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website layout and design advice & help needed

 
 
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RichardD
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Joined: 13 Mar 2003
Odometer: 22856
Location: State of Confusion



PostPosted: Wed May 20, 2015 12:11 pm    Post subject: website layout and design advice & help needed Reply with quote

Okay folks, I really need to get my Alldays website sorted out but I have zero design ability and need ideas and help.

I have Frontpage 2003 which is seriously old hat but matches my design ability. I'd rather not have to buy new software but to get a nice looking, easy to update website I may have to.

I have 7 years of photos, videos, restoration updates and event blogs to fit in there somewhere and don't know whether to do everything by date (what I think is logical) or by area of interest(e.g. engine, body), in a blog format or a n other style.

It's great having the thread here on Difflock but not everyone wants to read all the banter alongside the techy stuff.

Ideas, comments, offers of assistance .....

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Poking the Grim Reaper with a stick then running away. The devil made me do it but God said it was okay with him.


Last edited by RichardD on Wed May 27, 2015 9:58 am; edited 1 time in total
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gadgetboy
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Joined: 03 Sep 2005
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Location: Belfast, N. Ireland



PostPosted: Wed May 20, 2015 10:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Throw FrontPage in the bin and look at Wordpress or 1and1.

https://wordpress.com/website/

http://www.1and1.co.uk/

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RichardD
Marshall


Joined: 13 Mar 2003
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PostPosted: Thu May 21, 2015 7:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have the domain already hosted on Freeola ....
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cynic-al
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Joined: 14 Nov 2006
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1989 Suzuki SJ

PostPosted: Thu May 21, 2015 8:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Unfortunately the expected 'norms' have changed since frontpage. If it's just a page for interested people to look at photos then it will work. If you want google to find it and link people to it in a commercial way then it won't cut it.

I used microsoft expression for our company site, didn't really like it but then it's not my full time job. I did teach myself html, java and php but as these languages are going open source they change that quickly you need to be really into it to keep up.

We've now switched the company site to a professional one, the back end is wordpress which is free on our hosting. We can edit it ourselves, it's reasonably user friendly in terms of changing photos, text, downloads, adding pages etc now that they've set the template for us. They used to code their own version of wordpress but they say that wordpress is like having an extra employee on the books it saves them so much work.

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RichardD
Marshall


Joined: 13 Mar 2003
Odometer: 22856
Location: State of Confusion



PostPosted: Thu May 21, 2015 10:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm not so worried about google searches but it would help people find the site if they're doing research on the car.

I'm staring to upload all my photos to flickr (I've been very lazy - I'm 10 years behind) and will link from the albums there to my new site. I think I'll use Freeola's own website builder which is £3 per month but that is cheaper than buying software and I've got free hosting there anyway.

Still on the hunt for layout ideas ... its a restoration/information site so what are people looking for?

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gadgetboy
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Joined: 03 Sep 2005
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PostPosted: Fri May 22, 2015 12:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I should have added

"Or something of that ilk."

To that previous post.

Most hosting companies will provide template based tools to allow you to produce a basic website quickly. Wordpress is an example of these tools and 1and1 is an example of the hosting companies.

FrontPage is about as friendly and useful as a rabid rambler.

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RichardD
Marshall


Joined: 13 Mar 2003
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Location: State of Confusion



PostPosted: Fri May 22, 2015 12:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

gadgetboy wrote:

FrontPage is about as friendly and useful as a rabid rambler.


It was good in its day only limited by time and my lack of talent!

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gadgetboy
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PostPosted: Fri May 22, 2015 1:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

No, it wasn't even good in it's day.
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Last edited by gadgetboy on Fri May 22, 2015 3:34 pm; edited 1 time in total
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cynic-al
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PostPosted: Fri May 22, 2015 3:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I used to like the structure of frontpage. It was a simple program that was easy to use. It's not up to the job today really but I liked it.
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Xpajun
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Joined: 22 Sep 2008
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1988 Mitsubishi Shogun

PostPosted: Tue May 26, 2015 7:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Frontpage - the easiest way to get your website hacked...

Can always remember the warnings... DO NOT INSTALL FRONTPAGE unless you want your site hacked


I have Dreamweaver but have never used it.... I write all my own - if it gos wrong I know how to fix it - most web page programming software, especially the cheapest, write horrible code that will slow your page down to the unacceptable.

