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OT- Create a website Software?


BluesKeys

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Have you guys heard of www.headwebmast.com? I have a guy telling me I can pick a templet on their site and he will build a webpage for "$10 plus $10 month avg. cost (includes free webmaster / design forever as long as you are hosted with us)" is what he is telling me.

 

OR for $5 a month

If you want to save a few dollars each month sign up for hosting at www.isphost.org ($5 month average) (These are the people we purchase our hosting servers from. Great prices. They host 10,000 plus customers and have been in business for 7 years now. (a little less web space and you will have to edit / make changes to your own site in the future. Ill show you how. )

 

Has anyone heard of or have any experience with these web hosting sites?

Jimmy

 

Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others. Groucho

NEW BAND CHECK THEM OUT

www.steveowensandsummertime.com

www.jimmyweaver.com

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Have you guys heard of www.headwebmast.com? I have a guy telling me I can pick a templet on their site and he will build a webpage for "$10 plus $10 month avg. cost (includes free webmaster / design forever as long as you are hosted with us)" is what he is telling me.

 

OR for $5 a month

If you want to save a few dollars each month sign up for hosting at www.isphost.org ($5 month average) (These are the people we purchase our hosting servers from. Great prices. They host 10,000 plus customers and have been in business for 7 years now. (a little less web space and you will have to edit / make changes to your own site in the future. Ill show you how. )

 

Has anyone heard of or have any experience with these web hosting sites?

 

No experience with either of these, but for $10 plus $10 per month, I doubt you're going to get much of a web design. Probably pretty much the same as picking a template with other "site-builder" programs and having somebody type in your stuff - which you could probably do yourself in a few minutes.

 

As far as cheap service, comparing edatarack.com that I posted earlier to isphost.org, edatarack is $2.95/mo compared to $5/per month, and has unlimited web, pop3, and forwarding email accounts (compared to various limits in isphost), 5GB space compared to 2GB, 50 mySQL databases compared to 2, and access to a lot of web applications. It really is the cheapest bang for the buck in hosting I've found. They just don't have services for building your site for you, so you have to be able to do that yourself.

Dan

 

Acoustic/Electric stringed instruments ranging from 4 to 230 strings, hammered, picked, fingered, slapped, and plucked. Analog and Digital Electronic instruments, reeds, and throat/mouth.

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I am thinkig the same Dan..... Looks to me (from the templets) that they are very plain and easy to reproduce. I am going to do this myself or go ahead and pay for a PRO website.

Jimmy

 

Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others. Groucho

NEW BAND CHECK THEM OUT

www.steveowensandsummertime.com

www.jimmyweaver.com

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  • 1 month later...

Thanks for ALL of the advice and suggestions. I ended up using www.bandvista.com for building the site and hosting it. It had a few extras including a premium listing on gigleader.com and a couple of other features such as unlimited pages, 10 email addresses etc. plus the price was reasonable. I was also not going to sit in front of a computer for endless hours fighting with html that I don't understand.

 

For those interested here it is www.backntimebandnc.com

Jimmy

 

Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others. Groucho

NEW BAND CHECK THEM OUT

www.steveowensandsummertime.com

www.jimmyweaver.com

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  • 3 years later...

Hey everybody,

So it's been three years since this thread, and that's like forever in internet time.

 

I have previously built a site in iWeb, and while it was ok, it's a real pain in the arse to update. I would much prefer a web based solution.

 

I am about to launch a project and need to build web stuff. It's not pro enough to justify spend twenty bucks a month, but I could layout a little bit of dough.

 

What does everybody think in 2013 about Wordpress, Bandzoogle, and others?

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Just out of curiosity, what is the nature of he content that will need to be regularly updated? Nowadays, there are lots of widgets that can be easily embedded and maintained through 3rd parties. For instance, google calendar, YouTube videos, storefront via PayPal, etc.

 

I personally don't like most of the online packages for uilding sites, it that's because I know how to do it myself and I feel like they get inthe way.

Dan

 

Acoustic/Electric stringed instruments ranging from 4 to 230 strings, hammered, picked, fingered, slapped, and plucked. Analog and Digital Electronic instruments, reeds, and throat/mouth.

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As per usual, I would just need to update some calendar stuff, and media, like you suggested.

 

Although I am a video editor, and I am pretty graphic and media savvy, I do NOT know any html programming. Nor do I have any time to learn, so I came to logical conclusion that a web template software solution would do me fine, if I can fill it with pics and logo and whatnot.

 

So yeah, I'm curious about web based solutions.

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Still check out google calendar. I made our own calendar and it was a PITA. Calendars are difficult.

 

I can't speak much to the web based stuff except if I were to use one, it would have to allow for SOME customization.

 

HTML is not very difficult for basic stuff - meaning you used something graphical to create it that generated well-formed HTML, small edits are easy. If you use the google calendar, you just log into google to enter your updates and it shows up on your site. With YouTube videos, YouTube generates the Embed code for you. You only need to know enough HTML to know where to paste it.

 

I understand it's not for everybody. But especially if you're a really graphic type of person, you may feel restrained by the web based solutions. Have you tried packages like Adobe Dreamweaver?

