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website design

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kalos:
hello!

I need to build a simple portal and I need a simple menu design, but unique

I dont want any of those paid templates that look awful, but at the same time I cant design a professional one from scratch

any advice?

thanks!

rgdot:
I think that if you can name a site that comes close to what you have in mind it will be much easier. Anything from "lightweight" CMS or portals to WordPress can do all sorts of things simple or complex.

kalos:
I like this very much http://www.bvckup.com/

rgdot:
Not very hard to emulate, anything from WordPress ('turning off' blogging if necessary) to more complex CMSes (CMS Made Simple just to name one) should work.

tranglos:
I like this very much http://www.bvckup.com/
-kalos (February 14, 2012, 12:46 PM)
--- End quote ---

Beautiful site! Love it, and I know what you mean.

If you're looking for a free solution, it may not be so easy, because the aesthetically best designs aren't. Then it depends on what you need more: the css and javascript to display the menu, or a professionally designed color scheme and graphics?

For the former, you could find a web page with a css menu that you like and just copy the menu code from source. If there are any license issues, they will usually be specified in the source code comments. You can almost certainly find free css / javascript menus on various scripting sites, too; they tend to be public domain (they are just simple algorithms, after all). Or use a free theme as an example (the Fusion theme for wordpress has a nicely done menu and is free).

For the latter (graphic design), there's no easy way. I couldn't design my way out of a bathtub, so I did eventually buy a commercial theme (ca $35, there are cheaper ones too). It's hopeless when you don't have the skill or the tools.

Then there are commercial apps that come with ready-made designs that you can use directly or tweak. These apps come prepackaged with moderately well-designed graphics, such as buttons, themes and color schemes that you can fiddle with. For example, you could try Easy Button & Menu Maker. It sells for about 20 Euro, so not cheap for a one-time use, but it's something you could consider. Perhaps even a trial version would suffice.

(Then there are more expensive, advanced ones such as Xara or Artisteer. I don't think there are free alternatives that would also include ready-made designs.)

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