Setting up a Website? - Help!

[joseph_braun2]

I have never set up a website before and I need to get one going for myself. So I am a babe in the woods here. Now, aside from paying

someone to do it, I have seen site that have pretty nice templates for download. Is this a good route to go? If so what book(s) would I need to

learn how to use Dreamweaver to customize the template once I download it?

 

Thanks in advance for your answers

[leicaglow]

Dreamweaver is not the easiest software to use for a newbie to websites. If you haven't purchased the software yet, I might suggest NetObjects Fusion (netobjects.com). They have a lot of fairly inexpensive templates that are really nice. You might poke around the templates first to see what's available, but NOF is very capable and very easy to use with it's point and click interface.

[gmahler5th]

Joseph,

 

Check out my website for links to my column called Profitable Website Management. This is a good place to get started.

 

If you must do it yourself, then use the free version of Microsoft Visual Web Developer Express 2008. Dreamweaver is also excellent, but it will cost you a few benjamins.

 

http://www.microsoft.com/express/vwd/

 

If you have any income from photography right now, focus on that and pay a developer, or use a bluDomain or liveBooks template. Getting into web development for photography sites is a slippery slope, especially if you are new to web development (or both). So the best advice I can give you is to eliminate all distractions and taken inventory of your strengths and build on those. Are you a better photographer than web developer? Make some dough and pay for a kick a** website that you can maintain yourself.

 

You know how the rest goes.

[gmahler5th]

Ooops! Just check out any Beginner level books at Amazon.com for learning Dreamweaver.

 

Their online documentation and Developer communities are also an excellent place to learn Dreamweaver.

 

http://www.adobe.com/support/documentation/en/dreamweaver/

 

http://www.adobe.com/devnet/dreamweaver/

 

If you spend time becoming a Wiz at HTML, then you will feel right at home using Notepad or text view of Dreamwever. WYSIWYG never works as well as one would hope for, IMHO.

[jon_shiu]

Depending on your needs, you might consider setting up a blog as your website: blogger.com is a free one from google.

 

Jon

[mikael_karlsson]

Microsioft is notorious for adding a lot of unnecessary code to any website you build using their software. I used Frontpage

for a while until a friend - pro web designer - pointed out than almost 80 percent was unnecessary code, I switched to

GoLive by Adobe. Never once looked back.

[joseph_braun2]

I already own dreamweaver. Is it possible to use dreamweaver to update (or host) these sites?

[rickbakerimages]

Dreamweaver and Photoshop are a great combo for making great web sites. Dreamweaver makes it easy, especially if your sites gets complicated. Photoshop can be used to mock up and or make a lot of the graphics for the site. Get a used book off Amazon.com on Dreamweaver and maybe web design too. Dreamweaver isn't too hard too use. It does have a lot of features though and everything can be a little overwhelming, but

 

I made my web site with both about 5 years ago. I need to update and re-design it though.

 

http://www.rickbakerimages.com

[katherinemichael]

Hi Joseph,

I am in a somewhat similar situation right now. If you can't make the Dreamweaver idea work, there are a few good opensource programs that work pretty well. I am using one right now called Nvu. It's free to download and there is lots of free tutorials online to help you get the hang of it. It's a pretty simple program to use. I've made it work for my first site. Nothing too fancy mind you, but you can customize things and add your own code if you know how. I am using another opensource program to create my portfolio pages. It is called JAlbum. It uses different skins and full directions and help installing them within your page. I'm not finished yet, but things have gone well so far. Dreamweaver is probably the better program. Check out www.thesitewizard.com. There is lots of information on getting started with building a web site and I saw that they have a Dreamweaver tutorial.

 

Good Luck!

[leicaglow]

Then if you own DreamWeaver, definitely use it. Start out fairly simple to start. Get it online, and go from there. Focus on the structure of your site (pages), making it relatively simple, get the pages you do have looking the way you want them, and embellishing them later. DreamWeaver is a great program, but just not the easiest to use for you first website.

[jim mucklin]

Joe, I noticed by your other posts, if I can try to clear up some questions.

1. You can use Photshop and other software to make graphics

2. You will need a way to make a site, Dreamweaver, Front Page, a talented web designer to create the pages on the site.

3. You will need a "host" a server that will link the world to you site, you can either store the site on their server or your computer. Also you will have to register your domain name.

