Website publishing software

[CVP]

A quick question to those of you who build your own websites - which web publishing software to you use and is it easy to learn and improve on?

I ask as I'm now thinking of learning so that I can publish a small site in 6-12 months when my number of decent pcitures i.e. ones that I'm really happy to show to people I don't know, grows to a reasonable level.

I want to use the site initially just to display my photographs, but eventually the idea would be to incorporate a sales option so I could sell prints as the portfolio builds up and people like the work. The site would be written on a machine running Win XP.

A small initial outlay would be preferable to see if;
a) I can learn to write & design a decent site, and
b) If anyone out there actually enjoys my work enough to consider paying for it

Chris

[docevi1]

I've been writing websites for years and have recently made a PHP version which runs on a mySQL backend.

The code is not pretty by any stretch of the imagination but is completely customisable and is always getting improved upon - the next update to it will have "X thumbs per page" and previous & back buttons for the images as well - I'm just not sure how to do it. I'm in the middle of writing a piece which is more of porfolio rather than a Full Collection (my site is more to say where I have been, what I have seen...)

You are welcome to look at the code (it's one file at present) if you think it'd help.

[simpo two]

CVP said:

A quick question to those of you who build your own websites - which web publishing software to you use and is it easy to learn and improve on?

I shoud think 'PHP' and 'mySQL' will have you scurrying under the bed in panic...
For anyone who's not into IT, I use a program that people like to sneer at. It's call FrontPage and it comes with MS Office.

(pause for laughter)

Right, but I can work it, and if you can use Word you can find your way round it. I can't help you on the e-commerce aspect, but if anyone wanted to buy a hi-res image, they could always e-mail you and pay by PayPal.

My photo site, made by me:
www.blokewithacamera.co.uk

[CVP]

simpo two said:

CVP said: A quick question to those of you who build your own websites - which web publishing software to you use and is it easy to learn and improve on? I shoud think 'PHP' and 'mySQL' will have you scurrying under the bed in panic...

Dude you're not wrong Got lost competely at that point.

I'd like to state that I'm an Amateur with a capital A when it comes to this kind of thing. Give me an Excel spreadsheet model with some assumptions to work with and I'll have a mess around and deliver a full Profit&Loss, Cashflow and Balance Sheet model that is fully integrated but, in terms of actual proper programming just consider me a real novice.

simpo two said:

For anyone who's not into IT, I use a program that people like to sneer at. It's call FrontPage and it comes with MS Office. I can't help you on the e-commerce aspect, but if anyone wanted to buy a hi-res image, they could always e-mail you and pay by PayPal.

Frontpage was one I'd thought of but it's mighty pricey, about £150 or so. Through work I have been able to get a copy of Word, Excel and Powerpoint for home use for £17 as an extension to our work licence, but no such luck for Frontpage even though I believe we do have some work licences for it.

Agree entirely about the email and Paypal. I was thinking that might be the easiest way to do things. So far I have used the Pro album option on photobox. A few hits but no sales yet. I just feel I want to develop this further than the Photobox option.

Cheers

Chris

[Bodo]

CVP said:

A small initial outlay would be preferable to see if; a) I can learn to write & design a decent site, and b) If anyone out there actually enjoys my work enough to consider paying for it

Since you're ready to learn how that html stuff works, I suggest that you use a way between docevi1's (hardcoding by hand) and Simpo (no coding, no control) methods.

Since it would take too long until you see results with starting to learn coding with a text editor, you should work with a graphic editor.

Download the Mozilla Suite from www.mozilla.org It's a web browser, email client and a simple graphic html editor. Install Mozilla, and use the Composer. Feel free to use the rest too; it's excellent software. For free.

Play a bit with the Composer. Try some designs, build two html-pages, and link them to each other. Embed pictures.

Write down what information your site should display, and how it should be done. Get it working on your own PC, before you upload it to a webserver. Debug it, upload it, and ask some mates for review. Debug again, add features, let it grow.
After one year, write it again from scratch with all the experience you collected

[CVP]

Cheers Bodo. Downloaded and now beginning another very long uphill learning curve.

Chris

[docevi1]

sorry, I missed out an important point there.

My idea was that you could make up your own design using something like Frontpage / Dreamweaver / Mozilla Composer and then use my PHP & mySQL stuff to make the gallery.

There are also a multitude of other software packages out on the web which offer exactly what you want, it was just that they didn't do exactly what I was after hence I wrote my own.

[CVP]

Ah, misunderstood your original post I'm afraid

Anyways I shall be building in my spare time and let the PH photo brigade have a look and hopefully make some helpful comments on design etc.

Chris