Main Area and Open Discussion > General Software Discussion

Website design recommendations for a small business site?

(1/6) > >>

tranglos:
I need to set up a small, simple website for my wife's one-person company. It would be mostly static except for a way to switch languages (the site will be bi- or trilingual), with a cookie to store the user's language preference, and perhaps a search mechanism. I know I could use any of the free content management engines, but they're far too complex on the one hand, and on the other hand they don't solve my major issue: the graphical design of the site. I am completely unable to imagine and design anything graphical, so this is what I need to buy.



So I went looking for templates and found a few suitable ones on 4templates.com (just as a reference, I particularly like this one, this one and this one). I like their general look, but before purchase you can only see small-size screenshots, so I don't know what they really look like in the browser, or if they are fluid vs. fixed-width designs, how they react to font scaling, or if the main section headings can be added / removed easily, etc. I would also need them customized in some small ways. The designers have a contact form and say they do customization, but they haven't responded to my questions sent twice over two weeks, so either they're not interested or their comment form is overrun with spam.

Anyway, I don't know where else to look, or even how much I should expect to pay for customizing templates like these. I don't even know if they are particularly good templates :) The ones at 4templates.com are priced between $20 and $30, which is certainly low - but do other designers offer any significantly better (design-wise and usability-wise) termplates for more? Has anyone used such services and would like to share their experience?

I wanted this as a birthday present for my wife, which is April 9th, so it's already a little late for that - but other than that this isn't particularly urgent, so I'd rather spend more time and choose well. Professional website designers, please feel free to respond, but please reveal your interest in keeping with DC policies, and please also understand this will not be a particularly high-yield account :)

rgdot:
Have you looked at Open Source Web Design as an option?

tranglos:
Have you looked at Open Source Web Design as an option?
-rgdot (March 29, 2009, 04:37 PM)
--- End quote ---

No, but I will now, thanks!

tranglos:
(Bumping the thread)

Carol Haynes:
How about Xara web designer? http://www.xara.com

Checkout the templates page: http://www.xara.com/uk/products/webdesigner/templates/

Loads to choose from and easily customisable.

There are a load of video demos to see how it works at: http://www.xara.com/uk/products/webdesigner/tutorials-demos/

Note I haven't actually used this product (it is new and only recently released) but I have used and recommend the rest of their product line in the past and they produce really good quality software.

I don't have a financial interest in XARA but I have recommended their stuff in the past and as a result I signed up to their affiliate scheme. If you decide to buy something from them you can buy it direct from their site but if you feel like sharing the love you can pass on some commission to me by purchasing via my affiliate link here

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page