 

Edit: you mentioned a template and adding things. I agree that would be good for you. But most of these packages, so that they can be generic, make it difficult to just change a little something unless it fits within their design. The most basic page will be tied to XML files and multiple style sheets and script files to the point where it's difficult to figure out what's going on much less change anything. Maybe just search online for basic HTML/CSS page templates that are easy to edit and upload.

Dan

 

Acoustic/Electric stringed instruments ranging from 4 to 230 strings, hammered, picked, fingered, slapped, and plucked. Analog and Digital Electronic instruments, reeds, and throat/mouth.

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What was the "pain in the arse to update" with iWeb? I'm not really familiar with that app.

 

I use ArtistData to have my online calendar, and it will send updates to social networks and online concert listings as well.

 

(My post above about Freeway from Softpress still stands. It requires that you know minimal HTML and such, if even that. For a site that really doesn't require a web-based backend [also known as a Content Management System or CMS], it's a nice way to go if you're just doing a few pages and occasional updates. OTOH, if you want to have a blog or news with regular updates, you will prefer a CMS.)

"I'm so crazy, I don't know this is impossible! Hoo hoo!" - Daffy Duck

 

"The good news is that once you start piano you never have to worry about getting laid again. More time to practice!" - MOI

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Most band/artist web sites today are spring boards for Facebook/Twitter and something else, mostly listing bio and gig dates. You could take a generic and nice looking WordPress template, start from that and link it all together.
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Joe, I haven't tried iWeb (or most others) since I've avoided most of them. I've had some exposure to Wordpress and Joomla.

 

Like I eluded to before, I can do this stuff myself so I haven't had a need. But I've looked at sites that other people have put together using such tools when they came to me because they couldn't figure out how to do something. In every case, what they wanted to do would have been very easy with basic HTML, but almost impossible to implement within the structure of what they were using. With any CMS, there is a fixed data model set up around however te designer envisioned the tool being used. Anything outside that model, no matter how simple, is impossible.

Dan

 

Acoustic/Electric stringed instruments ranging from 4 to 230 strings, hammered, picked, fingered, slapped, and plucked. Analog and Digital Electronic instruments, reeds, and throat/mouth.

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With any CMS, there is a fixed data model set up around however te designer envisioned the tool being used. Anything outside that model, no matter how simple, is impossible.
Dan, the iWeb question was directed at Franz. :)

 

As far as CMSes, I've worked with some great ones, where you can do almost anything you want with it. That's the issue I have with Wordpress - you have to use their templates or roll your own, and from what I understand that's not easy. Most people seem to take their templates and customize them. What a bore.

 

However, the CMSes I'm talking about that were great weren't free.

"I'm so crazy, I don't know this is impossible! Hoo hoo!" - Daffy Duck

 

"The good news is that once you start piano you never have to worry about getting laid again. More time to practice!" - MOI

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Hello

This is my page

 

 

Dan

 

Acoustic/Electric stringed instruments ranging from 4 to 230 strings, hammered, picked, fingered, slapped, and plucked. Analog and Digital Electronic instruments, reeds, and throat/mouth.

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Lots of basic tags just like on here.

 

Bold: bold text here/>

Link: CLONK (a for "anchor tag", that's what they call a link)

 

A lot of times it helps for spacing and sizing to use tables. If you set borders to zero, you don't see the table.

 

row 1, column 1row 1, column 2
row 2, column 1row 2, column 2

 

You can put anything in those cells - text, pictures, YouTube videos, google calendars. Think of each cell like a window where you can stick any HTML content. The above is 2x2, you can do anything,

 

You can put any of this in a text editor, save as .html,open in a browser to see what it looks like. Make changes and see what it does.

Dan

 

Acoustic/Electric stringed instruments ranging from 4 to 230 strings, hammered, picked, fingered, slapped, and plucked. Analog and Digital Electronic instruments, reeds, and throat/mouth.

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I do a lot of stuff for bands in wordpress. This is a bit OT but check this out...

 

Here's my site with custom code, but my blog page I did with wordpress:

http://www.bellcreativestudio.com

 

These guys ripped off my code and put this up:

http://phonics.ir/

 

Not OT at all. I'm curious. I did my old band's website, then after I left, they had somebody redo the website in Wordpress. They needed to make changes, couldn't get ahold of things, and called me. They ended up working around it rather than me digging to do what they really wanted, but it seemed like a mess.

 

As someone who seems to know a thing or two who's used Wordpress, what's your opinion with regards to my concerns? Seems like it would be of interest to the OP and I'm not in a position to supply that level of info.

Dan

 

Acoustic/Electric stringed instruments ranging from 4 to 230 strings, hammered, picked, fingered, slapped, and plucked. Analog and Digital Electronic instruments, reeds, and throat/mouth.

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You mean wordpress seemed like a mess? Some themes just don't behave the way you think they are going to. You have to learn the theme and sometimes even change some code around to make it do what you want. It'd be nice if it was just plug 'n play, but then people wouldn't get frustrated and call us. lol..
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Well, yeah. That's kind of my point - the OP doesn't want to have to call us. It just seemed like to do what they were doing could be done in a much simpler more intuitive, more manageable way. I could figure it out and fix it, but in the same amount of time, I could rewrite the whole page from scratch.

