if any of the above applies to you.

Also, as far as Wordpress being free, the software itself is. However, getting it set up, secured, and properly functioning with a template (or a custom design), takes time. Wordpress, hosted on your own site, is about as unsecure as you can get right out of the box. I say this from experience, as I've had my site hacked on more than one occasion. Make sure whoever is setting up your Wordpress site, if you're hosting it outside of Wordpress.com, knows how to properly secure your site so that you don't suddenly find your site title changed to "Cheap Cialis!" in the Google results (this happened to me, and was a HUGE PITA to fix, and not something a non-programmer could do).

If you have any specific questions about things, I'm happy to answer them here or feel free to PM me.

[Cloud Eight]

May I jump in?

I'm researching how to set up a website and came across some consumer review sites that rank web hosting sites. The ones that sounded the most promising were iPage, Fat Cow, and Blue Host.

But reading this thread, I wonder if I should just use Wordpress.

Really mixed up. Any advice would be appreciated!

[ATP]

The others here of a more technical bent will fill in the details.

Hosting is where you place your website with a host, that enables you to place it on the internet. Or something to this effect.

Wordpress is a content management system (CMS). I'd suggest that for a quick run down on a CMS and wordpress, try each of these as entries to wikipedia. It can explain it so much better than I can.

[Forlorn Radiance]

I can give you the number to my designer, hes amazing and I know him personally. His rates are fair and he does several sites for corporations. My site is still in the works, so I can't really show you anything. But he will treat you fair. Message me if you are interested.

[Cloud Eight]

thanks ATP for the info. Yeah, I'm beginning to get the hang of it.

Forlorn, thanks for the offer, but I can't afford a designer at this point. If I change my mind, I'll get back to you.

Appreciate the help

[Medievalist]

thanks ATP for the info. Yeah, I'm beginning to get the hang of it.

Unless you're doing something complicated, like using a shopping cart, most people are quite well served by WordPress.

I also worry, a lot, about writers spending money on a Web site, before they're making money from selling books.

[Cloud Eight]

Thanks for the input, Medievalist.

[Royal Mercury]

Didn't mention Flash. WARNING! Flash is not a website, it is an abomination.


Have to disagree with you there. Flash can add a lot of very cool functionality and animation. However, having the home page all flash is stupid, in that case it does become bloated and useless, especially since robots cannot penetrate a flash file, and so miss out on any information it may have, for them to report back to their google masters.

[ATP]

Hello　again folks.

Thought I would drop by & give an update on this particular little saga.

On 4-4-11, post # 26, I mentioned that I had arrived at a shortlist of two web designers, one (firm) providing a template w/ some changes permitted, the other I thought doing his own 'design'.

We reached a point where what I required seemed difficult for the contractor and that the initial idea I had proposed he seemed not to have understood, but later found that when he did understand it, it wouldn’t work as he was designing it. To make it easier & quicker for him, I suggested that he send me scans of hand drawn proposed alternative designs. I never received these within the week that he promised them, and my follow up email and later telephone call have not been answered.

Thus the result with the independent contractor was as Cameron Chapman had mentioned on 5-4-11, post #28. He was a hobbyist, and unprofessional. Trouble is, this contractor’s incomplete examples of my site are still on his site, and this is retrieved when you do a Google search on my name.

I have had contact with other web designers, definitely more experienced than the independent contractor mentioned above. With the one other web designer found through Absolute Write, initial communication seemed positive, but he too just petered out. Wordpress is not the CMS he normally uses, but he was willing to work with me if the template I had selected was easy enough to put in place. We had discussed two possible templates, but it ended never being clear what he felt about his ability to work with them, given what I had sought.

I had then to continue to research these two templates myself, & initiated a trial with one. I ran out of time for this, as I had been pressured by a commission which took up so much time. This theme, cheaper than the second, had quite a number of strong negative reviews concerning its poor coding, & the work required to get it to work.



The second template held a lot more design possibilities, & quite suitable I thought, but I found that you were forced to take out a membership to even read the forum moderator replies to the theme forum questions. So not entirely sure, and would not be until I took out a membership, which is not cheap at all.

I also found a subsequent third possible theme. As well, I found a fourth theme I thought very possible, but the site owners informed me that the design was theirs; WP was the CMS of choice.

