Web design options

[rodski]

I am designing a website for my new (food e-commerce) business. I have been using Kompozer, and I have learned the basics of HTML and some CSS. However, I have now decided that my efforts at web design "from scratch" do not produce a professional enough result, and unfortunately I cannot afford to pay IT professionals at this early stage.

I would therefore appreciate some very basic advice on what other options are open to me. I am looking for some kind of template into which I can add my own content. Is WordPress an option here?

Thanks in advance,
Rodski

 

[bdw]

Only you can answer that questions because it is all dependent on your ability. Wordpress is fine for DIY'ers until something goes wrong or they do an update that breaks your site.

.

 

[S-Marketing]

As someone who has the tech ability of a cauliflower, I can confirm its incredibly easy to mess up a Wordpress site.

 

[marketingquotes]

Why do you not try one of the free wesbsite tools (like GBBO) that are on the web - no need to mess around with code then.

 

[K9-Steve]

I am designing a website for my new (food e-commerce) business. I have been using Kompozer, and I have learned the basics of HTML and some CSS. However, I have now decided that my efforts at web design "from scratch" do not produce a professional enough result, and unfortunately I cannot afford to pay IT professionals at this early stage.

I would therefore appreciate some very basic advice on what other options are open to me. I am looking for some kind of template into which I can add my own content. Is WordPress an option here?

Thanks in advance,
Rodski

Rodski,

You say you cannot afford to pay an IT professional, have you tried contacting some companies to see if you can?

I would suggest looking at something like Shopify.com, especially if you're going to be providing products. There is little to mess up there and they have some low cost starter packages that may be affordable for you.

 

[davidansell]

There is a guy offering free magento sites on the forum, snap it up quickly

 

[Frenchsalesadministrator]

Not having any html experience I am using webplus x4 from Serif. I haven't finished my website but it's pretty easy to use. You can either start from a template or from scratch.

 

[Deleted member 61074]

For ecommerce you should really be using ecommerce software in order to get scripts to process payments.

There are several free carts out there, although if it were me I'd go for a hosted cart that you can pay for monthly.

 

[robbydesigns]

Buy and edit a template, easy enough if you use a good template store like Templatemonster.

 

[DesignerNick]

What about a hosted shopping cart?

 

[CS-Cart]

I am designing a website for my new (food e-commerce) business.

One food template is included in our e-commerce platform by default. You can see it at the very bottom of the page http://www.cs-cart.com/skins.html

It can be easily customized if necessary as we provide full access to the source code.

 

[denwy8]

Wordpress is good. I am actually using it for my website/portfolio. You can easily download a template and edit them

 

[rand00]

With Weebly you can build great looking free web 2.0 site.

 

[Baz Watkins]

Small CMS site = Wordpress
Bigger CMS site = Joomla or Drupal
E-commerce = Magento or Joomla.

 

[MonthlyWeb]

Hi.

We offer affordable, quality, bespoke website design. I am sure it would be within your budget with packages starting from £29.99 per month. As we offer pay monthly it becomes affordable.

Getting a website built from a template is not going to give you the results you could have with a bespoke build, you would also not have an image that is tailored to your company/vision.

Let me know more about your requirements if you want me to provide you with a free, no obligation quote.

Thanks

Jamie

 

[gdswebdesign]

Have a look at prestashop, all the functionality is there, and if you choose a close enough template to what you want then there's a lot that can be done with customising it using html, css and possibly a little php if needed.

 

[gdswebdesign]

Give me a shout if you want any hints or tips about hacking prestashop up.