Website Design ... need someone

wonder · Post by **wonder** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 10:22 am

A drummer friend of mine is looking to overhaul his website.

I'm helping him in the search. Do you know anyone that is a good website designer that is looking for work?
If so .. please send their info my way.

You can email me ... dallaskruse@mac.com

thanks!

David Polich · Post by **David Polich** » Sun Dec 03, 2006 9:52 am

Google "website designers" - you'll get more references than you know what to do with.

Okay site - around 250-500 bucks
Really good site - about a thousand bucks.
Fantastic site - 2500 dollars or more.

A lot of sites out there now that let you pick from pre-formatted "templates" in Flash or HTML, then you can either download the template and customize it yourself (if you are skilled in Flash and Dreamweaver) or you can have the website's designers customize it for you for around a thousand dollars.

Jim · Post by **Jim** » Sun Dec 03, 2006 5:29 pm

I use Freeway Express (Mac) to design and build my own site. Of course, it probably looks like a DIY project. But the advantage to me is that I can change it at will... several times an hour, if I want... adding sound clips, keeping an evolving "what's new" section, correcting mistakes.... I don't know if it can handle Flash, but I personally don't care for Flash, as it seems to be geared towards those with Attention Deficit Disorder. For posting content, as opposed to providing a bunch of blinking and sliding objects, you'd be hard pressed to beat it... especially for the intelligence-impaired like me. If I can use it, just about anybody can. It comes with preset templates to get you started.

builder · Post by **builder** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 7:14 am

The best looking, most dynamic, and most interactive sites are usually done in Flash....

It is by far a standard for Web development and media delivery....

If he is looking for something simple but snazy... I might be able to help him out....

ECmaj7 · Post by **ECmaj7** » Mon Dec 04, 2006 9:18 am

I discovered a great web design program for the mac called Rapidweaver.
After years of using Dreamweaver I have switched.
Cheap program, only $40...
It come with many good templates you can modify to your own liking or google search for more.
Of course there is still a learning curve if you want to design your own CSS templates.

Emilio

jportland · Post by **jportland** » Tue Dec 12, 2006 3:23 pm

I am a web designer and I have some projects of music sites on my portfolio. I design mainly corporate sites (specialised in Architecture) but I did some projects for the music industry. My sites are all designed from scratch and taylored to the identity of the owner, no ready-made templates, one can spot that in 1 second. The website should communicate the owner's identity and or the brand and not be taken too lightly. Design it and don't just built it because you or your little brother can programme some HTML or Frontpage. This is my opinion as this is my work besides music. If you wish to talk to me about web design and music you may contact me at: www.josephsalvador.eu, www.tinkrecords.eu, www.alexsalvador.com, www.portlandmusic.nl and you can also check www.johnsonjunior.com as an example of a small web site I did for a producer's duo in Amsterdam.

Greetings,
J. Portland

sdemott · Post by **sdemott** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 6:46 am

I work in the Interactive Department (we're the web site guys) of marketing agency - do yourself a favor use a real web designer to design the site (and there is a huge difference between a designer and a web designer) and a real web integrator to convert the design into a web site.

I would avoid a 100% flash site - there are a lot of downsides to Flash (the biggest being that a Flash site is not "Crawlable", which means the search engines can't search it and index it for returns in search queries). I think we can all agree we'd like to show up in a Google search if we're trying to get business. Having flash elements is fine, just be sure to have the site follow current W3C standards (such as XHTML & CSS) so that it's available to search engines. The other plus side to sticking with XHTML/CSS is that you will be future proofing your site - since a simple edit to your CSS file allows for alternate deliver methods (particularly mobile devices, which is becoming a big deal for executives on the go).

It is more expensive to hire the right people and get it done properly, but in the end it makes a huge difference. Recent studies (IAB & eMarketer) show that you have approximately 4 seconds to make a good impression to a first time visitor to your site or they will move on, and then if they do stay on you have another 30 seconds in which they decide whether or not to stay based on how well organized the information is and how easily navigated the site is.

Just a few things to keep in mind.

sdemott · Post by **sdemott** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 7:08 am

one other point - if you want to try to save some money, check out http://opendesigns.org/ for some great ideas & even some contacts.

zarmattathustra · Post by **zarmattathustra** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 10:24 am

sdemott wrote: I would avoid a 100% flash site - there are a lot of downsides to Flash (the biggest being that a Flash site is not "Crawlable", which means the search engines can't search it and index it for returns in search queries). I think we can all agree we'd like to show up in a Google search if we're trying to get business. Having flash elements is fine, just be sure to have the site follow current W3C standards (such as XHTML & CSS) so that it's available to search engines. The other plus side to sticking with XHTML/CSS is that you will be future proofing your site - since a simple edit to your CSS file allows for alternate deliver methods (particularly mobile devices, which is becoming a big deal for executives on the go).