In January this year I started the research for a suitable web designer locally, and until now I have neither designer nor website. I have a CMS, with some very possible templates/themes, an incomplete testing of one, & another two which have to be further researched/examined and tested. Like everything else concerned with IT or technology, you have to do a mountain of research.

[Matera the Mad]

Very unprofessional to allow search engines to index a test site. *shakes head*

@Royal Mercury -- that's exactly what I meant.

[ATP]

Finally got email from the contractor after nudging him with a slightly sharp email from me--he replies 3 working weeks later, apologises, said he's been 'under the weather', didn't keep in contact w/ me or others etc etc.

He has removed the material from the test site & it will eventually not be picked up by Google bots.

It came down to this: his stated inexperience in the level of skill required, his lack of communication, and that he (apparently) let slip that he's returning to the US for good in (early) June. I was very wary about him "cutting and running" or being left without support. This last bit was enough for me to wish to discontinue. No money changed hands in all of this.

He later informed me that he did not initially seek any monies or contract from me as I had been referred to him. He indicated that he would have done so (had he known that I would have discontinued).

So...he realised that he missed out due in part to his error. But, had I paid a certain percentage upfront that this was ok, and that it was ok that he would return to the US (do a "runner") & leave me with an incomplete site, yes??

[cameron_chapman]

Seriously, if you want a site up and running without the hassle, check out Weebly. It's simple to use, you don't need to know any HTML to get it working, they have good themes, and it's free, even with your own domain name (though you do have to pay for the domain itself, and free sites have a tiny Weebly link in the footer but you can pay to have that removed). They also have good tutorials, and make the site easy to manage. I've played around quite a bit with their themes and sites, and they're the best free site builder/host I've found.

Once you have that set up, you'll feel less pressure to find and hire a web designer, since you'll have a web presence already. You may find that the Weebly site is perfectly adequate for what you need (it probably will be), and you'll have saved yourself money and headaches.

[ATP]

Cameron,

Thanks. I have had a good look at weebly, and for what it is,
I think that it can't be beat.

However, its design is based around the 5-page blog site.

At a minimum, I am seeking something that has enough for around 50 pages for 50+ articles.

[jairey]

I've been using a less than $100 product for several sites I help non-profits out with. It's Serif's Webplus x4 (I have X5 on order, it has a lot more bells and whistles. You can download the Special Edition for free -- it does limit the number of pages, but you can see how it "works." I was able to import the sites which had been created with a different product and immediately get up and running.
It is really a WYSIWYG product and has the "feel" of a DTP program. That's what I wanted. You can set it to automatically ftp upload to your hosting site; it will incrementally load as well. I've been very pleased with it. As I said, you can try out the free version.

[ATP]

I've been using a less than $100 product for several sites I help non-profits out with. It's Serif's Webplus x4 (I have X5 on order, it has a lot more bells and whistles. You can download the Special Edition for free -- it does limit the number of pages, but you can see how it "works." I was able to import the sites which had been created with a different product and immediately get up and running.
It is really a WYSIWYG product and has the "feel" of a DTP program. That's what I wanted. You can set it to automatically ftp upload to your hosting site; it will incrementally load as well. I've been very pleased with it. As I said, you can try out the free version.

Thanks very much. But, I am unsure if it is a CMS? Do you have any idea on its page number limitations??

[Medievalist]

Thanks very much. But, I am unsure if it is a CMS? Do you have any idea on its page number limitations??

It's not a CMS; it's an HTML editor with a GUI; think Dreamweaver.

ATP do you have a list of specs? A bulleted list: i.e.

* Static pages: About, Contact, Help
* Blog posts
* Shopping cart system using [Google Checkout, PayPal, Amazon, some other proprietary system]

What kinds of expectations do you have about making changes? (You want to make them? You will pay the Web designer, you have a Web master?)

Do you have the text ready? Do you have art? A basic idea of look-and-feel, a list of sites that are similar, a template that you like?

* Web form for [? newsletter Email notifications?]

Is there a chance you could use a WordPress template like Twenty Ten or Atahulpa that are astonishingly flexible and free?

[ATP]

It's not a CMS; it's an HTML editor with a GUI; think Dreamweaver.

ATP do you have a list of specs? A bulleted list: i.e.