Check out <a href=http://www.ixwebhosting.com/index.php/v2/pages.dspmain/>IX webhosting</a> hosting for some info.

I went this route and it's a long journey my friend, I used Front page an IX to get up an going.

[dougolupski]

You can check out this website that I used.

 

www.bigfolio.com

 

They can cover most of your needs including digital proofing. I have been with them for a couple months now and have been very pleased with the results. All sites are flash based templates that allow you to plug in your pics and info so it makes for an easy and quick setup. This is my site below.

 

www.sbsurfphotography.com

[katherinemichael]

Hi again.

If you have lots of general questions about putting together and publishing a website definitely check out the website I

mentioned above. <a href="http://www.thesitewizard.com ">thesitewizard.com</a> In addition to program tutorials, there

is lots of articles about what to look for in a web host, things to consider before you develop the site and many other

informative bits of information geared towards beginners. I found that site through the Nvu help page and it has been very

helpful to me. The beginning sites that it instructs you through building are very simple and not very attractive, but the

process gets you familiar with the program so you can go back later and create what you really want. I am still working on

mine, but when it goes live I will post a link. :)

[lesa jones]

You may want to look at SmugMug too. I set up a pro account with SmugMug, and just like you, know nothing about building a site. They were extremely helpful and information abounded. Good luck.

[katherinemichael]

If it is of any help to you, here is the link to my new site (it's still under construction).

 

<a_href="www.prometheanstudio.com">www.prometheanstudio.com</a>

 

It's not fancy, but it will do the job for now. I have never built a site before this one. I used GIMP to create my graphics and edit the

photos. I used Nvu to build the site itself and I set up my hosting account with Network Solutions.

[elizabeth_morrissey]

I was in your shoes about a year ago- I worked really hard and attempted to do the site myself. I did it! But it wasn't done by a professional and you can tell. Now- a year later I am forking over about $300 to get it done professionally and I wish I had done this a LONG time ago. Your website is your largest marketing tool- just like a good quality photographer, a good professional website is worth the money. Seriously think about it, wish someone gave me this advice before I spent a year going back and forth on my own with a million questions and never getting exactly what I wanted. All to save a buck. I truly believe I've lost money because my website was not up to par with other pro's in the area.

[kristina kw]

What about free webs? My sister sent me a website called www.members.freewebs.com. They seem to have alot of choices. Any opnion on this? Thank you, Kristina

[david_pratt6]

Here is what I did: Get a free website template and use dreamweaver to customize it. Using dreamweaver is only slightly more complicated then using Microsoft Powerpoint. A really good flash gallery is available at www.airtightinteractive.com. Really easy to use and integrate.

[manuel_odabashian]

Bearing all this in mind what resolution would the images be at?

[ed_estes]

1: Pick a domain name that available. ie: mywebsite.com

 

2: Register the domain. Godaddy.com is just one of many register/hosts

 

3: Setup Hosting (this is the server location where your files will reside) can often be done with the same

company that the domain was setup on and makes managing it easier.

 

4: This is the hard step. Build the site. There are many template sites out there any many hosts such as Godaddy

will have their templates. In most cases you can alter these quite easy using a program like Dreamweaver or even

Notepad. I use DW but like any program, there is a learning curve. DW will handle all the html. Your graphics

will need to be handled in Photoshop or most any graphics editor. In answer to the question about resolution, 72

is just fine for images viewed in a browser. Once you have some stuff to work with and are ready to make it live

on the web, you will upload it to the host. This can be done from within DW or using a free ftp program such as

Filezilla or even often from within the Host Control panel. Many can be quite elaborate in the features they

offer. As some have pointed out, you can skip all of step 4 by having a professional build it for you or use a

company like SmugMug. The things I would avoid would be any so called free hosting sites. If you are going to

have a professional presents on the web then start off right. The best photography sites are often pretty simple,

not to flashy and easy to navigate.

[fd photo]

I was very recently in the same situation of needing a website and not knowing the best place to start. I spent a year without a website because my family, day job, and running my photography business take up ALL of my time. I finally ponied up the money and payed a web developer (who I really liked working with) to build it for me. I make updates myself via FrontPage. I use GoDaddy for hosting and have been very pleased.

 

So... I think there are a few questions that you need to consider before making any decisions:

 

(*) How much time and desire do you have to build it yourself?

