Website constuction?

simon · 06-01-2005, 18:04

Hi,
Can anyone give me some advice? I need 1possibly 2 Websites building..

I get regular phone calls of people offering to build them etc, and looking on the web just baffles me

There are so many options and prices what do you do?? Just want to make sure I get my moneys worth, dont get ripped off and get what I need..Sounds simple eh..

Any advice would help, or any storys(horror or good)

Thanks simon

entwisi · 06-01-2005, 19:19

What sort of thing do you want? Is it simple info site or full e-commerce?

vorlon24 · 06-01-2005, 19:40

I am interested in setting up a similar site as here, but for my local area, but need some dough first.

I pm'd Roy a while ago, but haven't yet done anything about it.

How long did it take to get this one up and running properly?

entwisi · 06-01-2005, 19:51

You can get forum running quite easily. I have used YaBB and SMF before, running on my own server took less than an hour to install to the point it was running accepting threads etc. The cost comes from the hosting company. You need one that will support either php/MySQL or there are some that use old style CGI. If you have a bit of spare HD you can 'have a go' quite easily and if you are running a server on an ADSL connection you can get away with publishing it for a while on that till it gets going. This way you can try it wihout any real cost. To give you an idea the one I was playing with was running it on an old P2 300 IBM box with 160M RAM and a 40 gig HD over a standard 512/256 ADSL connection. Some testing showed it would handle ~25 concurrent users without any problems. The limiting factor was the 256M upstream, the box never hit more than 50%CPU.

The hard part is getting it known and used. Getting a good search engine rating takes time.

If you want more details feel free to email or PM me. I'm also normally online with MSN messenger, userid in my profile.

Ian

Less · 06-01-2005, 20:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by vorlon24

How long did it take to get this one up and running properly?

I know Roy will be very pleased that you think this site is up & running properly, but the amount of time he has to spend re-thinking what would at first seem like a straight forward task has me full of admiration for him.

entwisi · 06-01-2005, 20:35

Oh yes, I forgot to mention they do take over your life somewhat!

simon · 06-01-2005, 23:34

Thanks everyone.... I am after a professional looking website for my business with plenty of artwork/pics and plenty of info and contact details with e-mail. And domain name etc
I want it to attract business with its look.

Keep it coming please

entwisi · 07-01-2005, 08:06

What sort of business is it? Do you want online trading? Any decent web designer will want a design spec from you. You really need to think this out fully or it will cost you a fortune to make it do what you need later. Think how people will want to interact with your site and what future growth/potential you may want to include later on. A lot of people make the mistake of throwing a site up with no real design spec only to find that it is nigh impossible to add functionality to later. You want to consider who is going to host it from a flexibility point of view. i.e. do they have a wide range of packages so you can move up (and down) as your site evolves? You really don't want to have to move domains between hosting companies particularly if there is an e-commerce portion.

Is there a competitor who has a site you like? Post a URL so we can see teh sort of thing you think you want. Then we can start to ask questions in a more focused manner.

Ian

simon · 07-01-2005, 09:42

http://www.frostslandscapes.co.uk/co...true&m=4&mi=17

This company is a bigger "by the looks of it" and offers more services but looks ok

Gives an idea.. that look if not better, just a bit less to offer hence smaller site, would not be selling anything online, just advertising our services, do not need the ability to grow too much as I would not want a much bigger company.

I have used a company in stockport for artwork on adverts and leaflets and the look is really pro yet interesting yet arty yet effective.

Simon

entwisi · 07-01-2005, 10:05

OK, That site has quite a few poor coding issues. It isn't difficult to build something like that. You don't need to be using any fancy PHP stuff, A lot of people like to showcase their technical skills when actually good simple quality code is more than adequate. What you need to now start considering is the info you want to be included. Start jotting stuff down, odd paragraphs etc. You will start to have lightbulb moments where you suddenly think of something you want to include. Carry a notepad so you can jot the jist down because you will forget them again!

Try and get a plan of the site. draw boxes for each page(home/contact/info/co history/etc) with lines showing links(ignore the menu at this point, this will naturally fall into place at the end). Remember the three click rule(Nothing should ever be more than three clicks away). Start collecting the images you want to use and get some idea of which page they should go on.

I'll PM you with some more bits.

Ian