website design software

rockcity

rockcity

everyday is a chance to get better
Joined
Apr 10, 2005
Location
Greenville, NC
Anyone have any suggestions on website design software? I'm working on building a website (with online shopping, etc.) and would like some opinions on software before I drop some $$$ on a program. Let me know average cost too for what you recommend. :)

OH yeah, with the online shopping, I'd like something that works well with UPS, etc.

Anyone have experience with the free downloadable software packages?

I'm not really interested in the Google or Yahoo type of services as I'd rather develop my own and have it unique if its not too expensive or time consuming



Thanks.
 
Dreamweaver is great if you have $400 laying around. DW is a top contender but looking for more affordable options if there are any decent ones
 
Hand edit a Drupal or Wordpress distribution. Get WinSyntax. Learn CSS. It's really the only way. All of the programs that do it "for" you just try to write the code for you, with varying degrees of success. And when it doesn't work, you're going to have to go look at the code anyway to figure out why.

You can use Paypal to back-end your shopping cart, or maybe use OSCommerce or a mix of OSC and Paypal. I don't know if Paypal can calculate dynamic shipping prices, but there's a lot of stuff that's fairly static. For example, it costs $2/ea to ship a t-shirt in the US. One or two shirts (if small/less than 13oz) can ship 1st Class USPS. Heavier packages (3+ shirts) ships UPS or FedEx Ground at about the same interval ($5-6 for starters).

Either way, make a list of exactly what features you need, and then find an open source back-end to run it. Drupal and WP both work, they're both well-supported, and both have tons of add-ons to provide additional functionality. Drupal is fundamentally a CMS that can blog, whereas WP is a blog that can CMS.
 
saf-t scissors said:
Hand edit a Drupal or Wordpress distribution. Get WinSyntax. Learn CSS. It's really the only way. All of the programs that do it "for" you just try to write the code for you, with varying degrees of success. And when it doesn't work, you're going to have to go look at the code anyway to figure out why.

You can use Paypal to back-end your shopping cart, or maybe use OSCommerce or a mix of OSC and Paypal. I don't know if Paypal can calculate dynamic shipping prices, but there's a lot of stuff that's fairly static. For example, it costs $2/ea to ship a t-shirt in the US. One or two shirts (if small/less than 13oz) can ship 1st Class USPS. Heavier packages (3+ shirts) ships UPS or FedEx Ground at about the same interval ($5-6 for starters).

Either way, make a list of exactly what features you need, and then find an open source back-end to run it. Drupal and WP both work, they're both well-supported, and both have tons of add-ons to provide additional functionality. Drupal is fundamentally a CMS that can blog, whereas WP is a blog that can CMS.
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OK, I have no idea what you just said :shaking: maybe I'm in over my head :D
 
Probably not what you are looking for, for for a quick, simple, free WYSIWYG html editor, seamonkey is good. Its from Mozilla (the Firefox/Thunderbird folks). I run it under Linux, works great for simple stuff....and it's free.

For what you want, Dreamweaver (and somebody that knows how to run it). :)
 
Okay, well.... here....

First off, you want to find a cheap "shared" hosting account. $40-60/yr should cover it for now. Take a look at these guys: link or search on Webhosting Talk for more recommendations.

Now, software requirements.

Are you going to have periodic "news" posts? This race is now scheduled, this guy won last week, etc.?

Then you'll probably have semi-static pages (articles) that don't change often and need to be easily found. Rulebook, competitor listings, etc.

You've already mentioned a store/shopping cart, so we'll include that, too.

And maybe you'll have a photo gallery with images from previous races.

You don't want to have to write an html page by hand every time you want to update your news feed or modify the rulebook. You want some software running on your server that handles all of that stuff for you. So you log into a control panel, type what you want to say, and hit "Submit". Here on NC4x4, we use vBulletin to manage the forum posts and WordPress for the little front page thing. Drupal is Content Management Software. It'll work also.

So, let's say you go get WordPress. It's free. You upload it to your host, configure a couple of things, and you're online. You've got a website. Unfortunately, it's a very beige website with only a few of the features we talked about above, and without your logo or colors or anything like that.

You can solve part of that problem by downloading and installing a different 'theme'. That will change the colors and some of the formatting. You can also download plugins which add features to the software. Beyond that, you're going to have to look at the php and css files that make up your website and change some things by hand. But you'll have saved yourself a lot of work in the end, because you're using a well-built program that allows you to make changes and updates quickly and efficiently.

