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General => General Discussion and ??? => Topic started by: Dottonedan on September 16, 2011, 02:46:08 PM
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Do you work on your own website?
I am not much for working on or learning to work on my website. It's not been very interesting to go to. Maybe I'm missing something. It's hosted by lance aka Calibrated and he's not interested in getting paid to build it up for me.
Maybe I'd get more business if I had it going well. Do I want to be slammed? I don't know. I'm pretty happy now. It's not like..if I get busier, I can hire someone to help sep. Who's got time to learn to build up a website?
Do any of you build your own and maintain it?
Did you lean just for that purpose (of maintaining your own) or were you already interested in building websites as part of an income?
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I'm in a similar boat. I have a book on Joomla, now if I only could read it and understand it.
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I'm in a similar boat. I have a book on Joomla, now if I only could read it and understand it.
LOL.
If the site is set up right, maintaining it is not big of a deal. :)
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It maintains itself. What it doesn't do is update and change itself.
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I did mine. I've got an overhaul in the works in an attempt to make it more visible and get rid of some stuff I don't think helps. Can't say that I enjoy doing it. The part that pisses me off is getting stuff to not shift around as you make adjustments. I use Dreamweaver for layout. It ain't exactly like using InDesign.
I bought a book on doing the whole thing in Photoshop, but I don't think that lends itself to adding text that'll be picked up by search engines, so I struggle with Dreamweaver. Easy enough to edit and upload changes, though.
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I did mine. I've got an overhaul in the works in an attempt to make it more visible and get rid of some stuff I don't think helps. Can't say that I enjoy doing it. The part that pisses me off is getting stuff to not shift around as you make adjustments. I use Dreamweaver for layout. It ain't exactly like using InDesign.
I bought a book on doing the whole thing in Photoshop, but I don't think that lends itself to adding text that'll be picked up by search engines, so I struggle with Dreamweaver. Easy enough to edit and upload changes, though.
I just checked yours out. Thats a pretty good site. I like what you've done. The logo (actual photo's) of someone wearing your logo tee is a good idea.
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I'm in a similar boat. I have a book on Joomla, now if I only could read it and understand it.
LOL.
If the site is set up right, maintaining it is not big of a deal. :)
I'm using Joomla. It's a bit clunky. I think my problem is that I don't want just a page or three showing my info. I need a whol virtual store and I don't get all of these separate programs within the site to do everything. It;s like, to use a image viewer, (I need to learn that specific set up). If I want to play vids, I need to learn how to use that as well. It's all created by different people and nothing is set up the same way.
I want a more complex site. It's more irritating than I like to deal with and hiring someone has been allover the place in price. I'm going to have to bite the bullet and pay someone I think.
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I build and maintain all my sites.. about 24 of them. I've been doing it since Adobe only had pagemill....
I use flash, dreamweaver, fireworks,Photoshop, illustrator.
I have sites built completely on flash, css, html ( Dynamic & Static) and of cource my platform of choice is JOOMLA 8)
been using it since it was called Mambo & you had to manually install it....
Mostly because it is so quick to set up.... Templates can be created in PS & dreamweaver and there are so many easy to use plugins to make the server side interactive user interface killer!!!!
I do all my own SEO & I rule the local market!
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I did my own. Before printing shirts I designed websites for my design clients. It’s not something you want to just sit down and try to learn. I use photoshop to design the website and then cut it up and take it all into Dreamweaver. It takes a long time and you can spend hours trying to fix something as small as alignment. If you spend the time and learn, you can make a ton of money but customers are a pain. It’s hard to justify the amount of hours it takes and you will never be able to explain it to the client. I will not do websites for anyone. I used to charge $1250 to $2500 for basic informational websites. There is money there but getting the information to put on the site from people takes longer then building the site. Then you have the rounds and rounds of edits. There is no end, websites are never done.
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Dan, Several of the best Joomla developers are working on platforms that make the whole experience a lot easier...
Within the template you can build your own apps like image carousals forms etc.
Here are two...
Zoo by Yoo themes http://www.yootheme.com/zoo/ (http://www.yootheme.com/zoo/)
And Gantry by Rocket themes here in Golden Colorado ( Lance uses them)
http://www.gantry-framework.org/?platform=joomla (http://www.gantry-framework.org/?platform=joomla)
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I'm in a similar boat. I have a book on Joomla, now if I only could read it and understand it.
Frog you just got to take a hit of chronic and it all makes sense..... 8)
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Step one is to put the book in my office, you know, the room with the white porcelain throne.
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I built it and run it, http://www.freshbakedprinting.com (http://www.freshbakedprinting.com)
Took awhile to get it up and going but now that it's going, it's pretty easy to maintain.
