New Site?

scotty

Ultimate Member
I'm thinking of doing a bit of a spin-off of my usual work mainly aimed at traditional sign writing as I want to get from behind my Mac a bit more.

I'm not that up on the techy side of building a web site although I design the graphics for them.

Just wondering if there are any Wordpress templates out there I could use and are they easy to adapt for someone who doesn't know their arse from their elbow when it comes to code.

I only need something fairly simple. An info page and a portfolio. Maybe a blog too.
 
There's plenty of templates out there... it really depends on the look/features you wanting really.
 
Been having a bit of a look and the choice is quite bewildering on WP.

I know this may be a dirty word for you web guys but are tools like website builder any cop?
 
Personally I wouldn't use a website builder, I played with one a long time ago and it wasn't very good.

There are sites like squarespace if you don't already have hosting.... it seems to get good reviews and the themes look slick enough.

I'm not sure if you've seen touchfolio? It's pretty clean etc and I'd even toyed with using it myself at one point...
 
@Levi

Cheers for that mate. I kind of followed a link almost by accident to a review of those "build your own web-site" things and Web Builder cam top and was highly praised but then you're coming from a pro angle so I value your thoughts above that.

I'll check those out mate.
I only had the idea over the weekend and not sorted anything out apart from checking a few domain names.

I like the look of SquareSpace and even the limited number of templates as I'm easily over faced.
Touchfolio looks cool to.

Gonna have a proper look once I get my e-mail,ing out the way.
 
Hey I'm no pro when it comes to websites... it's just that I didn't think much to it when I tried it, they may have improved since I used one.

The reason I suggest touchfolio is because I can kind of see a site that focuses more on the 'artwork' of the sign with minimal text than a site with loads of info. Sign writing is a dying art so you could use a blog to cover 'day in the life' type perspectives for seo benefits.
 
When it comes to WordPress themes as far as I'm concerned GoodLayers are the top dogs. Stupidly flexible, great WYSIWYG page builder, highly customizable too.
 
Yes Goodlayers templates are often very well made and have lots of features that are good for beginners.
 
Going to give those a look chaps so thanks for those.

Also been looking at Behance Pro and Cargo and the like which look pretty good.

@wac In your profile pic you look a bit like you've been caught doing something you shouldn't. ;)
 
I use Squarespace for my site Scotty. All the templates are very easy to tinker with (even for a drag 'n' drop merchant like me) and they work rather nicely.
 
Also (apologies for the 2x post) all the Squarespace templates are adaptive, so you have a mobile version built-in.
 
The one thing that bugs me about using a premium theme is that you start off with a design and then shoehorn content into it. You end up with a website for a plumber looking like Vogue. ideally you need to have your content ready and THEN decide on design. Still - not everyone has the budget to do things the perfect way.
 
I don't think you should use any website builder for website designing.
Your website should be informative different which can attract your visitor.
In website builder there are some specific theme. You can see too many website in same theme.
which theme you are using the other business are using the same.
 
Totally agree with Lata.

The web is there to express yourself, using other people's work (Templates, themes) is certainly not good, especially if you are working in the creative industry. Make something different and have full control of it. I know it's probably not going to happen anytime soon, but what happens if Squarespace went bust? What would happen to your website and data?

Get your own server, design your own site and get someone to build it if you cannot do it yourself. A good website is not always about how it looks and how if feels. You also need to consider site structure and performance.
 
You could try Freeway Pro7. It's pretty easy to create responsive designs with the most recent version and works much like InDesign except you can add coding and scripts too.

Because it's 'like' design software such as Quark or InDesign it's good for Graphic Designers making the transition or wanting to avoid coding. Worth a look perhaps. We do lots of site in FW and have just refreshed our own studio site making it responsive.

They have excellent help on hand to get you through the quiet shallow learning curve which is always invaluable.
 
Hi lot of template is available if you not have tech skill also you can use the templates by following theinstructions. you can customize the template as you like. or else some minimum amount is requested by the theme owner you can goahead with that. they will hide the common template name and other identities.
 
Glad I stumbled on this topic, like Scotty I am just going down the route of Behance or finding a good Wordpress theme and some hosting.
What did you go for in the end Scotty?
 
Glad I stumbled on this topic, like Scotty I am just going down the route of Behance or finding a good Wordpress theme and some hosting.
What did you go for in the end Scotty?

A bit late in the day as I missed this.

I'm going for a WP theme and I've narrowed it down to four.
Totally fed up of trawling through themes now. Groan. :(
I find one that looks the part only to find it's missing one thing off my "Essential List".

Think I might go for hosting with SiteGround as they're reasonable and all I hear about them is good.
Went on a live chat to ask a few questions and they couldn't have been more helpful.
 
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