Comments on: 19 Things not to do when building a website

By: Terry Weadock

Terry Weadock — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 19:30:12 +0000

Josiah is spot on with this one. Billy Bob’s brother-in law’s third cousin is how we refer to â€˜a personal friendâ€™ who does web sites on the side. Generally the result is a piece of Cr@p.

taw

By: debbie campbell

debbie campbell — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 14:58:53 +0000

Hi Carl - actually there are a lot of 'canned packages' that provide a framework for small businesses selling products online. They're usually referred to as shopping carts, and there are a lot of them to choose from ranging from free (like ZenCart, which requires a web developer to do most of the setup for you) to hosted solutions like MonsterCommerce (which you can set up yourself, starting at $50 per month and going up to about $100 per month depending on your needs). I use OptionCart frequently because it can be dropped right into an existing web site - but this requires a programmer familiar with PHP and MySQL. Most non-hosted sites do. X-Cart is also a very customizable solution and like most non-hosted carts, will require a web designer/developer to set up for you as well as modify the templates provided by default to give your site a unique look. With most shopping carts you'll need to have a merchant account with your bank as well as a payment processor for real-time online purchasing. These include Authorize.Net, TrustCommerce, First Data, Bank of America, PayPal, and many others. Typically $20-35 per month is what you'll pay for this service. You'll also pay the usual per-transaction fees and percentages for credit card purchases. Does that help?

By: Carl

Carl — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 11:31:53 +0000

Debbie, I hate reading a comment like yours – it’s like a cold slap in the face – because I know you are absolutely right. My sister developed an outstanding product, we had no money, just a dream. I wanted to learn about how the internet worked so I set out to design a website (simple FrontPage) to sell her product. It works (to a point) and I’m proud of what I’ve been able to do but I’m an accountant not a webdesigner. I can only imagine how many sales we are missing out on by not having a professionally designed site. Please provide some feedback on what small businesses should expect to pay for some of these services. Are there straight forward canned-packages out there that provide the technical framework of commerce, passwords (special section for distributor ordering etc.) and other items so that the professional marketing and informational content can be built around it? It’s been in the back of my mind, but I needed that slap in the face to wake me up. Thanks, I needed that!

By: Charlene

Charlene — Thu, 31 May 2007 14:37:47 +0000

I know from experience that designing websites is not for every one. I am a backend developer (PHP and MySQL) but I keep refusing to do to much HTML (I use templates so the designers can do their thing). If you were to go to my personal site you’d see just experimentation.

My header image I had a real designer do for me and she recommended the background color, but the rest is mine. What a mess.

I also don’t have much time to deal with my own site because I have one client who has more than enough clients to keep me busy.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Wed, 30 May 2007 14:54:32 +0000

I fully agree with Debbie’s post. There are many designers out there who have equal training in both web and print, and do web design “on the side” because their full time job does not provide them enough web clients.

With anything, especially web, if you do not keep yourself current, you lose it quickly. The trick is knowing where to draw the line. I design with CSS, HTML and Flash, but if a client wants database or shopping features on their site, I collaborate with a programmer.

Like Debbie, I wouldn’t want to do my clients a disservice by claiming to be something I am not, but I am not going to stop designing for web just because my full time job is mostly in print.

By: debbie campbell

debbie campbell — Tue, 29 May 2007 20:58:32 +0000

I agree with you, again to an extent. I’m a web designer, not a print designer, and while I’m good with backend programming of databases, e-commerce etc. I’m better at frontend design and coding XHTML/CSS. I’ve started collaborating a bit more recently because I don’t want to do clients a disservice by attempting work that I could probably do, given enough time, but for which I know others that can do it better and faster.

I think it’s essential to my creativity to learn new aspects of my business and I’m continuing to teach myself more about PHP and MySQL, but for the sake of clients my focus has to be on what I’m best at. If that doesn’t sound too wishy-washy.

I take on programming work that’s at or just above my level, but unless it’s a personal project I don’t promise that I can personally do something that’s way beyond me at this time. I collaborate instead, and I usually learn something in the process that I can take to the next client.

I suppose my take-home message would be ‘become excellent at what you love, but don’t get pigeonholed.’

By: mike leary

mike leary — Tue, 29 May 2007 20:57:32 +0000

I started building websites (as a computer studies student) a few years ago. I teamed up with a friend of mine who is also a graphic designer. There is so much you need to know about building websites, and starting from the bottom can be very difficult. We were inspired by a lot of other web design companys who were churning out terrible websites, and there were a lot of them, when we realised we could compete we went for it and it has paid off! Lerning about usability, copywriting, seo, standards….blah blah is very difficult if you have coursework and a full time job to do! Web design takes a lot more than most would think, and learning to build websites of a professional standard is far far far from easy – and if you cant do that, then you should not be doing it at all! But of course – you have to start somewhere! haha

By: Orlando Chris

Orlando Chris — Tue, 29 May 2007 20:47:39 +0000

I sort of agree, to a certain extent.

Deion Sanders was a great pro football player, and a pretty good pro baseball player. Does that mean every pro football player would make a decent pro baseball player? No.

I think there are a few creative types that are good at cross-over design, however, just like the Deion Sanders example, it’s few and far between.

In general, I think it’s better to stick with one media and try to be the best that you can at it.

By: debbie campbell

debbie campbell — Tue, 29 May 2007 17:53:26 +0000

James, I totally agree – I learned how to be a web designer by starting with other people’s sites. I don’t know how you can learn otherwise – certainly hands-on is better than reading about it in a book for me, and taking apart other websites is a great way to figure out how they work.

By: James

James — Tue, 29 May 2007 17:47:52 +0000

I kind of agree with you but, I am a wanna be web page designer. I wasn’t born a web page designer and I don’t believe anyone is. The only way to get good is to either copy someone else (unethical but still done A LOT)or keep taking on jobs that challenge you to get better. So, even tho I am only a geek inspiring to be a web page designer, I will not STOP. I would like to read the whole post on this subject. It could help me. Thanks,