A lot of the problems with Flash have more to do with how the designers / developers use Flash then Flash it's self. There's a series of best practices for Flash that aren't practiced enough. For instance in any situation where Flash is used it should probably be in a "progressive enhancement" context.. which means if a user don't have the Flash plug in you still see the site.. and if you're doing it this way there is indeed an XHTML that google can see. This is just good accessibility.

I think the problem is that the Flash community has been insulated from a lot of whats going on in open source, the standards movement, and what have you.. as well as just from pragmatic strategic web design considerations. Not only this but Flash is becoming more expensive.. because there are so few people who really do it well. So you probably would want to educate your self a little before you jump into Flash.

I do think that Flash can produce the best brand experience possible.. I mean with the exception of something like Second Life.

But all this might be a little silly, this is not where you start thinking about site design. You start from the point of view of what your objectives ought to be and you judge how successful a the web design is by how it meets those objectives. That's what dictates to what degree you should use a technology like Flash or not, and in what way. This also means that great design is about a lot more then if it's pretty or not.

sschweyen · Post by **sschweyen** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 4:20 am

You might wanna take a look at www.guru.com
After you sign up (free) you write a short description of the web sight you want built and then sit back relax, and watch those bits come pouring in...Be prepared to get blasted with bids. Of course you set your priorities and make the your final decision based on that.

I used guru to find a graphic designer for my album cover, and couldn't have been happier with my designer guy.

sschweyen · Post by **sschweyen** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 4:27 am

ah hahaha....

just noticed the date of the original post...I'm sure your past that point by now

billf · Post by **billf** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 9:19 am

sdemott wrote:I work in the Interactive Department (we're the web site guys) of marketing agency - do yourself a favor use a real web designer to design the site (and there is a huge difference between a designer and a web designer) and a real web integrator to convert the design into a web site.

I'll take it one step further... stay away from the templates. Web templates are the equivalent of loops in music. Your site will not be unique and personalized for you. A website is your branding, so if it looks cheap, it reflects on you. Hire a good web designer at the very least.

sdemott wrote:I would avoid a 100% flash site - there are a lot of downsides to Flash (the biggest being that a Flash site is not "Crawlable", which means the search engines can't search it and index it for returns in search queries).

Totally agree. I know that web design can be expensive, but if one is serious about their business, then it is worth investing in a properly designed, interactive site that is done in such a way that it reflects your personal brand, it engages visitors, and is SEO friendly.

charlesparente · Post by **charlesparente** » Fri Sep 04, 2009 11:16 am

I'm 3 years late to the party on this post, but one other solution
to consider is Wordpress to maintain your music site.

Wordpress is server installed software [installed on your web hosting account] originally used to create blogs, but these days all kinds of sites are built on Wordpress.
It's free.

It took me about 2 weeks to get my head around how it works, but I've found it to be great for these reasons:

1) Just using Wordpress helps drastically with SEO [search engine optimization]

2) so fast and easy to update your content

3) very cheap to build/maintain your site.
$7/month hosting fee is all I pay
for more bandwidth/storage space than I'll ever need.

4) tons of add-on 'plugins' to enable added functionality on your site.

5) It's all graphical--no HTML code knowledge needed.

As musicians, we of course need ways to provide MP3 playback on our site, and I've been quite happy with how Wordpress accomodates this.
It's very easy to use a Flash Player, for example.

Just one more option to consider, for those looking for a very low cost and low hassle solution and are willing to do it themselves.

best,
Charles

manishfusion · Post by **manishfusion** » Tue Sep 08, 2009 3:53 am

hey you can find website designer here http://blogshubhinetwork.com
they are professionals and they can done whatever you want for your website.

bdr · Post by **bdr** » Tue Sep 08, 2009 5:12 pm

ECmaj7 wrote:I discovered a great web design program for the mac called Rapidweaver.
After years of using Dreamweaver I have switched.
Cheap program, only $40...
It come with many good templates you can modify to your own liking or google search for more.
Of course there is still a learning curve if you want to design your own CSS templates.

Emilio

Rapidweaver is great, with a very helpful forum when you want to do something complex. Mine is template based but I imported my own title graphics and added a movie page, an audio page and a client upload page all without knowing what the hell I was doing.

MOTUnation.com

Website Design ... need someone

Website Design ... need someone

website design

Re: Website Design ... need someone

Re: Website Design ... need someone

Re: