New website design and build

[Gus]

Like many other small operators, I’ve been looking at getting website up. My previous (poor) attempt was self-built in FrontPage 2000, and looked it. I’ve looked at building using Dreamweaver or something, but this seems to be a real waste of time when web-site design has become very much a commodity, with most providers able to tailor a solution from a range of templates they’ve accumulated.

So … how much should it cost to get a simple website up with graphics, links to video and iTunes and simple content management? The pro site I had built for my consultancy practice cost me £700 incl VAT … how much should a far simper design cost? Anyone you’d recommend? Any modern-day design features that are cheap to build but add real impact and usability to the website?

[Lee Bartholomew]

Im in the same boat at the mo, just getting website up and running.

I have just thrown a basic template up which was provided by my webhosts (Web Hosting - Web Hosting Company UK - Fasthosts) for now as I have tonnes of other stuff to sort out before getting a killer website up .

The route I am going to take is to design it all myself in spare time (as and when i get it) using photoshop then using dreamweaver to do the coding.

I did look at using free templates to get a basic one off the ground fast but there is nothing decent or suitable for dance classes out there, that I found anyway. You could always have a look yourself. Free Web Templates - Get free website templates and page layouts, flash templates, business templates and more is a good place to start.

With regards to how much it would cost someone to do it, that all depends on the person and exactly what you want. The best bet is to find some younger person who will do it more for the enjoyment of doing it than some company that will do 5 hours work for 1k (they do exist, I worked for one!).

You could always ask around your dancers, someone out there might know how to do it. You will be better off with a dancer doing it than someone who has never heard of MJ.

Or better still, if you have the time, learn how to do it yourself. I would recommend learning ASP as it is pretty easy to set up mail lists etc with it. If you do do this and get stuck, let me know and I will help (as will others I'm sure)

[StokeBloke]

Remember, it's better to have a simpler site that works in all browsers (including the likes of Safari and Opera) than something flashy that only works in IE and Mozilla

[Gadget]

Originally Posted by StokeBloke

Remember, it's better to have a simpler site that works in all browsers (including the likes of Safari and Opera) than something flashy that only works in IE and Mozilla

I've always been told this, but why? What percentage of people use anything other than mozilla and IE? And are they not the "geeky" types that would check it in one of these just so that they can complain that it dosn't work in safari/opera and give examples?

[Lou]

Originally Posted by Gadget

I've always been told this, but why? What percentage of people use anything other than mozilla and IE? And are they not the "geeky" types that would check it in one of these just so that they can complain that it dosn't work in safari/opera and give examples?

Well, I quite often surf from my phone using Opera mini, as it's a fast & easy to use browser. And if I'm away from home & looking for somewhere to dance, it's very handy if the organisation's site works for all browsers.

[Dreadful Scathe]

Originally Posted by Gadget

I've always been told this, but why? What percentage of people use anything other than mozilla and IE? And are they not the "geeky" types that would check it in one of these just so that they can complain that it dosn't work in safari/opera and give examples?

You used the word percentage, and answered your own question. According to here, 3.4% of web users do not use IE or Firefox - andhere shows the worlds total of internet users as 1,319,872,109 - so if we assume that the w3c stats above are scalable to everyone (and also assume web/internet are interchangeable) that suggests around 40-50 million people are going to be really annoyed you didnt have the common decency to write your web site properly But its "only" 3.4% right ?

Its also interesting to note that the single most popular browser is Firefox Yet there are still people out there who only develop for IE6. The crazy fools.

[clevedonboy]

The trouble with web site design is like haircuts you only know a good one when you see it.

Modern tools make life a lot easier for amateurs to get a reasonable site but the good ones still cost in terms of cash outlay and time.

There's a lot of buzz around YUI (Yahoo User Interface) - I'm really impressed by what our boys have been doing with it The Yahoo! User Interface Library (YUI)

[Lee Bartholomew]

One prob th MJ website design is that most out there are ugly and give no insperation.

Welcome to Mo'jive.com &copy is the best one I have come across.

What should be included in an MJ website?

[Gus]

Originally Posted by clevedonboy

The trouble with web site design is like haircuts you only know a good one when you see it.

Ahhh ... but is anyone actualy going to recoomend/volunteer a good designer ... with a portfolio of succesfull deliveries to back up their claims?

[Dreadful Scathe]

Originally Posted by Lee Bartholomew

One prob th MJ website design is that most out there are ugly and give no insperation.

