http://bandzoogle.com/index.cfm?pc=google-ppc-bandzoogle-p-7019814616& gclid=CJub5qO06qoCFeMJtAodNFYoNg

Bandzoogle website design service looks pretty good.

Lite

$9.95/month

Perfect for simple sites

Basic storage
100 Fan List Members
Free .COM address

Standard

$14.95/month

Our most popular plan

Advanced storage
1,000 Fan List Members
Free .COM address
Basic Fan Stats
Full design customization

Pro

$19.95/month

Tons of room for big sites

Unlimited storage
10,000 Fan List Members
Free .COM address
Advanced Fan Stats
Full design customization
Download codes

Start by learning HTML and CSS. You can find loads and loads of material to help you learn at w3schools.com

--------------------
Sonos Wordpress II Sonos Blogger II Sonos Ezine

Quote mathman:

---

Start by learning HTML and CSS. You can find loads and loads of material to help you learn at w3schools.com

---

I wonder what proportion of current websites are hand-coded in HTML and CSS, how many are laid out in an editor such as Dreamweaver, how many are just filled-in templates.

Hello,

New here, stumbled upon this post as a web designer and musician looking at how other musicians present themselves online. I would give a thumbs up to wordpress and joomla, as mentioned above. Joomla is my own choice because it allows you to fire up a simple (looking) content managed site really quickly but is as flexible as you want it to be. You can really push it to produce just about any site, with enough coding knowledge and patience. I can understand that it would be intimidating for those that don't want to get too deep into coding. Wordpress might be a good choice in that case and many web hosts can give you a simple installation. There are a lot of good music related extensions for both systems.

I don't like flash but it has its uses, importantly as a good music player. They key is that flash should only be used for elements of a site that really need it. A site based purely around flash is inaccesible and won't be indexed properly by the search engines. I don't think people are generally very impressed by flashy presentation on a website and are more often than not looking for information/advice, for that reason a clean, slick website that lets the content do the talking will always get my vote. Joomla is a platform that allows this.

--------------------
Riverside Recording Glasgow

Quote RiversideComplex:

---

They key is that flash should only be used for elements of a site that really need it. A site based purely around flash is inaccesible and won't be indexed properly by the search engines.

---

Amen!! A simple site with clean lines, excellent functionality, & fast loading -- as we used to say in journalism, "You've got 15 seconds to hook 'em." You don't generally get that with black backdrops & lots of flashing lights & movement. Keep it as bare-bones as you can, while selling your music. Backstory is good, but keep it lean & leave a detailed page for the fanatics. Similarly, if you have to indulge in Flash theatrics, put these on a secondary page or grouping.

--------------------
resident troublemaker, http://forum.frugalguitarist.com/

Hi,

I use Joomla which is a free, open source content management system, a database in otherwords. My hosting is with hostgator, who let you have as many joomla installations (sites) as you like and costs about £5 a month I think. Its much easier to use than learning to hardcode and you can install free plugins developed by other users worldwide for things like contact forms, auidio n video players etc - I never yet struggled to get a plugin to do a job. The only other expense is artisteer which I use to design my templates and is a one off purchase at about 50 or 60 quid I think. Results are fast and look very pro, I got up to speed with it all in about 3 weeks.

you'll find a mass of joomla resources if you just google Joomla and Joomla Extentions - one word of warning though - most UK hosting companies offer one database per hosting account, which is fine if you just want one site but personally i'd go for something like hostgator who offer unlimited databases so you can experiement or set up more sites for about the same or less a month!

hope this helps! - my own website was designed exactly this way if you want to see what joomla can do.

Remo.

--------------------
www.thedenstudios.com

Quote RemoHead:

---

- my own website was designed exactly this way if you want to see what joomla can do.
http://www.thedenstudios.com

---

None of your menu bar links work, in IE9, Chrome or Firefox. So probably not in anything else either :-)

I use iWeb, is really easy, you never see the code, is like those easy Mac applications but very powerful.
i created my site with iWeb, is a royalty free music library with piano music content.
www.royaltyfreepianos.com
web page

Quote:

---

But that's the best part of £1,000

---

i agree with hollowsun, the op was asking for free/cheap, not hundreds of pounds worth of complex software! i got my webspace through ipage and used the software that came with it, its drag and drop super easy and a great place to start without having to learn html or flash etc

--------------------
www.humandrums.com
online session drumming at realistic prices

well after sitting down with a few free web building software applications and eventually the free 30 day dreamweaver trial i ditched the lot and started from scratch using various tutorials.