* Static pages: About, Contact, Help
* Blog posts
* Shopping cart system using [Google Checkout, PayPal, Amazon, some other proprietary system]

What kinds of expectations do you have about making changes? (You want to make them? You will pay the Web designer, you have a Web master?)

Do you have the text ready? Do you have art? A basic idea of look-and-feel, a list of sites that are similar, a template that you like?

* Web form for [? newsletter Email notifications?]

Is there a chance you could use a WordPress template like Twenty Ten or Atahulpa that are astonishingly flexible and free?

Static pages:yes-7 (est)
Blog posts:leave the option for later-but presently, n/a
Shopping cart: n/a
Forms: Contact

Site management: would hopefully be able to do this myself
Material ready: yes
Art required: no
Reference/example sites & templates: yes

Suggested themes: I think that none of these can handle 50+ pages, right? As an example, we're talking large galleries, or portfolios, at least in terms of number.

[Medievalist]

Suggested themes: I think that none of these can handle 50+ pages, right? As an example, we're talking large galleries, or portfolios, at least in terms of number.

WordPress can easily handle over 50 static pages.

If you're talking image galleries, you might want to look at one of the open source gallery products, as well as specific WordPress gallery themes.

Are you sure you need to hire someone to do this?

WordPress is about 80% paying attention to the screen, if you use an ISP/server host that has a one-click WordPress install.

[kuwisdelu]

Another butter-inner. It's been forever since I looked into having my own website for anything or played around with any mark-up langauges.

Can I use WordPress for my grad student personal homepage on my department's website? I think I'm just supposed to upload the .html pages and whatever images, etc., that I need, so I'm not sure if I should be looking for something simpler than a full CMS or if I can use WordPress.

[Medievalist]

Another butter-inner. It's been forever since I looked into having my own website for anything or played around with any mark-up langauges.

Can I use WordPress for my grad student personal homepage on my department's website?

To run WordPress as a local install you need ftp access or sftp or shell access and:

* PHP version 4.3 or greater
* MySQL version 4.1.2 or greater

You'll at least need to know how to create a database via the command line, or have someone with access to MySQL do it for you.

[kuwisdelu]

To run WordPress as a local install you need ftp access or sftp or shell access and:

* PHP version 4.3 or greater
* MySQL version 4.1.2 or greater

You'll at least need to know how to create a database via the command line, or have someone with access to MySQL do it for you.

Shell access isn't a problem. I don't remember if MySQL is free or not. Mmm, I'm sure I can do both of those if I really wanted to, but it sounds like it would be easier just to use something else, then. Despite not having been updated in forever, iWeb will probably suffice. I don't need anything complicated.

ETA: I'm only planning on a few basic pages, but I'm just hoping to make something a little more professional-looking than most of the faculty/student pages. Even most of our comp sci professors' personal pages are pretty ugly... but I guess knowing the tools doesn't mean having an eye for design.

[Medievalist]

Get yourself a free copy of BareBone's TextWrangler; you'll have to hand code the html, but it's not rocket science.

Find a free CSS template.

And off you go!

[Tirjasdyn]

Suggested themes: I think that none of these can handle 50+ pages, right? As an example, we're talking large galleries, or portfolios, at least in terms of number.


Wordpress can easily handle hundreds of pages, which can be turned on and off at will. Both the templates that Medievalist suggested handle this fine.

Textwrangler is also awesome.

[kuwisdelu]

Get yourself a free copy of BareBone's TextWrangler; you'll have to hand code the html, but it's not rocket science.

Find a free CSS template.

And off you go!

Already have it, naturally. (Though I've opted for XCode for most of my coding.)

I guess that's a few more on the list of languages to learn...

Well... I have done HTML before, but it always looked pretty amateurish. I've never touched CSS.

What's a good source for templates?

[Medievalist]

http://www.freecsstemplates.org/

Look at the HTML carefully; be ruthless about pruning javascript unless you know what it's doing.

This is a pretty good site--but sometimes malware slips through.

Also, for the utilitarian, there are a bunch of css grid engines.

Don't screw with the dimensions in css divs unless you really know what you're doing. That's what typically breaks I.E. compatibility.

[ATP]

Wordpress can easily handle hundreds of pages, which can be turned on and off at will. Both the templates that Medievalist suggested handle this fine.

Textwrangler is also awesome.