 

(*) Do you just need an online presence / gallery to show your work or do you also want to sell through your website (shopping cart and payment acceptance)?

 

(*) How often will you need to make changes to the website (updating your gallery with new work, upcoming appearances, and so on)

 

(*) Do you want something unique that represents your style or do just need a good online gallery?

 

I might be forgetting some other questions but this is a good start. If you don't have much time or don't need something unique then look at smugmug, boundless gallery, and the like. If I had it to do over I would seriously consider using Boundless Gallery. If you want something really unique then look at building from scratch (either you or a developer). Keep in mind that if you work with a developer than you'll still want to know how to make updates so you aren't paying someone else for updates all the time.

 

One last note - I'm the type of person that hates to pay someone for something that I can do myself. So, it has taken me a while to learn that when operating a business it is sometimes best to just pay someone to get it done quickly and with a high level of professionalism.

[villain1]

I would recommend checking out bluehost.com. I just moved my domains to them and am in the process of using their tools to create my new gallery and blog site. They have a quick installer for many web templates that you can use called 'Simple Script'.

 

Some of the stuff they offer for photographers:

 

wordpress, zenphoto, and coppermine

 

All have an easy to use installer and they keep the backend updated for you. all you have to do is worry about the content and the overall theme.

 

I saw a recommendation for GoDaddy up above and had to comment. I used their services for about 5 or 6 months, and got frustrated when my parents couldn't view pictures of their grandkids because the service was so slow. Moved many pictures to another domain I was administering on BlueHost and I will be moving my main site there soon.

 

Dreamweaver isn't the bad tool someone above made it sound to be. I think it has many benefits to other software, but please do not get into the 'design mode' too much. Although you can preview a layout as you are creating it, I have found it to not be what you will see if you're using Internet Explorer, Safari, or Mozilla. All 3 of the major browsers will render the page differently than you are seeing it.

 

Instead, use dreamweaver in code mode and press F12 when you want to preview what your page looks like. You'll get much better results, and your site will look fairly clean on many browsers (you can set whatever browser you want to preview in).

 

One of the major benefits to dw is the code completion and tag closing that it does. Once you get used to it, you can quickly design XHTML compliant pages, and their templates are readily available for you to do this. If you already have it, use it. You should be pretty happy with it, as long as you don't take too many shortcuts.

[richard_king2]

Trust me - go with a web developer - as a developer I do things in hours "because i know how" that take most people weeks.

 

Dont go down the template route - it is like saying "im like everyone else"

 

Because a web-dev "knows how" they will probrably have an array of tricks and ideas that you will never have considered - as they are to tricky for the average learner to implement. Yesterday in one day, I created 1 gallery with a shopping cart, 45 web pages for a large site, templated another small site and jumped into a database and edited it to make a (new to me) client's site work again. Web-dev jump about al lthese technologies day in day out, and in a similar vein - you wont be wanting Uncle George to shoot the wedding photographs!

[mark_jones17]

I recently opened a website through Printroom.com, a site designed especially for hosting photography websites. It is the best deal I have found for selling prints/electronic images. With the 'Pro' plan for $9.99 a month, you receive 1GB of storage for your thumbnail galleries. This provides enough room for 20,000 images. No need to upload the full size image until you receive an order from a customer. There is NO LIMIT on storage for full-size images. Galleries can be private (password protected) or public and prices can be set independantly for each gallery. You can also choose the same 'global' price list for all galleries if desired.

 

A wide variety of sizes can be ordered from wallet through poster prints. They also offer images greeting cards, sports items (baseballs/hockey pucks), mousepads and on stretched canvas for those pursuing the artistic route. Their cut? 13% or the item amount that you charge the consumer (10% commission plus a 3% transaction fee). When they ship products, they are shipped with your name!

 

Basically, they handle all of the backend work for you which allows you to do what you love the most: shoot photos! The $9.99 package offers your choice of a 3-page HTML or Flash website. You can check my site out at www.jonesimaging.printroom.com. The only issue I have is that if you set your electronic price too low, buyers will not chose to have their prints done through the site. Anyone have any input on this? I am just getting started in my business... Good luck with your site!

[gene_kublanov]

Try www.photobiz.com. You can set up a website in an hour. Se my website at www.stylisticphoto.com