Has anyone designed their own webpage or, used templates??
And if so, which Co. would be reliable as well as reasonable?.
Thanks for your advise. - Judith
Judith, I use Homestead's site builder, very reasonable and easy enough to use.
www.homestead.com
Posted by Terry Sohl on January 10, 2008 at 9:27 PM
If you want reasonable, then obviously your cheapest option is to do it yourself.
I like doing it myself just for the ability to have total control. I started out with, and still use, Microsoft's FrontPage for my website. My site is both informational, with individual species pages for all 415 bird species that have been seen in South Dakota, as well as a marketing tool for my photos.
From that first .html page and first .JPEG, I'm now up to...17,984 individual HTML's, GIF's, and JPEGS on my site!! Yikes! A self-designed site can do quite well in web searches and the like as well. I typically get between 3,000 and 5,000 page hits a day.
If you want your site to completely reflect your vision, nothing beats doing it yourself!
I also use FrontPage 2003, and with it designed my entire site. It is very user friendly compared to older versions. You do not need to know how to write any code. For the DIY person, either FrontPage or Microsoft's new web design tools are excellent.
Coppermine looks like it has some nice photo--site templates. Although I haven't used, I hear they are pretty nice.
-PB
Posted by Dan Borzynski on January 10, 2008 at 10:43 PM
My page was put up through Frontpage 2000. Yeah, a really old version, so you don't need anything real complicated.
I'd prefer to set up the page myself, for control reasons. I can be a lot more flexible on the design, backgrounds, colors, navigations, etc.
Unfortunately, this is to some extent the downfall of the site. It means thinking through very carefully what you putting up, why it is there, and what it looks like. I think the hardest and most time consuming part of designing it yourself is figuring out what you want it to look like. Once you get that down, the rest of it goes very quickly, especially if you are using something like Frontpage or Dreamweaver.
I'd spend some time looking a number of websites of members here to decide what you like about them, and what you don't like. Take notes, and bookmark a couple of them as references. Many people here will also answer questions about their site, how it was designed, hosting companies and such if you e-mail them.
Once you do get something up, let us know and we'll be happy to look at it.
Posted by Ed Cordes on January 10, 2008 at 11:40 PM
Judith, I use a program called WebEasy. it is a "what you see is what you get" program that converts everything to html for you. Program cost is about $50 at Staples, etc. I use their site for hosting called "ieasy". I pay $15 per year for the URL and $9.95 per month for hosting. This gives me 2000 MB of server space. Check out www.ieasysite.com
The html compression allows many images and pages. I believe my site has 436 pages and I am only using 10% of the available space.
My current site is a few years old. I am, as we speak, doing a complete revision and hope to have it up by next month.
One of the main things that I think is very important is the ease to upload new images and updates. So, whatever you decide be sure you can easily add images and make changes on your own.
Good luck. Let us know when your site is up and running.
Posted by Allen Pearson on January 11, 2008 at 4:42 AM
Hi Judith,
I use www.betterphoto.com. You choose from a selection of templates then you can either keep the site as is or be really creative. It's up to you. The customer service is excellent and I think they offer a free trial too. The site is really easy to use. I am limited on time I have to be behind a computer so I wanted something that I could easily update, add photos, or whatever and www.betterphoto works great. Costs are reasonable, They are about mid-cost offering 3 levels of pricing. I could have gotten something cheaper but the ease of operation was what made me choose www.betterphoto.com.
Another vote for WebEasy. Incredibly easy to use. I know absolutely nothing about programming and don't care to spend the time learning. It's simply drag and drop.
For web hosting I use doteasy.com. Best part it's free!
Many thanks to you all for your helpful suggestions. Now the real works begins. (lol)
Thanks again, Judith
Posted by Bret Edge on January 11, 2008 at 12:43 PM
Judith,
I use Foliosnap (www.foliosnap.com) for my website and have been very happy with their service. If you're not interested in learning HTML and/or just want a simple "point and click" web interface, they're tough to beat.
Posted by Barbara Logan on January 11, 2008 at 6:41 PM
Gee, I feel like I live in the middle ages!! (SMILE)
I write my own code in Notepad and have very simple web pages.
I learned how from the book "HTML for Dummies" and from looking
at the "source" of web pages I like, to see how they do things.
I would guess the "What you See is What you Get" programs are easier.....
Posted by Fred Stearns on January 12, 2008 at 1:22 AM
I started writing HTML using notebook. t was not easy, but it does make a usable page.
I got drafted to do the web site for the professional organization that I belong to. They used FrontPage and I inherited the copy that they were using. I went on to buy the next couple of versions. Then I started having FrontPage decide what I wanted to do. Unfortunately, being directed to the computer's hard drive doesn't work from other computers. I had to rewrite the affected lines of code using, yes, notebook and HTML code directly and uploading with a FTP program.
About this time I was given a copy of DreamWeaver. I fell in love. It is not easy to get to know, but once you do, it works wonders. There are still times when I have to go in and fix the HTML code. However, DreamWeaver makes this easy to do. I am also learning how to do this directly and not have to efdit the HTML code. The split screen with the HTML code at teh top makes this easy, once you get the hang of it. I started with DreamWeaver MX and am now using CS3.
Whatever program you finally decide to use, I believe that it is worthwhile learning HTML. Not all of the code which has not been extended to XML with all sorts of other features, but the basics. When thjngs start going wrong, it is always good to look at the code to see what the program has done. I find this a good way to troubleshoot the result. It is also a good way to learn more about how the program works, so that you can figure out where you went awry. At least I did, and still do.
I didn't like the pre-canned pages that so many of the free sites offered. They are a lot better than when I was looking around and the better ones are no longer free, but I still don't really care for the vast majority of the ones I have seen.
Which ever way you go, wish you the best in getting a good web site built!
By the way, I am continually looking for ways to improve my site. So, all comments will be accepted. The improvement process is a long slow process and I often have to let the comments age so that I can find a way I can accept to implement them
Posted by Graham Brown on January 12, 2008 at 3:44 PM
Judith, i use Smugmug. Really excellent and very helpful. Being a beginner i couldn't have done it without their help. I sent them numerous emails whilst trying to use their set up and they responded within an hour or two every time. Very cheap for what you get as well. Graham
Many thanks again to you all for your input and suggestions. I have diceded to use the Homestead' site after looking at more sites than I wanted to.. (lol). I am sure I will meet more challenges that I bargened for, but what's life without a few challenges.??? Thanks again!
Judith
Posted by Rob Coomer on January 13, 2008 at 9:39 PM
My site was built using Wordpress blog software and the Gallery 2 for wordpress plugin. It works pretty well if you know how to work with PHP and customize the templates.
Discussion
14 repliesAnd if so, which Co. would be reliable as well as reasonable?.
Thanks for your advise. - Judith
www.homestead.com
I like doing it myself just for the ability to have total control. I started out with, and still use, Microsoft's FrontPage for my website. My site is both informational, with individual species pages for all 415 bird species that have been seen in South Dakota, as well as a marketing tool for my photos.
From that first .html page and first .JPEG, I'm now up to...17,984 individual HTML's, GIF's, and JPEGS on my site!! Yikes! A self-designed site can do quite well in web searches and the like as well. I typically get between 3,000 and 5,000 page hits a day.
If you want your site to completely reflect your vision, nothing beats doing it yourself!
Coppermine looks like it has some nice photo--site templates. Although I haven't used, I hear they are pretty nice.
-PB
I'd prefer to set up the page myself, for control reasons. I can be a lot more flexible on the design, backgrounds, colors, navigations, etc.
Unfortunately, this is to some extent the downfall of the site. It means thinking through very carefully what you putting up, why it is there, and what it looks like. I think the hardest and most time consuming part of designing it yourself is figuring out what you want it to look like. Once you get that down, the rest of it goes very quickly, especially if you are using something like Frontpage or Dreamweaver.
I'd spend some time looking a number of websites of members here to decide what you like about them, and what you don't like. Take notes, and bookmark a couple of them as references. Many people here will also answer questions about their site, how it was designed, hosting companies and such if you e-mail them.
Once you do get something up, let us know and we'll be happy to look at it.
The html compression allows many images and pages. I believe my site has 436 pages and I am only using 10% of the available space.
My current site is a few years old. I am, as we speak, doing a complete revision and hope to have it up by next month.
One of the main things that I think is very important is the ease to upload new images and updates. So, whatever you decide be sure you can easily add images and make changes on your own.
Good luck. Let us know when your site is up and running.
I use www.betterphoto.com. You choose from a selection of templates then you can either keep the site as is or be really creative. It's up to you. The customer service is excellent and I think they offer a free trial too. The site is really easy to use. I am limited on time I have to be behind a computer so I wanted something that I could easily update, add photos, or whatever and www.betterphoto works great. Costs are reasonable, They are about mid-cost offering 3 levels of pricing. I could have gotten something cheaper but the ease of operation was what made me choose www.betterphoto.com.
For web hosting I use doteasy.com. Best part it's free!
Thanks again, Judith
I use Foliosnap (www.foliosnap.com) for my website and have been very happy with their service. If you're not interested in learning HTML and/or just want a simple "point and click" web interface, they're tough to beat.
I write my own code in Notepad and have very simple web pages.
I learned how from the book "HTML for Dummies" and from looking
at the "source" of web pages I like, to see how they do things.
I would guess the "What you See is What you Get" programs are easier.....
I got drafted to do the web site for the professional organization that I belong to. They used FrontPage and I inherited the copy that they were using. I went on to buy the next couple of versions. Then I started having FrontPage decide what I wanted to do. Unfortunately, being directed to the computer's hard drive doesn't work from other computers. I had to rewrite the affected lines of code using, yes, notebook and HTML code directly and uploading with a FTP program.
About this time I was given a copy of DreamWeaver. I fell in love. It is not easy to get to know, but once you do, it works wonders. There are still times when I have to go in and fix the HTML code. However, DreamWeaver makes this easy to do. I am also learning how to do this directly and not have to efdit the HTML code. The split screen with the HTML code at teh top makes this easy, once you get the hang of it. I started with DreamWeaver MX and am now using CS3.
Whatever program you finally decide to use, I believe that it is worthwhile learning HTML. Not all of the code which has not been extended to XML with all sorts of other features, but the basics. When thjngs start going wrong, it is always good to look at the code to see what the program has done. I find this a good way to troubleshoot the result. It is also a good way to learn more about how the program works, so that you can figure out where you went awry. At least I did, and still do.
I didn't like the pre-canned pages that so many of the free sites offered. They are a lot better than when I was looking around and the better ones are no longer free, but I still don't really care for the vast majority of the ones I have seen.
Which ever way you go, wish you the best in getting a good web site built!
By the way, I am continually looking for ways to improve my site. So, all comments will be accepted. The improvement process is a long slow process and I often have to let the comments age so that I can find a way I can accept to implement them
Judith