Dan

 

Acoustic/Electric stringed instruments ranging from 4 to 230 strings, hammered, picked, fingered, slapped, and plucked. Analog and Digital Electronic instruments, reeds, and throat/mouth.

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I hear ya. Yeah depending on what you want to do, I think there is a point of diminishing returns....you can spend as much time and effort trying to come close to what you want as it would take to learn HTML/CSS from scratch and do exactly what you want. Static web pages are easy - I don't think most people realize how easy.
My biggest issue is patience. I hate having to do the same thing over and over again. I can write HTML code when I need to, but when I was doing web sites, I didn't want to start from scratch every time. It's much easier to design a site using a WYSIWYG program like Freeway to get it looking exactly how I want. If there are code things I need to tweak or insert, I can do that, too.

 

It parallels writing application code. I'd much rather use an environment and a framework that does all the lower level stuff for me, so I can focus on what's unique about my program. I've met so many people who want to understand what's happening at the level of the bare metal. Nowadays, that's a waste of time unless you plan on being an OS engineer or chip designer.

 

OTOH, if that's what you want to do or what works for you (bare metal machine code or HTML coder), that's cool.

 

The discussion between Dan and linwood brings out an issue with using templates. Using someone else's code can be a bitch. From what I've heard, using WP themes is often like that, especially because the themes come from all over.

 

Rolling your own doesn't work for everyone. You guys know what it takes to write some code. While that's okay for us, there are some who see "code" and run screaming.

"I'm so crazy, I don't know this is impossible! Hoo hoo!" - Daffy Duck

 

"The good news is that once you start piano you never have to worry about getting laid again. More time to practice!" - MOI

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Kind of like downloading midi files from the Internet and modifying them until they don't suck ;)

 

And you bring an EXCELLENT point. At this point, I have a bunch of code ive used over and over for different bands and similar sites. That makes it easier for me to spit out another band site with different pictures, logos, etc. much easier than manipulation a template. But that's not going to be true for everyone. That's why I'm trying to make my point regarding what content you want and your plans to edit/maintain, without making any hard and fast judgements of any of these services. I'd like those who have more experience with them to speak, keeping in mind the points I bring up - for the good of the OP, of course.

Dan

 

Acoustic/Electric stringed instruments ranging from 4 to 230 strings, hammered, picked, fingered, slapped, and plucked. Analog and Digital Electronic instruments, reeds, and throat/mouth.

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wow, tags... you don't see those very often nowadays. :)

 

Yeah, that should all be CSS, but I thought for the novice, it would make more sense since they likely have seen the UBB code clickable on this forum,

Dan

 

Acoustic/Electric stringed instruments ranging from 4 to 230 strings, hammered, picked, fingered, slapped, and plucked. Analog and Digital Electronic instruments, reeds, and throat/mouth.

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Yeah, I like my source code organized.

I've never been a fan of Wordpress stuff (but mainly because I'm a programmer). But then again I see why that's a good option for some users.

It feels good to have control of your logic and your data.

 

And, to make things interesting, there's always IE. It really knows how to kill our front-end developer's mood. :)

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And, to make things interesting, there's always IE. It really knows how to kill our front-end developer's mood. :)

 

There seem to occasionally be step-changes in cross-browser compatibility....most particularly in the early days of mobile browsers. I remember testing pc, Mac, and mobile - various OS' - multiple Versions of IE, Netscape, Safari, Firefox, Opera, etc. I tested on early blackberries, noka's, Samsungs. The mobile browsers have become much more like desktop browsers. IE, yeah....that's the tip of the iceberg.

Dan

 

Acoustic/Electric stringed instruments ranging from 4 to 230 strings, hammered, picked, fingered, slapped, and plucked. Analog and Digital Electronic instruments, reeds, and throat/mouth.

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As a person with over a decade of professional experience in a related field, I would ask you whether the site you will be building will be relying, as a money making venture, on its need to drive targeted traffic, or not.

 

If the former is true, the best advice I can give you is to seek professional help, before you lay any plans. In my experience most off the shelf online solutions (templates, site builders, etc.) fall miserably short in this regard despite what claims they make.

 

If you neither need the site to drive traffic nor make money don't worry about the above.

Nobody told me there'd be days like these...
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Guys, thanks for all the input.

 

At opdigits, like I said earlier, I'm not a professional to the degree that I need to deal with ecommerce or anything like that. What I need is pretty crude, and most media will probably be linked to Soundcloud or Bandcamp.

 

I work in advertising with a LOT of developers, programmers, interactive designers. So I know the value of a professional programmer. If I ever got to the level where I needed one, I know lots of them.

 

But I don't need a professional yet. I need something basic, simple, easy. I know they exist, I have discussed this with aforementioned developers.

 

However, I thought it was a worthy endeavor to pick the brains of you kind folks for the musicians point of view. Especially considering a lot of these web based templates are aimed at us (as musicians) like hostbaby, bandzoogle, and the like.

 

Soooo...I guess Wordpress it is! Thanks everybody. :)

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