Web site design

[JLSleather]

Okay, not illiterate, but usually busy. Before someone tells me to use the search I'll just say trust me, I did - to the point it's way past my nap time Ancient history has me creating .pdf's with Acrobat 5, stumling through a little Photoshop, and hacking out some bearable pages showing a couple hundred pics of my babies using GoLive (well, at least the kids are cute). This machine works 'ok' but my next baby will take it over before long. Since I'll need a new machine, might as well get the right toys right from the start.

To the question .... especially now that there's a Directory. What are all those new sites being written in? I'm a hands on guy (my wife incorrectly diagnoses 'obsessive'). Wouldn't have a problem paying to get set up, but I'd want to be able to get in and change photos (by way of example), so would want the software anyway.

With some skeletal knowledge of Adobe stuff, I thought to just get the latest CS. A look at their web site reminded me how proud of that they got ($1500 to fake it some more??). Hands-on like I said, so I'll research a bit anyway, but would appreciate a quick line from folks who know more about this (thanks in advance).

[King's X]

If you in for just information, you can go to our leather guild website and send our webmaster a message. Tell him I sent you and that you want information only. BTW he does web designing, but he is a wealth of knowledge and he also does leathercraft as a hobby. I believe he is a 1st leather resident.

or

You can do a web-by the following www.1and1.com and take a gander. you might find what you are looking for.

Later.

[Johanna]

What you want is a content management software. Kate and I have been pleased with Concrete5, an open source software with add ons available. If you don't want to go through the learning curve again, PM CitizenKate to have her set it up for you to manage yourself. If your site includes a storefront there are a couple of choices for "shopping carts", some free, some not. You can also Google payment gateways for more info on ways to accept money online. If you have more specific questions, Kate and I can probably help.

Johanna

[JLSleather]

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll take a better look at it tomorrow today ... I'd be asleep if it wasn't for this toothache... You folks get some rest!

[particle]

  On 1/24/2010 at 7:03 AM, Johanna said:

What you want is a content management software. Kate and I have been pleased with Concrete5, an open source software with add ons available. If you don't want to go through the learning curve again, PM CitizenKate to have her set it up for you to manage yourself. If your site includes a storefront there are a couple of choices for "shopping carts", some free, some not. You can also Google payment gateways for more info on ways to accept money online. If you have more specific questions, Kate and I can probably help.

Johanna

I was digging around in my control panel for my website, and noticed Concrete5 last night. Looks pretty cool! Glad to see your post saying you're pleased with it. The shopping carts - do any of them allow delayed payments? If I'm going to take an order for a holster, I don't want to bill the person until the holster is complete. I figured I'd just use my website to submit an order via a basic 'form' with drop-down option lists. I complete the orders in order of their receipt, then generate a paypal invoice once the order is complete.

Do you have any examples of sites y'all have created with Concrete5?

[bruce johnson]

Kate and Johanna did my site. It is on Concrete5, and I find it pretty easy to change out and update.

[JLSleather]

I snooped at some length last night, yours one of the sites I saw. There were some good (to me) aspects on many of the layouts. Just some things I've been thinking ...

I personally like the cascading menus, as I think they're easier to use. I hate it when I get new software, or someone updates their site, and that button that used to be over there is now over there. CC's site was good in this way ... that little drop-down menu ... always in the same place.

If I'm going to have a site where people can buy something, I want them to be able to find it. I know I've "hung up" on people - on the web, on the phone, standing in front of them - because they took forever to get to what they are selling and how much does it cost me.

Spell checker is a good thing, doncha think?

I used to play a LOT of handball, and I always like to play somebody BETTER than me. I'm getting what I need, enjoying doing it, AND learning something.

Leather is no different ... so in addition to websites, I've snooped through a number of profiles (if you see I ducked in / ducked out of yours, not to worry ... I'm harmless ). If I ever start thinking I know how to color leather, I'll just go browse kiwidownunder's work. Yes, that's a "plug", and I'm thinking my site should include links to some other crafters' work. Maybe not the best business approach, but I like it.

[CitizenKate]

  On 1/24/2010 at 3:27 PM, particle said:

Do you have any examples of sites y'all have created with Concrete5?

Paul Burnett's site, Allan Scheiderer's site, and

the new front page of Leatherworker.net were also built with Concrete5.

Kate

[dickf]

  On 1/24/2010 at 3:27 PM, particle said:

If I'm going to take an order for a holster, I don't want to bill the person until the holster is complete. I figured I'd just use my website to submit an order via a basic 'form' with drop-down option lists. I complete the orders in order of their receipt, then generate a paypal invoice once the order is complete.

I do the exact same thing, except I wrote my system to send an email coming from me with a link to a Paypal page to pay. When the user arrives, they have the option to pay with Paypal or credit card. The nice thing about the mail coming from me and not Paypal's site, is the user can reply to it directly in the event that they'd like to pay with a money order (it's happened a few times now).

[King's X]

I checked out one of the listed site and found several buttons not working? Do you build them and the owner maintains it? Just checking.

I cannot stand when a site has broken links links.