View Full Version : Building your own website
mrsWRCsixtythree
08-02-09, 08:07 PM
I am setting my self up as a sole trader as a photographer - I currently do it as a hobby.
I would like to keep costs as low as possible to start with but would like a website so I can display my images etc on and give the usual basic details about what i'm offering.
So my question to the org. is can anyone recommend something for me to build my website with i.e dreamweaver etc.
Thanks
Seggons
08-02-09, 08:17 PM
It might help others if you say how computer literate you are. If you know your way round HTML/PHP then you can knock one up using notepad. But if your knowledge is little or you prefer to have the software to do the code and you to design it then something like Dreamweaver would be good.
Dreamweaver is about the best tbh.
Although a nice php web script will enable picture uploading/gallery if you don't want to have to manually update it.
mrsWRCsixtythree
08-02-09, 08:21 PM
I have had a little experience about three years ago of using dreamweaver (very basic) but I did not have the time back then to learn much about HMTL.
I can pick more things computer related up quickly so open to suggestions.
Dave20046
08-02-09, 08:21 PM
I'll be watching this thread with interest, I'm very computer literate and have dreamweaver. I have the same aim.
SoulKiss
08-02-09, 08:40 PM
Dreamweaver - oh dear......................
John 675
08-02-09, 08:40 PM
Dreamweaver is deffinately a good choice.. if your Html knowledgeable then that will get you set up pretty well also:D
Dave20046
08-02-09, 08:41 PM
Dreamweaver - oh dear......................
it's simple! If I could code I would. Unfortunately I'm simple so it suits.
I fail to understand why people don't stick to what they're good at, and outsource everything else.
Instead of writing a page (or a few pages) then hosting it somewhere, all of which will take time (and time costs money); why not use a pre-built solution?
What I'm thinking, is that there are dedicated hosts, and you can simply click a button to install applications that will let you host a photo. These applications can be customised as you see fit pretty much, dependant on your knowledge or the availability of anyone that knows more.
For example, www.godaddy.com, if you sign up for a basic account, it'll cost you a couple of pounds per month tops. The software is then free, and there's no further charges unless you want something extra, or you need more space, or more transfer per month.
Using somewhere like godaddy, you could go from nothing, to owning a domain name, having webspace for that domain name, database backend and have the ability to upload/view photo's within about 10mins. The DNS propagation for the domain name may take a little longer, but recently it's only been about 30mins for me.
If you're interested in a solution like this, post back, and I can give more specific details.
missyburd
08-02-09, 09:14 PM
+1 for Dreamweaver, nice and simple to use. Give Samnooshka a PM she's a professional photographer with a fab site (have a look at her sig for the linky) :-)
mrsWRCsixtythree
08-02-09, 09:37 PM
Give Samnooshka a PM she's a professional photographer with a fab site (have a look at her sig for the linky) :-)
Thats a great idea - i'll do that tomorrow.
Dreamweaver - oh dear......................
What is wrong with dreamweaver?
Every coder I know uses it, sure you could use notepad and be "kewl" but the pretty colours help in dw.
Every coder I know uses it, sure you could use notepad and be "kewl" but the pretty colours help in dw.
I'm sorry for the minor derail, but please. Coder? HTML?
SoulKiss
08-02-09, 09:54 PM
What is wrong with dreamweaver?
Every coder I know uses it, sure you could use notepad and be "kewl" but the pretty colours help in dw.
Notepad - Oh dear..........
I'm sorry for the minor derail, but please. Coder? HTML?
HTML/CSS/JavaScript/ASP/CF/PHP etc...
One good thing with DW is inbuilt browser checks.
larigos
08-02-09, 10:28 PM
you could use a content management system - hostnuke. Or a really easy option is if you own a Mac, you can use iweb which is a drag and drop system with several templates you just add content. You can host them on anyones servers but on apples servers you get a few extras. example of this is www.fduk.info (http://www.fdk.info) my previous schools site. Or you can get one built for a relatively cheap price. contact daydreamprint in my sig they do my printing etc but also produce and host websites. It all depends on what you want to achieve. Do you want clients to purchase their images online? or is it just somewhere for perspective clients go to look at what you can do?
Notepad - Oh dear..........
Notepad...I can't find that on here. Maybe it's like vi....;)
One wooden spoon please!
HTML/CSS/JavaScript/ASP/CF/PHP etc...
One good thing with DW is inbuilt browser checks.
ASP/PHP from that list I'll give you. The others?
