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Geeky stuff

Can anyone give me some basic advice about creating a web site?

26 replies

bodiddly · 18/02/2009 11:00

I am trying to sort out a basic layout and ideas for my work web site (we are a tiny company ... pretty much just me!) but have a few questions ... can anyone please help?

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Molesworth · 18/02/2009 11:02

Go on, post your questions! There are a few web design/development types on here. I used to be a web developer myself but my knowledge is rather rusty now.

bodiddly · 18/02/2009 11:06

Ok, I am clueless when it comes to this but here goes:

I am trying to put together a site for our interior design/retail company and the content seems to be quite considerable ... so

Does it matter how large the site is in terms of pages?
Do you pay the designer per page? We want to design most of it ourselves and go to them for the main advice/how to make it work.
Does it cost loads to have moving images/scrolling photos etc?

There are more questions .. just not sure what as yet?!

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bodiddly · 18/02/2009 11:07

We started off thinking it would only be a few pages saying we do curtains, blinds, fabrics, kitchens, bathrooms, flooring blah blah but there is so much more! The more I look at other web sites the more I realise that people seem to want to look at products and if we only mention in passing that we do them without showing examples etc then they will presumably look elsewhere ... hence it seems to be growing by the minute!

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Molesworth · 18/02/2009 11:28

First of all, unless you are a whizz at graphic design (which you might well be in light of your business) I would get a professional to put together the design for you, otherwise it will look amateurish. You could pay for a design in the form of templates and then do the rest of the work yourself (in which case you'd make a one-off payment to the designer for the templates and then have to sort out hosting etc yourself), or go for a full service whereby you collaborate on the design and from there provide the content to your web person so that they do all the techie stuff (in which case you'd be paying a monthly fee, most likely).

It isn't difficult to construct and manage a basic website, but if you're pushed for time or not particularly interested in web stuff then it'll probably be better to get someone else to do this for you.

"Does it matter how large the site is in terms of pages?"

Nope, as long as the site is well designed in terms of navigation. Mind you, I'm not quite sure what you mean by "does it matter": do you mean "will it cost a lot more" or "will it be technically difficult" or ...?

"Do you pay the designer per page? We want to design most of it ourselves and go to them for the main advice/how to make it work."

This will vary - you could certainly go to a web designer and pay them to construct the page templates to your design and advise you on how to proceed from there. Or you could pay them to do it all for you.

"Does it cost loads to have moving images/scrolling photos etc?"

Not necessarily, but I would only use that sort of content if there was a very good reason for it (e.g. 'virtual tours' of jobs you have done). Again it depends on the precise nature of the content you want as to how much it would cost to create. There are lots of tools available that enable you to create this sort of thing yourself (montages etc).

I'm sure one of the web design mners will be along soon to give more specific advice on the various options open to you. I've got some techie knowledge but my work was more on developing e-commerce sites, content management systems and the like for big companies, so I probably won't be of much use to you!

Molesworth · 18/02/2009 11:33

You've probably done this already, but it's a good idea to look at what your competitors are doing, website-wise. Have you seen any examples of great websites out there that inspire you?

bodiddly · 18/02/2009 11:54

thanks molesworth, thats helpful.

Our sister company is an architect's practice so we are pretty design led .. hence we wanted to have a bash at the basic ideas behind what we wanted on what page etc. We will employ a company to put the site together but were hoping (perhaps naively) to save ourselves a little money by having a lot of it sorted ie. we have done the text and are sorting the images. We had discussions with a web design company a while ago but didnt really like their suggested layout. It is difficult for them to really interpret the gist of our company and the correct pitch in a one hour meeting admittedly! One of our architects has graphic design experience and has done some layout ideas on powerpoint but I was just concerned that the level of content was going to end up costing us a fortune!

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Stitchwort · 18/02/2009 12:02

Hi, I know a couple of people who have started a web design/hosting/whatever else you need business and I know they can basically take your ideas for graphics and layouts (the powerpoint sounds fine) and turn it into a web site quite easily.
So what you're suggesting sounds totally possible, maybe try a different company if the one you've spoken doesn't seem right!

bodiddly · 18/02/2009 12:38

I have been looking around at other companies but there aren't all that many out there that do exactly what we do ... but I have taken some useful ideas of what we do and dont want. I am fairly happy with the way it is looking at the moment from the initial layouts but am keen for the web designers to advise as to how to improve on it thats for sure!

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bodiddly · 18/02/2009 12:39

am looking for a company stitchwort .. are they in London by any chance?

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Molesworth · 18/02/2009 12:44

I think most web design companies would offer you a 'bespoke' service tbh. I know of one based in central London: Pebble IT

Molesworth · 18/02/2009 12:46

You might hate this idea but you could set up a company blog using Wordpress. I like Wordpress because the templates are very professional and you have the ability to set up as many static pages as you wish in addition to your blog entries. For a fee you can point it at your own domain name and use your own design (you'd need to get a web designer to create a CSS template for you).

bodiddly · 18/02/2009 12:56

thanks molesworth ... wish I hadnt clicked on that company as I looked at the other web sites they had designed and loved the jewellery!

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Molesworth · 18/02/2009 12:57

"WordPress.com has a feature called ?pages? which allows you to easily create web pages. For example, you could add an ?about me? page with your biography, and a link to that page would be automatically added to your sidebar. You can even create an entire web site using pages on WordPress.com, with a custom home page and your blog as one of the sub-pages."

Wordpress info

bodiddly · 18/02/2009 13:06

have forwarded the word press info to my helper to see if she understands it all!

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Stitchwort · 18/02/2009 13:45

Not in London I'm afraid, but incredibly helpful and friendly! This is their web site if it helps.
www.thebiggestbox.co.uk/
Good luck

bodiddly · 18/02/2009 13:49

thank you!

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bodiddly · 18/02/2009 13:53

Am I right in thinking that you have to pay (other than for the design) for the web space your site uses ie. a fixed sum monthly. So if a site offers you 50GB web space how do you know what that equates to in number of pages and images etc?

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Molesworth · 18/02/2009 14:01

Yes, you have to pay for hosting. It's extremely cheap and unless you have huge files (video, sound etc) you won't need much space for standard web pages and images. Shouldn't cost more than about a tenner a month, if that.

bodiddly · 18/02/2009 14:56

brilliant ... was worried there as we have LOADS of images ... in fact the whole site is pretty much all images.

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3dMum · 20/02/2009 13:09

Hi did you get my email? If not I am a web designer so if you need any help just email me.

bodiddly · 24/02/2009 11:56

3dMum I have only just seen your post ..I didnt receive an email and dont have cat.

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3dMum · 24/02/2009 18:20

Ah, I was just emailing to ask how you are getting on and if you need any help you can contact me. My email address is [email protected]

bodiddly · 24/02/2009 19:04

thank you ... are you by any chance London-based?

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3dMum · 24/02/2009 21:50

I am based in East London, Essex borders.

bodiddly · 25/02/2009 15:31

I have emailed you 3dMum

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