Need input on website design how-to and hosting

danalicious · Sep 5th, 2009, 10:33 AM

Let me start by saying I know nothing about website design. I cannot seem to wrap my head around html or any other coding.

I want to start managing my site on my own, without paying someone else to do it for me. I thought about iWeb and MobileMe, but I am looking for input on other simple web-design programs that won't cost a great deal of money. I am also looking for a new host.

Any input/ideas will be most helpful!

Thanks!

Ottawaman · Sep 5th, 2009, 10:45 AM

Have a look at RapidWeaver

SINC · Sep 5th, 2009, 11:16 AM

I use RapidWeaver for my web site and it is so easy. I highly recommend it.

If you do decide to buy RapidWeaver, PM me your e-mail address and I will send you a link to a special offer from Smith Micro to buy it for only $29.95, a saving of $50.00 off the regular price of $79.95.

I can also include a .pdf of the manual to read so you can see how easy it is to use nd the wide variety of functions you can use.

Kaiu · Sep 5th, 2009, 11:32 AM

I've always found it much easier to install a Content Management System....

These include:

- Drupal
- Joomla
- Wordpress
- ArticleLive

To be honest, there are hundreds....

Companies like Nike use like Expression Engine I think...

Anyways, you can even use bulletin boards, people make blogs from these things...

The thing is, you just need to know how to theme, and you can make your site look like anything you want.

The great thing about these, is that you pretty much do not need to upload to FTP everytime you make a change to your content. You can also do it from any browser-based system (i.e. PS3)

a7mc · Sep 5th, 2009, 02:13 PM

I'll second the recommendation for a CMS based site (like Wordpress). I've built custom solutions for many clients this way, and they are very happy. They get the initial design and setup of a professional creative designer but they also get to manage the content themselves. Wordpress can be modified drastically to look like a blog or look nothing like a blog (and everything in between).

If your site is for a company (ie. a site that will be the "public image" for your product or service) I HIGHLY recommend getting a professional company to set you up with a custom CMS. At roughly $500-$800 (in general... depends how fancy you get), it is a very good investment. As good as Rapidweaver or the generic Wordpress/Drupal themes are, it shows when something is a template and when something is custom built. If it's just for a personal site, then a template is not such an issue.

Good luck.

A7

darkscot · Sep 5th, 2009, 02:25 PM

Here's a third vote for CMS - specifically WordPress. Drupal can be more intensive than Drupal to setup and many hosting setups have cPanel with Fantastico - let's you install WordPress with the click of a button.

Kaiu · Sep 5th, 2009, 02:40 PM

In regards to looking for a host, since its personal and you're just learning....

Any site would do, just go with the cheapest, or even free ones....

When you have one that you plan on sticking with.... Don't go after cheapest price, cuz lots of companies like hostgator and netfirms just aren't reliable enough because like bell, they oversell the bandwidth and stuff, leaving you with a crazy slow webhost....

I currently use Steadfast which is really nice, I think they may oversell too, but it's not unlimited bandwidth/storage, but depending on what u use it for, its not bad...

If you are just hosting web pages, you will hardly need alot of bandwidth anyways unless you get like 10, 000+ hits a day on your site... or 1, 000+ people logged into your forum at once...

I am running Drupal on my site: http://www.jiabun.com/site

It's just a random site I made to try out Drupal lol

Sep 5th, 2009, 03:24 PM

A content management system is worth it if it easily fits your needs as a lot of hosting setups come with one-click installs of a lot of them. RapidWeaver also seems to be a pretty good choice for novice html design. It makes (for the most part) nice clean html code. I'm a by-hand coder personally but if you're just starting out it can be a steep learning curve to go that route depending on what you're trying to do with the site at the end of the day and how professional you want it to look.

JCCanuck · Sep 5th, 2009, 03:26 PM

	Quote:			Originally Posted by Ottawaman
	Have a look at RapidWeaver

Great for beginners yet you can expand on it as you get better even do some html stuff. Great theme templates that comes with the program or that you can buy plus you can alter them to your liking. The plug-ins are also great, Blocks is a must buy.
As for hosting I can't recommend any for the moment. The one I'm using now merged with another company and it has been hell using them so I'm switching end of term.

ScanMan · Sep 5th, 2009, 10:08 PM

RapidWeaver 4 - Powerful Web Design Software for Mac OS X
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