I did (do) struggle with some of the cross-browser compatiablity, but most of the site feedback I get is pretty positive.
It's not rocket science but it does require a certain level of commitment (and study) to see it through.
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http://www.freshbakedprinting.com (http://www.freshbakedprinting.com)
The rollover toast is kinda fun... Those .png's really load slow tho..... My tshirtillustrator.com site is all png.... uhg but they look so much better then a transparent gif, Huh.
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Step one is to put the book in my office, you know, the room with the white porcelain throne.
:)
Ain't that the truth.
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[url]http://www.freshbakedprinting.com[/url] ([url]http://www.freshbakedprinting.com[/url])
The rollover toast is kinda fun... Those .png's really load slow tho..... My tshirtillustrator.com site is all png.... uhg but they look so much better then a transparent gif, Huh.
Slow until they hit the cache. I did have a way of doing it so it was one image and it just "shifted" the image over to present the rollover effect. It was instantaneous and it did away with having to load another image, but, not being the web expert, I wasn't able to get it to work on all browsers via the CSS file.
I agree, the png's are slow. I've surfed my website on other computers in different locations and it loads faster than it does on my rig, even though we're all on Comcast in my town. Not sure if it's the bandwidth, computer or both or ?
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How come so few websites take the time to explain how a job is done?.....Number of colours, process printing, spot highlights, etc....
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How come so few websites take the time to explain how a job is done?.....Number of colours, process printing, spot highlights, etc....
That is a very good point. In fact, that is a great idea. You know, with the idea being open source content, it seems you could create some type of stock (web images) that are industry related such as this. Something to drop in a page with a link on your main page.
Video's and animations are great for this as well.
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How come so few websites take the time to explain how a job is done?.....Number of colours, process printing, spot highlights, etc....
I have a couple of YouTube vids. I'll link to one of my YouTube vids via my Facebook page occasionally
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Some of the stuff me and my partner did:
of course http://www.dkgrafix.com/ (http://www.dkgrafix.com/) Drupal (I think it is more powerful than Joomla)
http://www.imperianbrandy.com/ (http://www.imperianbrandy.com/) All flash
http://www.wisehunters.com/ (http://www.wisehunters.com/) Html/Flash with shopping cart (scheduled to be re-done in October)
http://www.dshparma.com/ (http://www.dshparma.com/) html/flash
http://www.24yes.com/ (http://www.24yes.com/) Only one we did in Joomla
http://www.seethechic.com/ (http://www.seethechic.com/) Wordpress
There is a lot of the stuff that can be used, most of it is started for you and it is free (Joomla and Drupal modules). You have to find someone to start it up for you and then to explain you how to add more pages, articles, pictures, galleries......
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We do our own site.
www.graphicdisorder.com (http://www.graphicdisorder.com)
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So, from those who do build and maintain your own sites, what would you recommend to someone who would like to learn? As in reading material (for dummies in my own case) or tutorials or whatever?
Steve
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How come so few websites take the time to explain how a job is done?.....Number of colours, process printing, spot highlights, etc....
I'm working on my own site and have a page for this. I'm hoping at least SOME people will see how annoying it is when they come back a week later and say "I just need 2 more shirts!" I also have a "Why you should print with us" page.. Which will obviously entail information on why we are the better choice. I'm thinking about adding a "Budget Quote" page, where people can enter the amount they want to spend, and then we contact them with what they can get for that amount of money... seems like it would make things easier then people saying I want a 4 color print front and back.. and then I have to explain why it's going to be so much money for 24 shirts.
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So, from those who do build and maintain your own sites, what would you recommend to someone who would like to learn? As in reading material (for dummies in my own case) or tutorials or whatever?
Steve
For Dreamweaver I've used the tutorial book from Lynda.com. She now has all her tutorials for a variety of software online for $25 a month, month to month.
Adobe's CS5 Design suite comes with a program called Flash Catalyst that lets you design your site elements in Illustrator, and edit them in Illustrator. Doesn't have the full-blown capability of Flash, but lets you develop a site with much of the features without having to learn Flash, which is a different beast altogether, what with the timelines and all. Oddly, as I understood it, the original intent of Flash was to permit the bandwidth "thrift" and resolution independence of vector imagery on the web. It seems like Flash Catalyst fulfills that intent with a little more fidelity. Using Flash seems more like using GarageBand, except with imagery, at least for me.
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I thought I was going to be a "web guy" years ago. Got some books, thought about taking classes, but it never jelled. I got busy with doing what I do and didn't have the time. I'm not sad about that at all...
I had a free portfolio on Coroflot.com for years. There's other freebies out there too... Behance, Deviantart, etc...
But what I did was end up setting up a Wordpress blog.
Set up the blog now and worry about an actual website later. It's worked out well... except that I don't update it very often, which is counter to what a blog is all about. But what's cool is I can tell stories, post projects, step-by-steps, etc. with in-depth content and if you update it often, like I don't, it will keep people interested and coming back again and again.
I think it would be a great format for you if you decide to do tutorials. Even if you do have an actual, real website, a blog is a good tool to have.
It's easy and you don't have to be a web guy.
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Wordpress.
I tried Joomla and a bunch of other CMS and blog platforms, Wordpress ended up being the easiest and fastest to set up - and more importantly it's easy to maintain (when I get time to)
http://evoscreenprinting.com (http://evoscreenprinting.com)
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I built my first website sometime back in the late 90's then again for my video site using Dreamweaver and CSS all by hand, Haven't touched that in yrs now.
Made a wordpress site for the new business.
www.blacktopgraphics.com (http://www.blacktopgraphics.com)
I like wordpress in that you can change themes as much as you want and your text content usually stays the same.
You can have a basic site format or redonkulous options. The big thing to look for in press sites is pre-built SEO options. Theirs some press themes out there with nothing for SEO and others focused on SEO.
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So, from those who do build and maintain your own sites, what would you recommend to someone who would like to learn? As in reading material (for dummies in my own case) or tutorials or whatever?
Steve
Learn dreamweaver and basic HTML.
Its not that hard, its time consuming though.
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I buit ours on drupal and host it on my own VPS. If you guys want something easy to build a site you can't beat wordpress. It's awesome!
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For me, a whole new world opened up when I discovered CSS.
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Can you create a virtual store with shopping carts and all using Wordpress?
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Can you create a virtual store with shopping carts and all using Wordpress?
You should be able to incorporate a shopping cart module or a separate shopping cart with the Wordpress theme.
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http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-e-commerce/ (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-e-commerce/)
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I forgot about word press, I've got a half a dozen of those two.... it is much easier then Joomla and is becoming MUCH more then just blog software.....
you can build complete sites.
So, from those who do build and maintain your own sites, what would you recommend to someone who would like to learn? As in reading material (for dummies in my own case) or tutorials or whatever?
Steve
My personal opinion is to forget dreamweaver edu unless you want to be a web designer.... CMS ( Content Management Systems) LIke joomla, drupal,xoops,wordpress the list grows everyday are designed with the idea companies should be able to build and maintain there own sites,,,,, you can just buy or use a free template and paste you own graphics over it....
Blogs are important to capture google ranking and should be full of useful content like what are setups, why we do spot color etc.
I've used OS commerce as a shopping cart and have just found this $1,500 t-shirt design studio based on it.... http://demo.craftshirt.com (http://demo.craftshirt.com)
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We also created our own website through the hosting company we use. We started it a couple of years ago, got the basic site up and running and have been adding bits & pieces from time to time. It still needs some work, but this was our only option since we didn't have $2-3K to have someone else set up for us. In any event, I checked out some of your websites and really liked them alot, but I have a stupid question. I'm wondering why some of you don't offer the catalog link that's available through the wholesalers. I received a call from someone wanting to set up my site and they told me that having the wholesaler link is not good because when people do a search, the results are going to the link, not us. I don't understand exactly what that means, but maybe there's some truth to that. Is that why some of you don't offer the link?
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I'm wondering why some of you don't offer the catalog link that's available through the wholesalers.
For me, and no offense to others, I don't link to the wholesaler because:
1.) My website is part of my brands experience. Directing them to a totally different web site is horrible branding.
2.) I don't want them to know where I get my stuff.
3.) I don't print on everything that comes up on the wholesalers site. I don't want to explain why I'm not going to print on certain items.
4.) The product models look cheesy as hell. Not crazy about stock model photos.
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We also created our own website through the hosting company we use. We started it a couple of years ago, got the basic site up and running and have been adding bits & pieces from time to time. It still needs some work, but this was our only option since we didn't have $2-3K to have someone else set up for us. In any event, I checked out some of your websites and really liked them alot, but I have a stupid question. I'm wondering why some of you don't offer the catalog link that's available through the wholesalers. I received a call from someone wanting to set up my site and they told me that having the wholesaler link is not good because when people do a search, the results are going to the link, not us. I don't understand exactly what that means, but maybe there's some truth to that. Is that why some of you don't offer the link?
Cat. It is better to link to your site that from your site. Your site will get better rankings.
Also, 2-3K for a basic site is too much (at least what I charge). For a more complicated site and sites with shopping carts, yes, but for a basic site that is too much.