Welcome to Mo'jive.com &copy is the best one I have come across.

What should be included in an MJ website?

some content ? i get a blue bar, an orange bar and nothing else on that site

[Lee Bartholomew]

Originally Posted by Dreadful Scathe

some content ? i get a blue bar, an orange bar and nothing else on that site

You must have an iphone. The internet at your fingertips.

[Lou]

Originally Posted by Lee Bartholomew

You must have an iphone. The internet at your fingertips.

Bless. Other, more functional phones, are also available...

Actually, opera mini shows a completely blank page for that site.

The N95's native browser shows the whole page, but it's so big, it's not nice to navigate. And the links don't work, so I can't see where the venues are, so I couldn't go to a class.

Shame, as it's so nice looking. But what's the use of it being pretty if it doesn't work?

[straycat]

Originally Posted by Lou

Shame, as it's so nice looking. But what's the use of it being pretty if it doesn't work?

It is? I think it's hideous.... Oh well - tastes differ.

Originally Posted by Gus

Ahhh ... but is anyone actualy going to recoomend/volunteer a good designer ... with a portfolio of succesfull deliveries to back up their claims?

Dunno. What's in it for me?

Seriously though - I know a few folk of that ilk, and I'm currently finishing up on a fairly insane project that may be of use to you. Will PM you.

[Lou]

Originally Posted by straycat264

It is? I think it's hideous.... Oh well - tastes differ.

As an ex-professional web designer, I like it because I think the layout is efficient. There are clear labels to show you where the information you want is. It highlights the special offers and the latest news. Presumably the colour scheme is dictated by MoJive? It's a bit cheerful, but I suppose it's meant to be energetic - so I'd say it's appropriate.

I think Lee highlighted that particular site, as a lot of the other MJ organisation pages are far more hideous!

It just annoys me from a usability standpoint because the designer's obviously put a lot of effort into making it easy to navigate - but fails because it doesn't work on that small number of browsers. I would hate it if I was working down in Southampton and wanted to go out for a dance, as I wouldn't be able to get the details.

[Lee Bartholomew]

Originally Posted by Lou

I think Lee highlighted that particular site, as a lot of the other MJ organisation pages are far more hideous!

Yup. It's the best MJ one I have seen so far (though I only use IE and FF so didn;t know about it not working on Opera).

I don't know why MJ sites are so horrible, mine included. I really need to do something with it.

[bigdjiver]

Originally Posted by Lee Bartholomew

One prob th MJ website design is that most out there are ugly and give no insperation.

Welcome to Mo'jive.com &copy is the best one I have come across.

What should be included in an MJ website?

I can at least see it inIE6, but there is too much news in too small a window for my liking.

and the W3C validator found 22 errors.

The W3C Markup Validation Service

[straycat]

Originally Posted by Lou

As an ex-professional web designer, I like it because I think the layout is efficient. There are clear labels to show you where the information you want is. It highlights the special offers and the latest news. Presumably the colour scheme is dictated by MoJive? It's a bit cheerful, but I suppose it's meant to be energetic - so I'd say it's appropriate.

As a current professional web programmer - just a few nitpicks. More, and I'd be here all day...

The colours are OK, although not to my taste, and the overall layout is tidyish, yes - but that's about as far as it goes.

The content still looks somewhat haphazard and messy - especially when you get down to some of the finer details like the text styling etc.

Text layout is generally poor - the front page News box is a classic example - first you have the title 'Headlines', followed, in exactly the same font / colour / size, a bunch of headlines that mean little, and that you can't click on for more info. Pointless - there's only four lines in the whole box which tell you anything useful at all, and they're down the bottom. After that, you need to scroll.

Initial impressions - the whole front page means nothing at all to me - I look at it, and if I didn't know what MoJive was, I'd be none the wiser from this page.

Menu - click on any of the navigation items that have a popup - and there's no way to dismiss the popup without clicking on a link.

I could go on... but I'd be hijacking Gus' thread even more (sorry Gus)

[Gus]

Originally Posted by straycat264

I could go on... but I'd be hijacking Gus' thread even more (sorry Gus)

No please continue .... I've maintained for a long time that MJ websitres are some of the worst I've seen. The big boys especially poor; Ceroc HQ, Blitz, C2D etc. Another good reason for getting someone competent to do my website

[ducasi]

Originally Posted by straycat264

As a current professional web programmer - just a few nitpicks. More, and I'd be here all day...

My biggest problem with it – I can't use the "back" button.