Am I getting closer?
 
FWIW, the majority of webhosting vendors have "point-click" installs of the most frequently used/popular apps...
For instance,
Forums: phpBB (& variants), gBook, SMF, etc.
Online Commerce: osCommerce, AgoraCart, ZenCart, etc.
CMS: Mambo, Joomla, Dru-pal, etc.
Photos: Gallery2, Coppermine, ZenPhoto, etc.
Blogs: WordPress, PixelPost, etc.

A huge difference between "making" a single/simple webpage and running a site with CMS, Store, & Forums all integrated... not *that* hard, but it ain't gonna be as intuitive as dialing a phone! I've been in IT/IS for 15 years and it took some pretty focused learning (Linux) to figure it out

The bad news (for some) is that MS just kanked "FrontPage"! :lol:
 
Yeah, that's actually a good point. And if they don't, you can ask for some apps to be installed for you.

FrontPage getting the ax is bad news? The MS web design programs were always the worst of the worst -- 500 lines of code to make a black and white "Hello World!" page.
 
saf-t scissors said:
FrontPage getting the ax is bad news?
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Only bad for those with an MS Word mentality or skills... but excellent for web surfers everywhere, once the remaining 50% of hosts turn down FP serverside support! :lol:

I can truthfully say I've never used it... mainly due to the kludge of crap it dumps in the code ("artificial enhancement"?) and general dislike of "the look" it produces. I started years ago using an old WYSIWYG editor called "Gomer"! :eek:
 
Yeah, check with the host.
I use BlueHost (ulmimited space and rediculous bandwidth for peanuts/month) and they provide everything you need for shopping cart and everything.
 
I do not recommend godaddy for hosting. They're fine as a domain registrar, but there are slightly better deals available elsewhere.
 
Maybe so,but if your like me and dont have 1st hand knowledge of web design the tech help is worth the extra $$$.
 
1-tonmudder said:
Maybe so,but if your like me and dont have 1st hand knowledge of web design the tech help is worth the extra $$$.
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See, I'd rather spend a little on someting like Dreamweaver and with my limited HTML experience in the past and maybe a tutorial, I think I could do something I'd be pleased with rather than spend way too much $$$ on a place like Godaddy, google, or Yahoo.

However, those sites are good for just what I want, but with the costs for the options I want, in less than 10 months I could have bought Dreamweaver and done it myself. Yes its easier to get someone else to do it (and I may do that in the end) but at this point, I'm looking at getting the most for my $$$. Plus, this program would let me build multiple sites if I wanted to fill the void in all of the crap I'm into these days :D



Keep the info coming. Sounds like some good info and I'm learning some things. :)
 
Define "too much money".I have a 999 page plan and with the domain name it's like $160 a year.Now granted that might be too much compared to others I don't know about,but everybody wanted $800-$1000 to build one for me.I'm sure people that are in the buisness can find plenty wrong with it but it's working for me.
 
I should have phrased that a little better than I did. There are better deals available for domain registration than GoDaddy, although they're fine if that's what you already have.

Under no circumstances would I recommend them for hosting. ;)
 
What's the problem with their hosting??? Is there something I should know that I dont???
 
No, if you're happy with the service and support and the price, there's no reason for you to change. You made a good point about their turnkey service. It's a good deal.

However, my experience is that there are better hosting companies once you're comfortable taking greater control of your site.
 
mbalbritton said:
ok.. notepad.

yes, I'm being a smartass now :flipoff2:
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But seriously...

Notepad is exactly how I started writing websites. (With lots of online resource help!) Then I discovered you could do it in Word, as a nearly WYSIWYG web building tool. Next I discovered Front Page.

Been using Front Page so long I know how to get around most of the shortcomings and how to add unsupported content, etc. (Thats where knowlege of handwriting HTML really comes in handy!)

Trying to learn Dreamweaver now. Whew! Lots o' difference!

But no doubt about it, FP is a good starter software.
 
One thing that would worry me about doing your own checkout is data security. Do you really want to be responsible for someones credit card info?

Dave
 
rockcity said:
OK, I have no idea what you just said :shaking: maybe I'm in over my head :D
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Drupal. Go to drupal.org, read the manual You can configure it via a a web console. You can download a plugin that does shopping cart stuff.

Get a graphics designer to do the pretty look and feel stuff. It is worth it for a business, plain and simple. Some of the guys here might do it as a resume builder/learning experience.

Thanks,
Jason
 
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