Archived Thread

NFT: Question for Website Designers

Jim in Tampa : 7/25/2017 11:39 am

I have a client that wants "me" to design a new website for his business.

It's been a while since I've taken on a web design project, but since I don't have any web design skills I always outsource design projects to professional designers via sites like Elance (before they folded), Guru and Upwork.

I will likely do the same with this project.

My question for professional web designers is about website design platforms.

Since this is an information-only website (not an e-commerce site) what platform would you recommend... WordPress or something else?

do they need a CMS?

mattlawson : 7/25/2017 11:41 am : link

or if information only you can supply a static site?

RE: do they need a CMS?

Jim in Tampa : 7/25/2017 11:48 am : link

In comment 13538288 mattlawson said:

Quote:

or if information only you can supply a static site?

He didn't specify that he needed a CMS, but I'd want the web designer to install one, so that my client could at least make copy changes to his site.

if SEO is important

mattlawson : 7/25/2017 12:18 pm : link

WP is still going to be the best bet.
Squarespace is easy and looks good though too.

RE: if SEO is important

Jim in Tampa : 7/25/2017 12:42 pm : link

In comment 13538366 mattlawson said:

Quote:

WP is still going to be the best bet.
Squarespace is easy and looks good though too.

Thanks for responding Matt.

After I posted this thread I realized that I should just pose the same question to the web designers on Guru.com who have already responded to my proposal.

The general consensus is that since this is a fairly static, information-only site that WordPress is the best option, especially if my client needs to update the site content now and then.

They say that they could use Joomla or Druple, but they are for e-commerce sites.

Squarespace is amazing

Peter from NH (formerly CT) : 7/25/2017 12:51 pm : link

I have used it for 4 or 5 websites including some really large ones. Great bang for the buck.

Everything is a tradeoff

Gary from The East End : Admin : 7/25/2017 12:57 pm : link

Full disclosure, I'm a WordPress guy.

I love WordPress. You can do anything with it. Pretty much any kind of site and any web functionality is available with the right theme, the right set of plugins, some design sauce and a little elbow grease.

But you can't just make a WordPress site and walk away from it. Someone has to keep an eye on it or there's a good chance some outdated theme or plugin will break it or allow it to be hacked or other bad things.

You can make a decent Wix/Weebly/Squarespace/etc. I've seen some nice ones. And you don't have to (for the most part)
worry about keeping things updated.

With these types of sites, you get what they have and that's it. If you want something they don't offer, you're SOL.

Also, there's a certain amount of lock-in that can make things difficult if you want to move. If they raise prices or screw things up or whatever, jumping ship can entail a lot of work.

I have a client now that's moving from Wix and they don't make it easy, I can tell you that.

I like Wordpress...

BillKo : 7/25/2017 3:45 pm : link

but if it's informational only, why not just pure HTML/CSS and some nifty graphics?

I build a website a week, give or take

schabadoo : 7/25/2017 4:30 pm : link

We use WordPress for 90% of our sites. It's so much quicker to add contact forms, photo galleries, etc. We constantly need to add things that were not thought of or wanted in the planning process.

We use PHP for sites that need custom programming. You could use Bootstrap if you wanted to go this route, it's nice.