Website Query

[tyram]

can you tell me why the tutorial videos dont work

[skyblue]

Originally Posted by ap4a

There are business that will take a design (PSD) and convert it to HTML and CSS for you, and some that will also turn it into a Wordpress template for you. I've never used such a service so can't recommend one, but the ones that I have seen seem reasonably priced, and they may be a valid option for you?

Thank you for that advice, it is useful to know. However I think the website will be something I will be doing just by myself without outsourcing any work so I would have to choose an option that I could do by myself. I feel like it is one of those areas where I know a fair amount (enough to have made a website before), but not enough to do what I really want and feel like I am missing out on techincal knowledge to know if I know enough or not. I mean like when there are gaps in your knowledge and you don't know how big they are you don't know if you are missing loads, or just a bit or what. There seems to be alot of technical jargon I don't understand, perhaps it is easy to learn but just seems like a foreign language when you don't know what it means. I think I will have to look into it more...

The website builder I use is a WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) affair that is provided by the Server I use as part of their package. So you do not need vast computer knowledge, and the tools provided are so easy to utilise.

I created my own template and imported/ embedded my own slideshow to suit my prefered layout style (though there are slideshow freeware's available on the Internet and obviously many styles to choose from)

[ap4a]

Originally Posted by skyblue

There seems to be alot of technical jargon I don't understand, perhaps it is easy to learn but just seems like a foreign language when you don't know what it means. I think I will have to look into it more...

As with anything technical it will seem like that at first, but it is easy to get to grips with once you get passed the terminology. Do have a go and if you get stuck feel free to ask questions

[ImageArcade]

Hi Folks,

Apologies for not replying sooner; I’ve been fortunate enough to be travelling in India for a few weeks.

SkyBlue: - Thanks for the complement, always nice to hear!

ap4a is of course spot on. Dreamweaver and WordPress are totally different things. I actually use Dreamweaver to edit my WordPress templates etc. Consider them to be like a car and a toolkit. WordPress is the car, i.e., the mechanism by which you achieve your goal (getting from one place to another) the toolkit (Dreamweaver) is what you use to change and fine tune your car. Perhaps not the greatest analogy, but you get the idea.

Incidentally, ap4a’s also spot on with how to centre the site; that’s exactly how I do it. I actually work for a web and software development company so I guess I have a head start, but the key is as other have said to learn how to use your tools. You mention that Clikpic all looks very samey and I totally agree, however, where it is strong is that in a couple of days you can have a site up and running. It might not look the best or be the most original, but it will work. If you want something a little more slick then unfortunately it’ll need some time invested in it.

My advice would be to get a domain and use something like Clikpic to get a web presence and get Google and other search engines seeing your site (assuming that visibility is a goal of course). Then get WordPress installed locally on your PC and learn it as quickly as you can. Once you have some confidence you can release a new all singing all dancing WordPress site over your Clickpic one. Of course you could just pay someone to do it. My rates are quite reasonable

Incidentally I continue to be increadibly impressed with WordPress in every respect. The online community is massive, the releases are stable and well documented and the flexibility is second to none (certainly in the free sector anyway). I’d thoroughly recommend investing some time in in.

Phew! Hope that helps a little.
Cheers,
Steve

ImageArcade - Photography By Steve Ayres

[skyblue]

Originally Posted by ImageArcade

Hi Folks,

Apologies for not replying sooner; I’ve been fortunate enough to be travelling in India for a few weeks.

SkyBlue: - Thanks for the complement, always nice to hear!

ap4a is of course spot on. Dreamweaver and WordPress are totally different things. I actually use Dreamweaver to edit my WordPress templates etc. Consider them to be like a car and a toolkit. WordPress is the car, i.e., the mechanism by which you achieve your goal (getting from one place to another) the toolkit (Dreamweaver) is what you use to change and fine tune your car. Perhaps not the greatest analogy, but you get the idea.

Incidentally, ap4a’s also spot on with how to centre the site; that’s exactly how I do it. I actually work for a web and software development company so I guess I have a head start, but the key is as other have said to learn how to use your tools. You mention that Clikpic all looks very samey and I totally agree, however, where it is strong is that in a couple of days you can have a site up and running. It might not look the best or be the most original, but it will work. If you want something a little more slick then unfortunately it’ll need some time invested in it.

My advice would be to get a domain and use something like Clikpic to get a web presence and get Google and other search engines seeing your site (assuming that visibility is a goal of course). Then get WordPress installed locally on your PC and learn it as quickly as you can. Once you have some confidence you can release a new all singing all dancing WordPress site over your Clickpic one. Of course you could just pay someone to do it. My rates are quite reasonable

Incidentally I continue to be increadibly impressed with WordPress in every respect. The online community is massive, the releases are stable and well documented and the flexibility is second to none (certainly in the free sector anyway). I’d thoroughly recommend investing some time in in.

Phew! Hope that helps a little.
Cheers,
Steve

ImageArcade - Photography By Steve Ayres

Thanks for the reply. I have borrowed some books on html so will be giving them a read to try and understand a little more about the technical side of things.
I will definately look into WordPress a little more, it sounds interesting.
What about using Flash to design a website? Has anyone done that? I have used Flash before to create an animation but not for a whole site but I believe some people use it to design a site don't they?
I'm really not keen on the template sites, I like to design my own layout. I would be happy to use Dreamweaver but just wondering how easy it is to keep your site updated. Do you change a page and then reupload to host? Also it looks like to get a Dreamweaver designed site centralised I would have to just go into the html coding and add the right coding for that. Haven't looked into that yet, probably one of the next things I'll try!
Some sites tho, particularly yours Steve seemed to have a lot of interactivity like roll over pop ups etc that I liked. I wonder if that's something I would have to create in Flash and then import into Dreamweaver to do something like that?!
Actually I totally have in mind what I want to do, it's just I don't know the technical way of doing it.