New Business in need of Website

[Beardedragon]

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.

[ctrlfreq]

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.

[ctrlfreq]

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.

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.

[lord jackel]

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?

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

www.royalbydesign.com

Hope this helps

[mmchoppers]

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.

Thanks Donnie Darko, haha.

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).

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.

[mmchoppers]

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.

Awesome. Will check it out asap!

[Enve]

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).

[ctrlfreq]

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.

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.

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

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.

[mmchoppers]

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.

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

Talk soon,
Jordan