Richard buy yourself a book like HTML 5(?) for dummies you'll be surprised just how easy it is to write a webpage and then combine them into a site
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RichardD
Marshall


Joined: 13 Mar 2003
Odometer: 22856
Location: State of Confusion



PostPosted: Tue May 26, 2015 7:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Xpajun wrote:
Frontpage - the easiest way to get your website hacked...

Can always remember the warnings... DO NOT INSTALL FRONTPAGE unless you want your site hacked


I have Dreamweaver but have never used it.... I write all my own - if it gos wrong I know how to fix it - most web page programming software, especially the cheapest, write horrible code that will slow your page down to the unacceptable.

Richard buy yourself a book like HTML 5(?) for dummies you'll be surprised just how easy it is to write a webpage and then combine them into a site


I've been using Frontpage for 12 years for around 10 websites and never had them hacked. I've never heard of it being that susceptible and I'm very suspicious of screaming headlines like that.

On the subject of learning HTML, I don't have the time nor the inclination. This has to be the equivalent of a mondeo for me.

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( Gray )
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PostPosted: Wed May 27, 2015 9:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

If I were you I'd go for one with a built-in spell checker...

WTF is a website laout...?
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RichardD
Marshall


Joined: 13 Mar 2003
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PostPosted: Wed May 27, 2015 9:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

( Gray ) wrote:
If I were you I'd go for one with a built-in spell checker...

WTF is a website laout...?


sorted Embarassed

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Twiss
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PostPosted: Sat May 30, 2015 7:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Richard, if you already have the website hosting sorted out you might want to try out a Content Management system such as Joomla or Magento.

You upload them to your server to install and they are pretty easy to set up.
You can download different themes and stuff to customise the site, but you will garuanteed end up with a much better site than with Microshite CackPage

http://magento.com

http://www.joomla.org

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Twiss
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RichardD
Marshall


Joined: 13 Mar 2003
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 01, 2015 9:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm going to use Freeola's own system for £3 per month.

The next question is layout ...

which is better, to organise it chronologically like on the thread here, or by job. I suppose I can cross reference it ...

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( Gray )
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 01, 2015 7:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

RichardD wrote:
I'm going to use Freeola's own system for £3 per month.

The next question is layout ...

which is better, to organise it chronologically like on the thread here, or by job. I suppose I can cross reference it ...


By job, chronologically, with links where relevant. Not every one will be interested in every job required to restore a vehicle.
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RichardD
Marshall


Joined: 13 Mar 2003
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 02, 2015 8:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

( Gray ) wrote:

By job, chronologically, with links where relevant. Not every one will be interested in every job required to restore a vehicle.


So, a 'master' page listing all the different jobs, linking through to page(s) with details and photos?

That makes sense. I need to keep it easily navigable as well

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( Gray )
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 02, 2015 9:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

RichardD wrote:
( Gray ) wrote:

By job, chronologically, with links where relevant. Not every one will be interested in every job required to restore a vehicle.


So, a 'master' page listing all the different jobs, linking through to page(s) with details and photos?

That makes sense. I need to keep it easily navigable as well


Yep.
Rather like an online version of an owners manual or Haynes Book of Lies.
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Xpajun
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Joined: 22 Sep 2008
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1988 Mitsubishi Shogun

PostPosted: Tue Jun 02, 2015 9:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

For what you want to do Richard why not do it as a blog - like this...

WordPress is free, it's easy to use and has lots of add-ons to enhance your blog - like galleries etc.

AND...


You don't need to know html or programming to write it...


It's actually WordPress - just edited it Wink


Last edited by Xpajun on Tue Jun 02, 2015 11:08 am; edited 1 time in total
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RichardD
Marshall


Joined: 13 Mar 2003
Odometer: 22856
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 02, 2015 10:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Xpajun wrote:
For what you want to do Richard why not do it as a blog - like this...

World Press is free, it's easy to use and has lots of add-ons to enhance your blog - like galleries etc.

AND...


You don't need to know html or programming to write it...


I thought about that format as well but I'm worried about the accessibility and linking to my domain name. I've waited long enough to get on with this project so a few more weeks considering the options can't go wrong.

I need to look at the work involved in posting photos etc - although I've been busy posting up photos to flickr ....

https://www.flickr.com/photos/51431197@N06/albums

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Xpajun
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 02, 2015 11:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

WordPress has bulk image uploading built in - you can then link to the image you need anywhere within the post you are making

Once you have installed it on your website it will be the landing page by default, so your domain name will open your blog.

If you don't want the blog as your landing page then you can put WordPress in a directory (folder) so access to your blog would be www.yourDomain.name/blog
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