had a friend ask for help designing a website for his tattoo business, pointers please?
He is hoping to have a side scrolling animation along with drop down tabs. Also the ability to change pictures embedded with a user comment section. Trying to go the open source route, but a little money spent could be worth it. Any pointers? as this is not my strength. I've done the artwork/graphics for these before just not the code. Is their some stupid simple drag and click website building site that also looks great? Yes I want my cake and to eat it too.
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Honestly you really get what you pay for. I do this for a living and you have no idea how many times I've heard about the "cousin who builds websites in his basement"... now that being said, you don't have to shell out thousands of dollars.
Since this is a business, he should be concerned with the image he portrays. i.e. would he cut corners for a cheap location, cheap equipment or cheap advertising? And what does that say to his customers? Nowadays you really need a good web presence, but that doesn't have to be much more than a couple pages for content on services, portfolio, contact etc.
You can go the wordpress route if you're comfortable with their design environment and coding. It's not incredibly difficult, but I don't know your experience. There is also a large number of free templates available that would allow for flexibility in design with wordpress. There is also plenty of add ons you can use to get the features on the site that you/he wants.
Ultimately you'll know after working on it, whether you both are satisfied or not. If you need to pay someone, then be sure to get a contract. Be clear on the terms, i.e. when the job must be done, who is responsible for what, i.e. content and images, plus the price negotiated for what you get in return and any penalties on the part of the developer if they are late.
Since this is a business, he should be concerned with the image he portrays. i.e. would he cut corners for a cheap location, cheap equipment or cheap advertising? And what does that say to his customers? Nowadays you really need a good web presence, but that doesn't have to be much more than a couple pages for content on services, portfolio, contact etc.
You can go the wordpress route if you're comfortable with their design environment and coding. It's not incredibly difficult, but I don't know your experience. There is also a large number of free templates available that would allow for flexibility in design with wordpress. There is also plenty of add ons you can use to get the features on the site that you/he wants.
Ultimately you'll know after working on it, whether you both are satisfied or not. If you need to pay someone, then be sure to get a contract. Be clear on the terms, i.e. when the job must be done, who is responsible for what, i.e. content and images, plus the price negotiated for what you get in return and any penalties on the part of the developer if they are late.
Hah, sounds like the kind kind of advice I'd give out for something else. oh, for sure! This was never meant as a freebie. The template route was really what we were looking at. Sound advice
Jan 11, 2012. 8:08 PMtragicallyhip
says:
visit " IM creator.com he will be impressed with the website resources
Jan 10, 2012. 3:49 PMToddJShelley
says:
canucksgirl has an excellent answer.
I'll just add my perspective.
Definitely buy your own domain. Do it as soon as possible. Choose wisely and never let it go. Ever.
You can use WordPress.org which I believe is either free or cheap but you are limited in the templates you can use.
WordPress.com I think is more expensive but you have more options.
I may be wrong about that so someone please correct me.
Many hosting companies offer WordPress. The hosting I use for my photography site allows for it to be added on but I haven't gotten to that point yet.
So if you have a good WordPress site going you can easily move your website elsewhere if needed. (important!)
From what I hear, WordPress is pretty easy (at least as compared to direct programming). Plus, you can buy a better template if needed.
I'm a former windows sysadmin and I can do some HTML and scripting but I'm not good at design. From my experience, programmers and systems people make websites that look like they were designed by programmers. i.e. more functional than 'pretty'.
You should get some help from a graphic designer.
Also, one last thing. Make the site useful and helpful and not just a bunch of marketing brochure-ware nonsense.
-Todd
I'll just add my perspective.
Definitely buy your own domain. Do it as soon as possible. Choose wisely and never let it go. Ever.
You can use WordPress.org which I believe is either free or cheap but you are limited in the templates you can use.
WordPress.com I think is more expensive but you have more options.
I may be wrong about that so someone please correct me.
Many hosting companies offer WordPress. The hosting I use for my photography site allows for it to be added on but I haven't gotten to that point yet.
So if you have a good WordPress site going you can easily move your website elsewhere if needed. (important!)
From what I hear, WordPress is pretty easy (at least as compared to direct programming). Plus, you can buy a better template if needed.
I'm a former windows sysadmin and I can do some HTML and scripting but I'm not good at design. From my experience, programmers and systems people make websites that look like they were designed by programmers. i.e. more functional than 'pretty'.
You should get some help from a graphic designer.
Also, one last thing. Make the site useful and helpful and not just a bunch of marketing brochure-ware nonsense.
-Todd
Hey Thanks, always great advice here! I have a lot to learn obviously, of course that learning may lead me to the fact that my friend should get a professional instead.
'They' say that puns are always intentional because of where your brain finds words, and word associations just make sense to the brain. Next time you hear one or use one think about it - sometimes it is difficult not to make a pun when you are thinking fast.
You could use Wordpress and then buy your own domain if you are satisfied with your design.
I've heard of Wordpress, just started looking a couple days ago when he asked, thanks, I'll take a look
Jan 9, 2012. 7:45 PMConceptAndPrototype
says:
I don't know the answer but used Mainframe Computers on my site and they did a great job. I am sure they could build the site for you or if you just had questions, they would probably be able to answer them for you too. Their site is:
http://mainframecomps.com/
http://mainframecomps.com/
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