newbie need help with business page design

[rusty relics]

hi all,
new here and no doubt there will be many questions to come.
can anyone advise me which site builder would suit my needs best ?

I want to be able to have the menu horizontally across the top of each page but with a sub menu for each. Does this have a special name ?. for instance at the top of this page, a click on 'quick links' brings up a 'sub menu' ?.

here is my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Rusty-Relic...5996/timeline/

which i wish to build the site for

eventually i want it to have
-blog
- numerous gallery with various sub galleries
-eCommerce
-event guide

plus all the usual

Sorry if iv used any incorrect terms. i used to build websites for fun at school, 10 years on its proving rather different to what it was back then

All help gratefully received.

cheers,
liam

[Vapr_Arts]

Are you willing to do this by hand? If its for a business the best advice I can give you is hire someone to do it for you. eCommerce is a pain in the *** to deal with even for someone thats remotely comfortable with programming.

My next suggestion if this just isnt an option for you would be to code as much by hand and avoid WYSIWYG editors (that is what I assume you mean by 'website builder'). These things make it seem like its easy and everything is going to work nicely but they in the long run they cause more problems than solve.

My 3rd recommendation if the 1st 2 arent something you are able to do would be using Wordpress. A heads up though, i cringe when I recommend WP to anyone because just like the WYSIWYG editors it can be more trouble than not.

If this is for a business I really recommend taking your website as a business expense and have it done professionally. If this were a brick n mortar store would you be willing to build it on your own and hope it doesnt come crashing (pun intended) down on you and your customers, or allow a professional to do their job and make something reliable?


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[rusty relics]

thanks for the reply,
i should have mentioned earlier, the ecomerce side of it will be something for the future when i have built up my audience, for now i just intend on have somewhere on the site to showcase my ebay listings.

code isnt something im too comfortable with at the minute so isnt really an option just yet although hopefully in the future i can slowly pick up where i left off years ago.

iv had a look at wordpress but for the package my site would require it seems rather expensive unless im mistaken ?.

in the end i will most likely have the site built professionally but for now i guess im just looking for an easy to use but with all the options i require WYSIWYG editor so that i can get a look/feel for what i want before asking someone to create the end product for me

appologies again for all the questions

cheers,
liam

[Vapr_Arts]

thanks for the reply,
i should have mentioned earlier, the ecomerce side of it will be something for the future when i have built up my audience, for now i just intend on have somewhere on the site to showcase my ebay listings.

code isnt something im too comfortable with at the minute so isnt really an option just yet although hopefully in the future i can slowly pick up where i left off years ago.

iv had a look at wordpress but for the package my site would require it seems rather expensive unless im mistaken ?.

in the end i will most likely have the site built professionally but for now i guess im just looking for an easy to use but with all the options i require WYSIWYG editor so that i can get a look/feel for what i want before asking someone to create the end product for me

appologies again for all the questions

cheers,
liam

No need to apologize man thats what all of us are here for, to ask questions and help others. Well thats the motive for the majority of us anyway.

I personally would say WP over a WYSIWYG editor. For $14/year and $10 a month you you can get you a domain and host. Thats all WP would cost you aside from if you chose to buy a premium theme and such. My host who si GoDaddy (no I do not recommend them) have a 1 click install for WP. From there you just have to customize it to your liking. The customization is what can/will cost you. This also doesn't guarantee that the features you want will be available for free, or at all for that matter. You don't seem to have anything very complex so I am sure you can find what you need. Be very careful with what you install and use with WP though. It can cause issues with load times, security, and just general SEO.


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[rusty relics]

hi, thanks again.
is it possible to download wordpress directly to my pc, then when im happy with the site iv created move it over to a host for it go go online ?. it could be months before iv got something worth putting online so i dont fancy paying out for hosting all that time before the site goes live.

there seems to be lots of word press downloads available, could you point me in the right direction for what would suit my needs best ?

thanks again,
liam

[mlseim]

Wordpress has to run on a server. You could create your own server at home, but I'm guessing that you don't have the skills or experience (I don't either). You can get a shared web host like cleverdot.com for $40 for the first year .. Pretty cheap.

[TheGAME1264]

You CAN run WordPress on a PC, but you'll need to convert it to a server. You can do this in Windows using IIS and it will work;

https://codex.wordpress.org/Installing_on_Microsoft_IIS

PHP itself is also part of the Microsoft Web Platform Installer, and I believe WP is as well...although I never use it because I'm not a WP or a PHP fan.

https://www.microsoft.com/web/downloads/platform.aspx

Vapr_Arts gave you the best advice overall. Use WP if you have to, but use it with an eye toward getting better at coding and developing and breaking away from WP eventually. It's a brilliant crutch...you can use it as a starting point to get to where you want, but the more your site grows and the more traffic it gets, the more time you spend maintaining WP and any of the plugins, upgrading your hosting, and doing all sorts of other things that you'll have to do a lot less frequently (and in many cases not at all) with a good custom coded site.

Whatever you do, do not use WP for e-commerce. Yes, there's a WooCommerce e-commerce plugin, but your site will basically turn into a piece of IKEA furniture. Yes, IKEA furniture can work in certain circumstances, but you wouldn't use it for core aspects of your business. E-commerce is a core aspect of your business.

[Ninja_Unmatched]

Wordpress has to run on a server. You could create your own server at home, but I'm guessing that you don't have the skills or experience (I don't either). You can get a shared web host like cleverdot.com for $40 for the first year .. Pretty cheap.

When using wordpress you may have yo use a good host. A shared host may not cut it. Especially if you plan on using alot of plugins. E commerce as your base? Well ive seen ppl do it. You should really have some idea of coding though. Wordpress can end up really slow on regular hosting. Larger sites 1. Use other 3rd party hosts for images hosting 2. Most likely use hosting with SSD (Solid State drive) drive. These hosts will advertise this as a feature.

If you are on a strict budget and have no choice then it is possible to use wordpress. Even for ecommerce.

Also security is a concern. As soon as you place a WP site you could begin to get spammers. So you need security for logins like captcha and forcing an email response b4 accounts are created. These 2 alone are not even enough.

Wordpress though you can buy themes they may have commerce options built in. This would make things a lil easier.

A good place to get those is

themeforest.net


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[Ninja_Unmatched]

As for using IIS to host it... you can there are other ways too.
Ways that are like 1 click installs.
Sort of....

Search for Xampp

Also bitnami which i think makes certain aspects easier.

Another thought for you is a hosting service that has alot of support features. Will cost more a month but you can call them whenever you have a problem.



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[dzstormers]

Well rusty , first q1
menu horizontally across the top of each page but with a sub menu for each. Does this have a special name ?
Of Course They are called Drop Down menus they are easy and made with css
the first thing that i would advice you to is to signup for a wordpress account at wordpress.com they have a greate themes that would suite your bussness
the second thing you can go to youtube and take some wordpress tutorials to master how to create content and be a good publisher
but if you insist to make a professional web site i can tell that im a web designer but of cours not for free , i can build you a website in no time feel free to contact me here [EDIT: email removed by TheGAME1264. If anyone needs help, they can post here and the answers can be shared. Thanks.] even for help man