Web Designers? Any freelancers out there?

[txaviator]

I am in need of someone to help me out with a very simple website (non-RV related). I have a new product that I am about to market, and need help putting a flashy website together. I took HTML courses during my undergrad, but have apparently forgotten everything I learned

I just hate to pay some 'professional' web developer the big bucks if I can find someone who may do web design freelance / on the side?

It will be a simple site with a main page (with a few photos) then maybe two more sub-pages (one for FAQ's, and one for more pics). I already have the URL and the hosting company, along with email service from the URL address/hosting company.

Does anyone have any contacts that may be able to help me? I am more than willing to pay someone who knows what they are doing, but again, I just hate to spend the huge bucks with a giant organization when I know there are bound to be cheaper alternatives?

Thanks for any suggestions!

[sprucemoose]

Forget learning HTML, that's so 90s. Get yourself a copy of Frontpage or some other web design program. If you can use a word processor you can create a web site. You get the added benefit of being able to make changes any time you want for free (kinda like a repairman's certificate for your website.)

I did my wesbite using Frontpage and the basic layout took about 30 minutes.

[hevansrv7a]

Front Page is excellent. But, be careful, if you can figure out how, to avoid Microsoft-specific "gotcha's" that MS loves to put in all their stuff. If you want everyone, everywhere to be able to use your site, be able to write to standards and to test Opera and Mozilla, at least.
h

[LettersFromFlyoverCountry]

I handle Web page content for a living (http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/ ), and do some freelance production on the side (<a href="http://health.ivillage.com/multimedi...j6bqrc,00.html").

The one piece of advice that almost EVERY non-pro Web builder makes is it's not a technical exercise, it's an editorial exercise. Ease of navigation and appropriately organized content is the most important part of building a Web site.

There are considerations, of course, for who your audience is, what do you want them to do once they get to your site. How do they enter your site (keep in mind, most folks Google now, so a Web site is often designed (top down) without regard to the fact there are as many entry points into your site as there are pages.

Drop me a line and I'll be happy to help you sort it out.

No charge for RV builders.

[DeltaRomeo]

Gary,

I agree with Bob - it's mostly about content layout.

I use regular old FrontPage for the main site and CuteFTP to upload the changes to the ISP http://www.cuteftp.com/cuteftp/
Nothing fancy.

Best,
Doug

PS: The forums are a different animal altogether <g>.

[RV7Factory]

FrontPage... Ack!!! Maybe it has gotten better, but my only trial experience with FP was that it created 20 lines of code for something that could be done it 5. But hey, if it works for ya, great! Me... I like my web pages like I like my RVs... slow-build all the way.

Bob sort of hit the nail on the head with this one... content is king.

Looks like you've gotten some good offers of help, but if I can be of any assistance on the technical/design side, let me know. You can contact me from the link on my web site.

Good luck!

[sprucemoose]

Originally Posted by RV7Factory

FrontPage... Ack!!!

Yeah, I know. I'm as anti-MS as anyone, but it's readily available. Note that I did mention "or some other web design software." I use Frontpage, but if anyone knows of a good shareware web editor I'd switch in a heartbeat.

[LettersFromFlyoverCountry]

Front Page is OK for what it's intended for. Dreamweaver is a little better because it has better applications for style sheets and such. But in the end, we're really talking content.

The one thing I would highly recommend in anyone creating a Web page is not to build with past designs in mind. Throw away all the templates and the long tables with X columns that create pages that, as you add content, it goes down the page farther...and farther...and farther.

Try to design pages that don't require the reader to hit page down -- not even once. It's not that hard once you think about alternatives. Major League Baseball.com is a perfect example....using Flash to rotate content in the same spot. It's pretty elegant stuff.

And white space, lots of white space. don't make your pages a battleground where some content fights with the other content for space. Make an editorial decision. WHAT is the most important thing. What is the next more important thing....the third most important thing...and what isn't important at all.

[jcoloccia]

What I've found works for me is writing a little library of php scripts that properly format the information or possibly do some simple tasks like Prev/Next links. Then I either have little scripts that auto generate simple pages or I just edit them in notepad or Visual Studio or whatever editor I have handy. The end result is clean, consistent pages that are really simple to update and modify. YMMV.

I really like notepad....it's a nice break from the complex development environments, spreadsheets, project management, etc software packages I use everyday.

[txaviator]

Thanks for the replies from everyone! I greatly appreciate it.

My apologies for the delays in responding to everyone. My travels to California this week have been hectic to say the least, so I have not had a chance to individually reply to all of you, and also to those of you who were kind enough to send me PM's with offers of help.

I will dive back into this tomorrow once I get back to Dallas / Fort Worth, and will surely have more questions for all of you. I just wanted to offer a brief explanation of why I posed a question and then haven't replied!

Again, thanks for all the suggestions and offers of help! MUCH appreciated.

Take care,