New Business in need of Website

Hey guys,

I have been struggling with creating a website. I called a couple local site designers, and pretty much all of them want a minimum of 5 grand! I know it takes money to make money, which is probly the reason the poor stay poor(in most cases) which is sad.

If anyone has site design experience i would appreciate some help. I am not looking for a free ride, but I don't have much money to put into a site.

Here is my project:

My theme is ancient rome mixed with a Warcraft mystical feel. My logo is a great pillar with a bowl of fire on top. I want my website to give the viewer a distant monster/farytale feeling with dark black metal playing in the background, lush landscape, along with towering roman structures. And in the midst of the darkened landscape, my pillar logo standing tall.

This is the artwork/style I have in mind. I have been drawing out each page, and almost have a full packet with notes and all. Can someone at least direct me to the software I need, and coding resources? I need to turn these drawings into a site!

Thank you everyone,
Jordan

www.htmltutorial.com
www.nvu.com
www.tutorialized.com

NVu is awesome. I've used it for a while. It is designed for building FireFox compatible websites, and not IE websites, so basically you have to go back in manually and put in little petty codes like <center></center>, etc, to get things centered right ;)

For starters I'd say:
Programs;
Flash
Dreamweaver cs3
Photoshop

and a basic understanding of the following programing languages,
Java
Action script
CSS
HTMl
XML

is this something you're looking to set up and leave alone or will it need a content management system, where you add things all the time?

....I would just setup a hosting account, buy the domain, and customize a wordpress blog...with a little work, it will function well for just about any sort of website.

...I got on a kick of doing this lately since it is so easy. I have like 10+ blogs/websites that are very easy to maintain.

....the southernherper and dhreptiles sites in my signature were done using wordpress templates and mysql databases created on my server.

also....instead of photoshop, I would recommend http://www.gimp.org/

Open source so no costs.

The wordpress site is www.wordpress.org

The two websites that I mentioned above cost me around $8/yr for each domain, then $6 a month for hosting with unlimited domains. Not bad.

I will check all the above out!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nathanledet

is this something you're looking to set up and leave alone or will it need a content management system, where you add things all the time?

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Content management, but hopefully I will be able to do that since that would be my job. I need a retail site, similar to Hottopic.com, but I only have a few items for sale that need to be in inventory. I would like to hook it up alongside quickbooks.

So far I have the website drawn out, and planned out pretty well, I just need the drawings turned in to models/pictures and code written up. I shouldn't say just, since code is a ton of work.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by daniel1983

....I would just setup a hosting account, buy the domain, and customize a wordpress blog...with a little work, it will function well for just about any sort of website.

...I got on a kick of doing this lately since it is so easy. I have like 10+ blogs/websites that are very easy to maintain.

....the southernherper and dhreptiles sites in my signature were done using wordpress templates and mysql databases created on my server.

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I checked out your sites, pretty cool! I did want to create a website from scratch, no template. That's why I drew it out, but then it makes the coding job a longer one, I think.

I have heard of gimp...The purpose of those type of sites is to create real looking models right? Take this page for example:

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/conte...tc-musicvideo/

Disreguarding all the links, what would it take to make a fancy looking page like that?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AndrewH

www.htmltutorial.com
www.nvu.com
www.tutorialized.com

NVu is awesome. I've used it for a while. It is designed for building FireFox compatible websites, and not IE websites, so basically you have to go back in manually and put in little petty codes like <center></center>, etc, to get things centered right ;)

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I will check those out! I just downloaded Evrsoft First Page 2006, have you heard of it?

BTW, your photography is great. Being a Photographer, I think you will find this guy's work an inspiration, http://www.lightscapephoto.com/

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mmchoppers

I have been struggling with creating a website. I called a couple local site designers, and pretty much all of them want a minimum of 5 grand!

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Search google for "website templates". You're sure to find something that, while not custom, will be near what you're looking for, and usually for somewhere below $200. The reason why any decent graphics guys want the $5k commitment is because they know that design is an iterative process, and that they will end up putting a lot more time and effort into making you happy with the end result than they will creating the concepts in the first place.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mmchoppers

I know it takes money to make money, which is probly the reason the poor stay poor(in most cases) which is sad.

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In most cases, the poor stay poor because they keep doing the things that made them poor in the first place (ie. dumping cash on non-essentials while ignoring the important things like planning).