I can write any of those in Eclipse and have inbuilt browser checks. Hell, I can do it in vi & have a hotkey to launch a browser if needed.
I'm obviously just old skool. :)
ASP/PHP from that list I'll give you. The others?
I can write any of those in Eclipse and have inbuilt browser checks. Hell, I can do it in vi & have a hotkey to launch a browser if needed.
I'm obviously just old skool. :)
Indeedy, but there is nothing inherently wrong with dreamweaver.
Microsoft Front Page on the other hand :cool:
Indeedy, but there is nothing inherently wrong with dreamweaver.
Microsoft Front Page on the other hand :cool:
I wasn't commenting on the choice of application. It was the label of "coder" that concerned me. :D
I wasn't commenting on the choice of application. It was the label of "coder" that concerned me. :D
he he
http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlLA/original/homeless-coder.jpg
urbane1
09-02-09, 05:21 AM
My website is hosted with Homestead by Intuit (who make Quickbooks). It comes with a website builder, free email addresses, and ftp file storage, and costs about $24.00/month.
The site builder is easy to use, and the ftp storage is really useful as an off-site server, or for file swapping with other consultants
SoulKiss
09-02-09, 08:07 AM
Indeedy, but there is nothing inherently wrong with dreamweaver.
Microsoft Front Page on the other hand :cool:
They must have improved it by a huge amount since I last looked at it.
Used to produce the most HIDEOUS bloated HTML there was.
I could do a page identical to one it farted out in that was half the size - which was important @ 56kbps.........
Samnooshka
09-02-09, 08:12 AM
I have used 2 galleries in the past, the one i am with now and by far the best non commission charging website www.ifp3.com (http://www.ifp3.com) you pay a yearly subscription. The other site i had before i switched over to the ifp3 one was made in flash but my old gallery still works but looks carp in comparison to my new one :) That was done in gallery1.
http://samnooshka.com/gallery/main.php (http://www.samnooshka.com/gallery)- my old one
www.samnooshka.com (http://www.samnooshka.com) - my new one.
Unfortunately i had a hard time finding a website that i can host my photos on without paying a commission for any photos sold.
If you want to maintain your site yourself the use a CMS system that allows you to plug in a photogallery and other useful stuff.
Take a look my site (http://www.llanmon.org.uk/) (run for a social group/charity) - it's built with xoops (http://www.xoops.org/) and is open-source and free. The photo gallery is based on Coppermine.
You'll need webspace with php and a MySQL database.
PM me if you have questions.
timwilky
09-02-09, 09:06 AM
Notepad - Oh dear..........
+1
What is wrong with vi?
OK, I use a couple of IDEs for coding on a PC
Eclipse/Oracle Jdeveloper and visualstudio. But after coding since well before buggy bill started in his garage, I can honestly say I have never used notepad. for PHP I use ultraedit. I got a licence key with a magazine about 8 years ago and still use it. it handles hex/ascii and can even cut/past columns
I have a reseller account with 5quidhost.co.uk, they offer some excellent services and can quickly establish accounts with unlimited MySql databases, coppermine and gallery for photo hosting, php, blogs cms including joomla, mambo, xoops etc.
Dave20046
09-02-09, 09:10 AM
I'm sure we're all helping out the OP loads :p
I am setting my self up as a sole trader as a photographer - I currently do it as a hobby.
I would like to keep costs as low as possible to start with but would like a website so I can display my images etc on and give the usual basic details about what i'm offering.
So my question to the org. is can anyone recommend something for me to build my website with i.e dreamweaver etc.
Thanks
Possibly wordpress with a gallery plugin. VERY versatile. - try to get a hosting package with fantastico deluxe included... it allows wordpress and other scripts (inc. some gallery scripts) to be installed quickly and with little fuss...
Also, wordpress is free software.
Always go for a hosted version of wordpress, rather than the free .wordpress.com sub-domain site you can have.
PM me if you need any advice.
Mike2165
20-04-09, 01:01 PM
I'm using publisher for my website, does the job, wasn't hard to create. Should be finished soon and uploaded
keith_d
20-04-09, 01:21 PM
One of my mates helped me configure Coppermine (http://coppermine-gallery.net/) to display my photos from Brands Hatch. (http://www.photos.crets.org.uk/index.php?cat=6) It's based on PHP and CSS, so it's customisable. I'm hoping to get a tutorial on how to customise for myself sometime soon. You could easily put this behind your main page to serve up the galleries.
As a general thought, be sure to pick a provider who allows plenty of space and bandwidth without racking up extra charges. 1Gb sounds like a lot, but decent high-res photos use lots of space.
