I'm a soon-to-be computer science grad. I don't really like doing smaller design stuff (more of me pulling my hair out about small design decisions), and more of web-application stuff. But if you would like any help...feel free to ask me questions.

Hey Dan:

I might just take you up on that!

Here's what I'm thinking, and I'd appreciate ANY advice to tell me whether or not I'm off-track here. I throw myself on anyone's mercy. I'm ignorant. I'm not worthy. I hired a guy the first time around so I wouldn't have to learn this stuff. I don't really think I want to use the same guy.

I'm considering buying a Template, and like this one in particular. So I don't have to take time learning this stuff, I'm thinking I'd like to hire someone who knows this stuff to "oversee" the project. Paying someone else for 5 hours time beats me spending two weeks trying to figure out what the acronyms mean.

So I buy this template, my new web guy says he needs content for the various pages...logo, photos, video clips and text. I find out if my current hosting company supports it.

If I want to replace a photo in one of the galleries, will it likely be a simple as uploading a new photo with the same file name into a folder to replace the existing one?

Any thoughts on the site above? I like the fact that it already has sections for still photos and video, and it has some style, yet the navigation, to me, is straight forward. I really like this one as well, though I would have to add a page or modify something to show video clips and samples.

I'm not looking for tech support here...just wondering if pursuing the templates is even a good direction for me.... I've been embarrassed by my current website for so long, I've stopped other forms of marketing because I don't want potential clients to see it!

I'm also looking for "civilian" opinions on the two sites above!

Well, no one was looking at my post above.

I thought a new subject line might help it get noticed!

Where!! where!! aw c'mon, that's not right.

The first thing I'd do if I were using that template would be to kill the music. <bork!>

As for replacing content, that depends on whether it is built upon a CMS (content management system) or whether it's based on static pages. If it works in conjunction with a CMS, then you'd be able to to the changes via some sort of admin interface directly on the web. If it is based on static pages -- hardly anything is anymore -- then replacing files with same-named new files would certainly work.

Also, I strenuously recommend against using Flash as the primary element of any site unless you're a flash designer and need to show off your skills. Search engines can't index flash, so you have to use other tricks to get your content indexed. Used sparingly, e.g. for an animated header, flash can be quite effective at adding pop and wow to your site, but the fewer things you have flying around, the snappier your site will feel. I hate having to wait for a site's user interface to catch up with me.

Excellent, excellent, excellent! Thank you very much Peter! That's exactly the type of stuff I need to know!

Testify, brother. One of the marketing companies I work for has the hoggiest corporate site ever. It's like watching an entire commercial break until I can get to (whiz-bang-crash) the page to find the odd spelling of one of the principles' names.

My other pet peeve is that new Apple iInternet application or whatever that does the "full screen" viewing of thumbnails. It's so cookie cutter.

Bren R.

Mark, I can't recall if you're a Windows or Mac guy, but when I had to learn how this CMS/Wordpress stuff worked, I learned that I could install a program called Xampp on my Windows box so that I could install Wordpress and play in private, without sharing my struggles with the world while using my host's software and setup. I had no idea how all this stuff worked, and didn't know anyone else who did either.

It took a little while to read through some stuff, but in the end it was really pretty simple to actually do. I know that the task seems a little (OK, quite) daunting, as I cnn now say "Been there, done that", but it can be done without needing a Comp Sci degree. Google is your friend.

I still use the local copy of my site for making layout tweaks from time to time.

My initial thought was that all Flash would be a bad idea, but the templates were loading pretty fast and the sites themselves seem pretty small in terms of number of pages. I'm also wondering about my average client not being as nearly tech-minded, very likely located somewhere here in town, and looking us up because they've already heard of us. Different than Googling to find a national or web-based company?

I'm not disputing the expert advice I sought.... but I wonder if it applies as fully to a business like mine...(?)

Hey Sandy:
I wiki'd WordPress (I'm so ignorant re: authoring for the web I didn't even know what it was!) and I got a strong impression it was more for blogging than a graphics-intensive site design?

And Windows, BTW!