Good luck with your project.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mmchoppers

I checked out your sites, pretty cool! I did want to create a website from scratch, no template. That's why I drew it out, but then it makes the coding job a longer one, I think.

I have heard of gimp...The purpose of those type of sites is to create real looking models right? Take this page for example:

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/conte...tc-musicvideo/

Disreguarding all the links, what would it take to make a fancy looking page like that?

---

Gimp is wonderful and all, but hard as ***** to use! If you ever get used to photoshop it is a true pain, but after I got the hang of it with a few tortorials it was not too bad.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mmchoppers

Content management, but hopefully I will be able to do that since that would be my job. I need a retail site, similar to Hottopic.com, but I only have a few items for sale that need to be in inventory.

---

Given these concerns, I would recommend looking for someone who hosts either Drupal or Mambo / Joomla. You will have no problems whatsoever finding aftermarket themes (again, google: website templates) for these content management systems, and they all have e-commerce plug-ins that integrate into pretty much any payment gateway you can imagine.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Beardedragon

Gimp is wonderful and all, but hard as ***** to use! If you ever get used to photoshop it is a true pain, but after I got the hang of it with a few tortorials it was not too bad.

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I agree... if you can't get your hands on photoshop, I would recommend something like Paint.Net before sending someone unknowingly into the GIMP dungeon.

Don't get me wrong, as far as OSS goes, GIMP is great, but it was designed by GNU hackers to be a photoshop replacement, which means it's most likely as functional as photoshop, but without adhering to good UI principles, it's nowhere near as useful.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nathanledet

is this something you're looking to set up and leave alone or will it need a content management system, where you add things all the time?

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Give Nate a call...he designed and coded mine. I was in the same boat as you...but once you give him a budget he will come back with what can be done. Highly recommended :gj:

www.royalbydesign.com

Hope this helps

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ctrlfreq

Search google for "website templates". You're sure to find something that, while not custom, will be near what you're looking for, and usually for somewhere below $200. The reason why any decent graphics guys want the $5k commitment is because they know that design is an iterative process, and that they will end up putting a lot more time and effort into making you happy with the end result than they will creating the concepts in the first place.


Good luck with your project.

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Thanks Donnie Darko, haha:P.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ctrlfreq

In most cases, the poor stay poor because they keep doing the things that made them poor in the first place (ie. dumping cash on non-essentials while ignoring the important things like planning).

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What I meant in my statement was money makes money. I'm talking about the people who did not start out with cash to spend, and have very little. I am not saying I am anywhere near that class, but the similarities between a person in that situation and I fall under the category of financial help, i.e. credit. The fact of the matter is, life throws surprises, and not everyone can have a general guideline that will work for their life. I agree with what you said, just explaining the flip side.;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ctrlfreq

Given these concerns, I would recommend looking for someone who hosts either Drupal or Mambo / Joomla. You will have no problems whatsoever finding aftermarket themes (again, google: website templates) for these content management systems, and they all have e-commerce plug-ins that integrate into pretty much any payment gateway you can imagine.

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Awesome. Will check it out asap!

If your looking for content management you could always go php nuke. Then either create your own template or purchase one custom made per your drawing. Click my banner, thats a php nuke site I made (still working on it though).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mmchoppers

What I meant in my statement was money makes money. I'm talking about the people who did not start out with cash to spend, and have very little.

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Having done a number of zero-dollar startups, I can definitely relate to not having a lot of cash to start up with. The important part is having a good business plan, and an idea of how to enact it, and knowing the difference between essentials, and things that can be scrimped on until cash-flow picks up.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mmchoppers

The fact of the matter is, life throws surprises, and not everyone can have a general guideline that will work for their life.

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Everyone can have a general guideline, many just don't. We are all aware that life and business will throw surprises in your direction; some people will prepare, others won't.

That said, simply not being preparing is the leading reason why surprises turn into catastrophes.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ctrlfreq

Everyone can have a general guideline, many just don't. We are all aware that life and business will throw surprises in your direction; some people will prepare, others won't.

That said, simply not being preparing is the leading reason why surprises turn into catastrophes.

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When you invent a number of things like I have, and come from a middle class home, the cash is just not there for patents, marketing, things of the such.

Like I said, I do agree with you, but would not accept that as "THE" answer to this problem.

Now back on track to the website stuff. What can I say? Thanks to everyone! Looks like I have a lot of stuff to get busy with:gj:

Talk soon,
Jordan