Anyone here do website design?

[Mommylisa]

I am a license private investigator specializing in genealogy research. I need a simple but professional website. Is anyone here interested in helping me or know of someone that would be?

Thanks

[Leviathan]

I will check with my wife and see if she might be interested. She doesn't have official training, but is self-taught in HTML and has built a few websites for us on various endeavors. They always turned out clean and professional. When we have the money, we are going to enroll her in a degree program for web-design since the stuff we showed to the Art Institute of Pittsburg had them interested enough that the head of the program was calling her regularly to see how things were going for us. No promises though, she may not be feeling up to designing things right now.

[MaggieJ]

My son, David, does website design. You can visit his website to see examples of his work and then contact him if you wish. He is articulate, friendly and has reasonable rates.

http://www.midnightcoder.ca/

[mamajohnson]

I also do web design.
So, looks like you have several to choose from!
Feel free to PM me.

[Mommylisa]

I have sent serveral PMs to those who have posted here.

[gottahaveagoat]

This is a very good questions, I hope lots of people reply. I'm just starting up my own Travel Agency and I'm really needing a good resonable rate web page. I've done my own free one but would like some better choices.

[Raynewolfe]

I have the skills and training. Been doing Pro sites since back in 97. Feel free to check out esitefolio.com for samples, prices and specials. Prices starting as low as $100/year. Always glad to offer advice too and your welcome to get ideas from the samples just please do not copy my work. I specialize in small business, farm & home and freelance entrepreneurs. I have done sites for Process servers, tattoo artists, church's, photographers, horse trainers, riding stables, dog kennels, mounted search and rescue and more. Good luck all!

[AngieM2]

Originally Posted by Raynewolfe

I have the skills and training. Been doing Pro sites since back in 97. Feel free to check out esitefolio.com for samples, prices and specials. Prices starting as low as $100/year. Always glad to offer advice too and your welcome to get ideas from the samples just please do not copy my work. I specialize in small business, farm & home and freelance entrepreneurs. I have done sites for Process servers, tattoo artists, church's, photographers, horse trainers, riding stables, dog kennels, mounted search and rescue and more. Good luck all!

This is interesting... you post as a 22 year old, and 2009 - 1997, is 12 years from a 22 year old.
A 10 year old doing Pro Sites. Very interesting.
Angie

[Watcher48]

Originally Posted by AngieM2

This is interesting... you post as a 22 year old, and 2009 - 1997, is 12 years from a 22 year old.
A 10 year old doing Pro Sites. Very interesting.
Angie

The site doesn't come up either

[Nevada]

Originally Posted by Mommylisa

I am a license private investigator specializing in genealogy research. I need a simple but professional website. Is anyone here interested in helping me or know of someone that would be?

Thanks

You know, building a web site isn't rocket science. It's a good thing to know too. Every web site is really a work in progress, and if you know how to edit your own site you can help it evolve with time. Besides, where's your homesteader spirit? LOL

Start with a template. That's a pre-made website designed with the idea of allowing you to easily customize it to your specific needs. Most are inexpensive, and some are free. Just search at Google for web templates. You'll find lots.

I recently did web site for a local western folk singer. He wanted a country or western theme, but he didn't want it to look like the Hee-Haw TV show. He was looking for a dignified theme. I found this template for $2.95.

http://www.countrymanordesigns.com/lonesomecowboy.htm

Here is what it looked like after I customized to the singer's needs.

http://desertbreezenv.com/

The idea is to take advantage of the programming skills and artistic talents of professional web site builders at a modest price, while saving yourself a mountain of work.

There are also great open source applications for HTML editing and image editing. You'll need both to build a web page. I would recommend Kompozer for your HTML editor, and GimpShop for your image editor. Both are free for downloading.

If you need help, post your question in the computer forum. I check there a few times each day.

[cc-rider]

You can even just design your own site using Microsoft Word!!! Save it as html, and then upload it to a hosting site. You can buy a domain name and get free hosting for as little as $10 a YEAR from places such as GoDaddy. For uploading, I use a free-ware version of WS-FTP (google it to download your own copy). Check out our band site for an example of this.... www.OldTimeDuo.com

So, for $10 a year, you can have your own domain name, website, and hosting!

CC

[Nevada]

Originally Posted by cc-rider

You can even just design your own site using Microsoft Word!!! Save it as html, and then upload it to a hosting site.

I've tried that, and it works, but the HTML is extremely inefficient. The same font and carriage-control characters are repeated over and over. The HTML files become huge, for no really good reason. The editing view is also not what you actually see with IE or FireFox. While it will work, you are better off designing your web pages with Kompozer than with Word.

Originally Posted by cc-rider

For uploading, I use a free-ware version of WS-FTP (google it to download your own copy).

That's WS_FTP95LE. It works, and it has all the advanced features anyone would want, but it's not particularly stable with XP. There are other free FTP clients that are more friendly and stable. However, I still keep my old version of WS_FTP installed because I'm so familiar with it. But I wouldn't recommend starting with WS_FTP95LE in this day and age, since there are better free FTP solutions available.

