Writer's Website: pay someone to code or self-code?

Soul

Soul

Pocket-Sized Leopard
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I can do a fairly decent website myself. I can use CSS, some JS, and HTML to do a pretty decent job of things.

Except...I tend to leave things pointing to nothing because OMG A SHINY OVER THERE MUST GO GET...and yeah.

And then there's the "needs to update things sometimes" problem.

Server space is of course no issue....I have space to spare and room to host people anyhow...

I just wonder if it would be better to pay for A) a professional to clean up the code and finish the site and notate all code so I can change things later B) one to redesign the site and do the notations for me to edit later

OR

Knuckle down and just finish it.

do I really need a super fancy site with 100s of bells and whistles when most of my published stuff is just for small things that only see maybe 100 people's eyes locally (just newsletter/flyer stuff)

I don't really think I do :p but yeah...getting a web designer on the job is fairly affordable for a small site like what I have in mind. (maybe 10-15 actual pages at the moment, all html/javascript/css work)

So I don't know. I might try to create all the pages I'm missing and see where that gets me...just need my copy of CS5 to finish installing so I don't have to use notepad. ._.~

Writers with a website...what do you do? do you use your brother to code it or something?
 

Deleted member 42

I hand code HTML, CSS, and javscript.

I <3 WordPress. Get your domain. Get a decent host somewhere that ISN'T your domain registrar but which has one click WordPress install.

Really. It's the way to go. I'm currently closely eyeing BlueHost; I haven't tried them but I'm contemplating.
 

Fins Left

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If you're having trouble with CS5, are you on a 64bit OS?

Personally, I think a CMS or Wordpress might make your life easier if you just want to concentrate on content.

There are many CMSs that integrate with the phpBB and that can automate the "by timeline," "by character," etc through the use of tags. Once set up, security and patch updates will be a lot easier than manual design.

I use Drupal and it allows you to establish a set look (header, footer, sidebars, automatic menus) that will be consistent across all of your pages. Registered users (from your phpBB) can have different access (pages on the site, forums of the bbs) than the general public. You can even have paid subscribers allowed access to content different than registered or general public users. Your by timeline, character, etc pages could be built automatically and not look like a list of blog posts pulled from tags. It also has the polls. You can insert blocks of code like you're using for the random quotes and designate that they show up on the front page and all pages of xyz type.

Any paid hosting site that provides cpanel will include automatic install for Wordpress, Joomla, Drupal, phpBB, etc.
 

acelticdream

Just me ... dreaming and writing.
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Hmm, I guess this is sort of a non-issue for me as my "day job" is running my small business - website design and hosting.

I guess the best answer for you would be to choose the route that will be easiest for you in the long run. Will you always have time to keep your website up-to-date, not just content but also script and security wise?
 
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