Just my thoughts,
Keith.
scooby2102
20-04-09, 01:21 PM
+1
What is wrong with vi?
am an ed man meself :p
oops, sorry for the derail, will keep an eye on this as well, quite interestingly differing views on how best to do it
Baph, your the resident guru on this kinda stuff, a guy in our office does all his stuff in .net and ajax but asked the question ref hosting it on his own hardware at home.
Apart from the obvious hardware/server issues, how would this work
He has a 2Mbit line and if his site is hanging off the end of it (disregarding all other hardware), if a user browsed to his site using another 2Mbit line, would that user be downloading pages at the fastest speed of the host server line (approx 500kbit upload) ???
The guy is trying to get his head round it but it kinda makes sense to me as (I think) technically his hardware is pushing data via the browser requests
hope this makes sense
SoulKiss
20-04-09, 01:25 PM
I'm using publisher for my website, does the job, wasn't hard to create. Should be finished soon and uploaded
Publisher - oh dear (for consistency :p)
Baph, your the resident guru on this kinda stuff, a guy in our office does all his stuff in .net and ajax but asked the question ref hosting it on his own hardware at home.
Apart from the obvious hardware/server issues, how would this work
He has a 2Mbit line and if his site is hanging off the end of it (disregarding all other hardware), if a user browsed to his site using another 2Mbit line, would that user be downloading pages at the fastest speed of the host server line (approx 500kbit upload) ???
The guy is trying to get his head round it but it kinda makes sense to me as (I think) technically his hardware is pushing data via the browser requests
hope this makes sense
I only stumbled back across this ancient thread wondering what SoulKiss had to say about the title. :lol:
Hosting a server from home is OK if you're only doing websites, but for anything fancy, hosted servers are so cheap these days, there's little point paying your home electricity bill to run it.
Basically, hardware runs constantly, software running to receive HTTP requests & respond with data. That's all there is to it. If you want to know more about it, please stick up a seperate thread as I don't really want to derail this one too much.
Though I will say that I really wouldn't bother hosting from home on a 2Mbit line these days. The upload speed will be terrible.
If your objectives are to keep costs as low as possible then why not use a public sharing site. They are mostly free and you will gain from the social networks you create. Flkr is a good example or even Facebook - why not? Just set up a business profile on here and then create your own one-page corporate site with your profesisonal contact information - link it back to to the Social networks... They are a great way of gaining support for business and the best form of marketing at the moment.
Kalessin
20-04-09, 09:26 PM
Possibly wordpress with a gallery plugin. VERY versatile.
+1.
I've built several sites with WordPress and it's great for clients who want to be able to update their site but who are not particularly web-literate.
As a general thought, be sure to pick a provider who allows plenty of space and bandwidth without racking up extra charges. 1Gb sounds like a lot, but decent high-res photos use lots of space.
In my experience, providers who offer plenty of space and/or bandwidth without extra charges are likely to be cutting corners elsewhere, possibly in speed or service level. I have also recently seen a company who offered three levels of service: Home, Business and Pro. The guaranteed uptime was nearly 10% less on the Home plan than the Pro!
1Gb of space is a lot. Why would you have high resolution photographs online? They should be properly optimised for web use as they only need to look good on screen, to advertise the OP's photography service.
Anyway, there's no harm in starting small. Most providers will happily upgrade you, should you need it.
Full disclosure: I run a web hosting company, but since I haven't mentioned it consider me knowledgeable but not biased :)
lazymanc
20-04-09, 09:55 PM
+1.
I've built several sites with WordPress and it's great for clients who want to be able to update their site but who are not particularly web-literate.
In my experience, providers who offer plenty of space and/or bandwidth without extra charges are likely to be cutting corners elsewhere, possibly in speed or service level. I have also recently seen a company who offered three levels of service: Home, Business and Pro. The guaranteed uptime was nearly 10% less on the Home plan than the Pro!
1Gb of space is a lot. Why would you have high resolution photographs online? They should be properly optimised for web use as they only need to look good on screen, to advertise the OP's photography service.
Anyway, there's no harm in starting small. Most providers will happily upgrade you, should you need it.
Full disclosure: I run a web hosting company, but since I haven't mentioned it consider me knowledgeable but not biased :)
another +1 for wordpress.
Just get some cheap hosting and do everything with ready made open-source software, there's loads of free stuff out there that covers most angles.
I use Eclipse+PDT with a little Aptana juice for most of my work stuff, I try to avoid vim where possible.
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