Ok. problem is that I don't know enough about the kit to be able to know or be able to do this. And, without fail, all displays about these sites and many others revolve around the mainly 5-page site:about, contact, portfolio etc etc. Unless of course the template is designed for something different such as for e-commerce.

[Medievalist]

Ok. problem is that I don't know enough about the kit to be able to know or be able to do this. And, without fail, all displays about these sites and many others revolve around the mainly 5-page site:about, contact, portfolio etc etc. Unless of course the template is designed for something different such as for e-commerce.

Here's the thing; think about the WordPress Template as a series of real-world paper pads with forms.

The sort of thing an office purchases; the 50 or 100 sheet pad with the same form printed on all of them.

So every WordPress template has at least two forms; a Page form and a Post form.

The two often look very much alike; but Posts (as in blog posts) have a date and time stamp, they are usually configured to appear in reverse order, newest at the top, etc.

You want a static Page? You click a New Page link in the Dashboard; you get a blank form, ready for your content.

You want new blog Post? You click a New Page link in the Dashboard; you get a blank form, ready for your content.



These sites are all WordPress sites:

http://www.digitalmedievalist.com -- a single blog Post; all the rest are Pages

This site also has a separate blog about books; mostly, I wanted to play with a different style of WordPress template (and I used a separate WordPress install; there are other ways to do that). It's mostly Posts: http://digitalmedievalist.com/bookthing/

http://www.digitalmedievalist.net -- a few static Pages; most of the site is the Blog, using WordPress Posts.

http://www.greenmanreview.com Posts, with many many Pages. This is a review site; Reviews go up as Pages; a blog post periodically links to a number of reviews.

http://www.ipadprojectsbook.com/ A few Pages, but mostly, hosts a blog.

So there's a lot of variety available.

I should note--I'm not a designer, or an artist. I know text, and I know html and CSS, and some basics about scripting.

But I can read the screen. And there are several good books about WordPress 3.

[kuwisdelu]

Psst. I think you meant http://www.ipadprojectsbook.com/.

[Tirjasdyn]

Ok. problem is that I don't know enough about the kit to be able to know or be able to do this. And, without fail, all displays about these sites and many others revolve around the mainly 5-page site:about, contact, portfolio etc etc. Unless of course the template is designed for something different such as for e-commerce.

What you see on a site and what Wordpress is capable of are two different things. Just because you see at template with five pages doesn't mean it is limited to five pages. It means no one hit New Page in the dashboard and created a sixth page.

Also each page can be named whatever you want. I don't have an about page on my website at all...because I changed the name in the title field.

[Medievalist]

Psst. I think you meant http://www.ipadprojectsbook.com/.

Mistakes may have been made . . .

(Thanks Kuwi!; fixed it above)

[ATP]

<snip> And there are several good books about WordPress 3.

This is probably the 'best' solution, but I am unable to afford it right now. And, it is not likely that the public library here will have such books; or if they do, it is likely out of date, and if they order the recent editions, these are likely to come b/t 6-12 months later.

[ATP]

What you see on a site and what Wordpress is capable of are two different things. Just because you see at template with five pages doesn't mean it is limited to five pages. It means no one hit New Page in the dashboard and created a sixth page.

Also each page can be named whatever you want. I don't have an about page on my website at all...because I changed the name in the title field.

Ok. But, I am in a Catch 22 then, aren't I? I don't know the functions of the templates I have chosen, & I am of the impression based on experience mentioned here that the designer is not going to spend time examining the template to determine what can and can not be done.

I suppose the only solution is to find a designer who has had some/good experience with the chosen template/s. Where do I go for this?

[Medievalist]

ATP do you have a server/ISP/host picked out?

Do they have one click install for WordPress?

You can easily switch from one template to another, just by clicking.

In general, templates don't have a whole lot of unique function. There are things like some have an "author page" already built, to list posts by a particular author; some have areas for image galleries, or ads, already established. Some have menus, some have menus in the header and the footer, or only in a special menu area.

You're going to need a host/server anyway, why not try playing with WordPress a little yourself? You can then ask a Template designer or someone who understands WordPress templates/CSS/PHP to make modifications to what you've already got.

Have you played with a free wordpress.com account? That will tell you an awful lot.

[Tirjasdyn]

I suppose the only solution is to find a designer who has had some/good experience with the chosen template/s. Where do I go for this?


How about this: What are the name of the templates?

Templates are one click installs in wordpress.