What's the best way to design a simple website for a small business?
I don’t need to sell anything from the website, it’s just for informational purposes (with things like our pricing, some photos, descriptions of services, etc).
I had a website in the 90s that I wrote myself in HTML. I’m assuming website creation is much different/simpler nowadays. At least I hope it is, because that wasn’t fun!
Thanks!
Tagged with: informational purposes • photos
Filed under: Website Business
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WSYIWYG is a quick and simple graphical application to create websites. You can easily layout a page and export it into HTML which will save as index.html as default and also all the images you put into it are saved into the images folder under the same directory.
And also its free
If you want to get more technical, combining CSS, Javascript and PHP can make your website interactive while looking professional and appealing.
HTML is child’s play.
Now of days, CSS and XHTML are in style,
Google a couple of those tutorials, learn them and start creating your website templates.
Good luck!
Try this:
http://www.oswd.org/
If you want a program to write it while you design it you could try Dreamweaver. If not, you can learn the newer web languages and go that way. It’s also an option to use photoshop and flash to make an interactive and flashy looking site with HTML. Personally, I think a mix of the new languages and the flash elements would be best
There’s nothing wrong with html 4 – you now have styles to work with, which were not available in the 90s. It is doubtful whether xhtml will offer any advantages for the type of site you describe.
Dreamweaver is like using a sledgehammer to pound tacks and it (de)generates worse code than most of us write from scratch in notepad. It is for people who need a drag and drop menu in order to flush the toilet.
If you are loathe to pay a designer $250-600 for the type of site you describe, I would suggest any one of the following options:
(1) Just learn styles in css, and look at a few sites using them in html 4, then apply this to the knowledge you have already. This might be all you need.
(2) Try Yahoo shops. They have some pretty decent templates. You can change the colors, and add your own logo and pictures. You already have a Yahoo account.
(3) Learn the basics of Drupal Core. Many hosts offer an automated install, and unless you really want to use the advanced features of contributed modules, it works fine in version 6.x on most web hosts. XOOPS is also good. Both have contact forms. Drupal has a contact module, blog, and forum as part of the "core" installation – which will make it easy to update your site from a simple form.
Drupal also allows the integration of static pages and articles more readily than XOOPS.
Updates are important if you want repeated visits and good listings from the search engines, though you may not initially think you need them for a simple static site you will need to post updates or your traffic never reach it’s potential, and your site will only be of limited use in expanding your business.
Version 7 of Drupal will be much easier to use than 6 (especially) the earlier versions.
You’ll have to get past the point of adding things to you main menu, after that it’s easy.
Try the genesis theme. It has a menu bar that would make sense for a small business, and is already compatible for version 7.
Godaddy.com has a Website Tonight package that is very easy to use for projects like this. You can build a 5 page website with layouts you choose for about $50 (this included hosting for a year.) You do not need any programming experience, it’s just click and drop or cut and paste. Here is the website link to get started. http://www.godaddy.com/hosting/website-builder.aspx?ci=9028