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One of the reasons we used the link was because we were constantly getting calls from people wanting us to mail them a catalog...so we thought it just easier to have something online to save on postage & time. Especially if they didn't even order from us. Also when talking to them on the phone, its such a time saver to refer them to the website to look at a particular style or color chart. Aside from that you have valid reasons to not have the link. For the items we don't print on, I always tell the customer we don't recommend this for screenprinting, we would sell as a blank, but this is what we would recommend, etc. The only other concern I have is that it takes traffic away from your site or lowers your ranking...I don't fully understand why, but if this is true I may have to reconsider.
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I don't link to the distributors... But we do get so many people wanting to see colors & Styles available on their computer.....
So I just put all the catalogs in an iframe window so they canot see the web address and it looks like part of my site.
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I don't link to the distributors... But we do get so many people wanting to see colors & Styles available on their computer.....
So I just put all the catalogs in an iframe window so they canot see the web address and it looks like part of my site.
Thanks for this info. My update was going to feature a link to Bodek's catalog since that's where I buy most of my stuff, but this'll be much better. Much appreciated.
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I don't link to the distributors... But we do get so many people wanting to see colors & Styles available on their computer.....
So I just put all the catalogs in an iframe window so they canot see the web address and it looks like part of my site.
I hate to sound silly, but I'm not sure I know what an iframe window is, do you mean you just scan the pages in and then save & send them to someone? Does it take alot of time? Appreciate your guidance.
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I don't link to the distributors... But we do get so many people wanting to see colors & Styles available on their computer.....
So I just put all the catalogs in an iframe window so they canot see the web address and it looks like part of my site.
I hate to sound silly, but I'm not sure I know what an iframe window is, do you mean you just scan the pages in and then save & send them to someone? Does it take alot of time? Appreciate your guidance.
You're not alone. I didn't know what an Iframe is either. I have a hunch it's obviously something that Apple made. A gadget for mobileme or something.
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I don't link to the distributors... But we do get so many people wanting to see colors & Styles available on their computer.....
So I just put all the catalogs in an iframe window so they canot see the web address and it looks like part of my site.
I hate to sound silly, but I'm not sure I know what an iframe window is, do you mean you just scan the pages in and then save & send them to someone? Does it take alot of time? Appreciate your guidance.
iFrame is a basically a separate web site that will open inside your site and it will not show its www address.
You can choose to open the link into the same page, new page or an iFrame.
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Well how about that folks. Ya do learn something new on here every day. I had no idea.
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I'm so glad I wasn't the only one who didn't know...whoa! LOL, but seriously I too learn alot from this site. I'll have to try out this i-frame window - now is this only if you have an Apple computer?
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;D iframe is not an apple or Adobe thing... Just html
<html>
<body>
<iframe src="[url]http://theshirtboard.com[/url]" width="100%" height="300">
<p>Your browser does not support iframes.</p>
</iframe>
</body>
</html>
Go here to try it outhttp://www.w3schools.com/tags/tryit.asp?filename=tryhtml_iframe (http://www.w3schools.com/tags/tryit.asp?filename=tryhtml_iframe)
in Joomla or wordpress you ca use pop up windows
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Most of the Distributors like San Mar, Imprints, Bodek Rodes, Alpha will let you create a catalog that matches the color and graphics of your site...
or use one of the generic ones like this...
http://www.apparelcatalog.net/Default.aspx?site=XQIJYERCRG (http://www.apparelcatalog.net/Default.aspx?site=XQIJYERCRG)
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There is a ton of free stuff out there for sites. Almost too much. I get lost. Several years ago I had a full commerce site for school uniforms. The customers prefered coming into the store. Only 3 sales on line. Now my site SUCKS! I don't have time to do it, and I just can't see spending $500.00. I know, that's not much, but I just need a simple little site a few pages. One of these days I'm going to lock the office and put one together.......one of these days!
Terry
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Most of the Distributors like San Mar, Imprints, Bodek Rodes, Alpha will let you create a catalog that matches the color and graphics of your site...
or use one of the generic ones like this...
[url]http://www.apparelcatalog.net/Default.aspx?site=XQIJYERCRG[/url] ([url]http://www.apparelcatalog.net/Default.aspx?site=XQIJYERCRG[/url])
Yes, thats what we currently use, a generic one by San mar, and they popped our name, logo, phone, etc. right on the top so it actually looks like our catalog. They told me it;s a free service they offer in the hopes that your customers will buy their items as opposed to another wholesaler you may deal with, so I thought why not, doesn't sound like a bad deal. As for the Iframe, I will have to try this out. Thanks.