For basic needs, someone who just wants to transfer files and won't be installing cgi scripts (that's most people), FTP Commander is a great free solution. It's very simple to operate.

If you are an advanced user, who needs to set UNIX file permissions for cgi scripts occasionally, FileZilla is the free FTP client you should be using.

[PNP Katahdins]

Nevada, thanks for the hints! I like to "roll my own" and keep control, not depend on someone else to do it when and if they get time. Little typos not getting fixed drive me crazy.

We are using JodoHost on the advice of a pro/friend. However I want to be able to move everything if necessary.

Yes, everything is backed up multiple places and I did the domain name for five years.

[Marie04]

Microsoft Office worked great for the group I did it for... I'd highly recommend it.
http://smallbusiness.officelive.com/

(you can even sell from the site if you want to, for a fee)

[mamajohnson]

Personally, I prefer fireftp which is a Mozilla add on. Works beautifully, whether I am moving html, php or any other file I have zero problems. And it is very very simple to set up. Right now I can access all my websites and customers websites with 2 clicks.
Highly recommend it!

Also, Dreamweaver is an awesome program to build websites in. I know it is pricey, but to get a professional product, don't skimp. If you build a brick and morter store, you wouldn't want someone to build it free, so why ask for a free website?

It is hard to start a business, especially online. But you need to set your best foot forward and start with a professional, clean website (especially if it is e-commerce) and not start with something that has adds and freebie paraphernalia on it.
Please don't be offended if you have a freebie, I just hope to pass on how important it is to be professional. After all, if you want folks to pay for your product, you need to give them assurance and comfort that they can trust you.
Also, don't be confused about the domain name vs the website building. Two different things. I recently had to help a friend who "bought her website" only to discover that she paid $65 for a domain name and cookie cutter website at $60 per month after that, and couldn't even edit the files.

Domain names are your *www.mysitename.com* Always always always be sure your domain name is registered in YOUR name, not the name of the person that registered it for you. (my first lesson was loosing a very important domain name that way!)
Web hosting is what someone does for you on their server so your *.com* has a place to exist in cyberspace.
They can be rolled into one service, or each done on their own.

[Nevada]

Originally Posted by mamajohnson

Also, Dreamweaver is an awesome program to build websites in. I know it is pricey, but to get a professional product, don't skimp. If you build a brick and morter store, you wouldn't want someone to build it free, so why ask for a free website?

I started building web pages with the free Mozilla editor that came with Netscape, then migrated to Microsoft FrontPage. I prefer FrontPage to the Mozilla editor for a lot of reasons. I've also tried Dreamweaver, but I find it to be convoluted (all Adobe products seem convoluted to me). I suppose it's all in what you're accustomed to using.

Microsoft discontinued FrontPage in 2007. Office 2007 didn't ship with FrontPage, it shipped with Expression Web in its place. It's basically the same thing, and I have it installed, but I keep opening FrontPage for editing instead. Again, it's what I'm accustomed to using.

Kompozer looks and works very much like FrontPage. Even the advanced features, such as the split-screen view and FrontPage-style live publishing, are in Kompozer and work the same way. I'll tell you this for sure, if I didn't happen to have FrontPage & Expression Web in my machine from Office, I would be using Kompozer. I think it's terrific software.

[PNP Katahdins]

Nevada, so far I've used Notepad, CoolPage, and took a DreamWeaver class years ago. Didn't like the last two. We had FrontPage at work but not on my machine so stayed with Notepad. I'm checking Kompozer out as we speak. Thanks!

Peg

[Nevada]

Originally Posted by PNP Katahdins

Nevada, so far I've used Notepad, CoolPage, and took a DreamWeaver class years ago. Didn't like the last two. We had FrontPage at work but not on my machine so stayed with Notepad. I'm checking Kompozer out as we speak. Thanks!

Peg

Really, Notepad is fine for small code changes, but you can't see your layout as you create the page. A graphic html editor with an integral code editor is the only way to go.

With Kompozer, note the tabs at the bottom. that's how you switch to the different view modes.

[mamajohnson]

I learned to code in notepad first, before ever using a program.
I think it helped me learn more about how the coding builds pages.
In fact, I am teaching one of my Ds's to build webpages, and I made him start the same way. It is really good to help you understand how things work, and why if you leave a > out that table is all messed up.

[CustomDesign]

I've been using gEdit for creating webpages(Linux ).
Sure, it may not be as easy as Dreamweaver, but it's free, and it works.
As far as domain names go, I recommend using namecheap. I got one for $8.81 from them that included free whoisprivacy and also included a free SSL(good for shopping sites).
You will also need webhosting(unless you want to host it yourself). The cost of this varies, but you can find it for < $10.

I'm willing to do your site for free, as before I really start my business I'd like to have 3 sites in my portfolio. If you want a domain name, I can help you with setting it up and give you the coupon I used to get mine at $8.81. I also offer webhosting at $7 a month with your first month free.