i knew absolutely nothing about HTML and even less about CSS but have managed to throw together a simple but effective site. No flash and its 100% correct when it comes to wc3 validation. the only issue i have is some of the pictures are rendered incorrectly when browsing with safari on the ipad/iphone and i have used a single css 3 tag which some browers dont suport but the alternative looks fine.

yes there are additions to be made to the code and a bit of housekeeping wouldnt go a miss but thats more of a behind the scenes issue.

knowing what i know now my next site will be better planned instead of diving in head first. Eventaully i'll move over to a content management system like silverstripe when i get my head around the science behind it.

--------------------
I eat kebabs when i'm sober!

Quote Exalted Wombat:

---

Quote mathman:

---

Start by learning HTML and CSS. You can find loads and loads of material to help you learn at w3schools.com

---

I wonder what proportion of current websites are hand-coded in HTML and CSS, how many are laid out in an editor such as Dreamweaver, how many are just filled-in templates.

---

For what it's worth, mine is 100% hand coded. The only use of flash is for the in-line player.
It's a very simple design but (mostly) does the job. It is also accessible to text/speech software.

--------------------
It wasn't me!
(Well, actually, it probably was)

I find wordpress the best platform. You can choose themes and search engines love it. It's completely editable and easy to use.

--------------------
hire wedding bands & hire wedding entertainment at Music Live.

I think word press the best platform for promote your business online. You can choose themes and search engines love it. It's completely editable and easy to use.

Got to add my voice for iWeb.
Its simple and to the point.

Should you lean HTML - well, are you a musician or a web developer ?
It done not hurt to learn a new skill, but personally, I leave it to others, who can't produce music but make great web sites.

Avoid at all costs any MS "web apps"- they add bespoke code that only runs in IE on a PC. - VERY limiting !
Avoid flash because Apple can't get on with Adobe ( Sort it out guys !!!!! GGRRRRR ! ) - Again, limiting.
I know a young musician who asked me for help with "contacts", but none of us can view the site because it is PC-tastic.
- And all the people I know who matter, use Mac.

shame.......


Make sure it loads quickly, slow pages are painful.
Give something for free - a simple click to D/L - everyone loves a free loop or sound.
Make sure your links work and don't forget links on your "social media website" to encourage traffic.
Don't worry too much about SEO, unless you run a business from your site.

and finally

Web space, Apps and templates are available for FREE !
Take a good look before you part with any money.

Quote Scope:

---

I know a young musician who asked me for help with "contacts", but none of us can view the site because it is PC-tastic.

---

What site would that be?

Check out KompoZer, it's free and for both Mac and PC!

--------------------
Do you need help selling beats? Check this out! Click here!

There are many places online where you can create a basic website quite easily with little to no HTML knowledge. I recommend Yola. It's very reliable, easy to use and cheap! Wordpress is also good as it's very versatile to your needs.

--------------------
http://best-headphones.org.uk

Today's website designing is the most important for company's.If u are a beginners it is difficult to design the new site. To design the site first we have to analyze the some sites how they are designed ,what type of logo they are present its all important and also see to design a website Should be flash or HTML are use full for the beginners to understand.

Quote ElizabethHannah:

---

Today's website designing is the most important for company's.If u are a beginners it is difficult to design the new site. To design the site first we have to analyze the some sites how they are designed ,what type of logo they are present its all important and also see to design a website Should be flash or HTML are use full for the beginners to understand.

---

Eloquent and insightful.

I am wanting to design my own website. but really could not design any kind of website. so i need a programmer for design my website. i anybody want design my website p;ease contact me.

What's going on with this 'ere thread then?

Quote:

---

Today's website designing is the most important for company's.If u are a beginners it is difficult to design the new site. To design the site first we have to analyze the some sites how they are designed ,what type of logo they are present its all important and also see to design a website Should be flash or HTML are use full for the beginners to understand

---

Quote:

---

Eloquent and insightful.

---

These look suspiciously spammy - fleming24 is already on at least one forum spamming blacklist. I frickin' hate spam

Don't bother with Flash, it's gonna be obsolete soon anyway. Not to mention it's bad for SEO and it's harder for Google's spiders to crawl. You should just install wordpress on your server and learn how to use it as your main CMS. You could learn HTML as well, which will help you navigate around editing when you need to...but we live in a day where all you really need is a good CMS (wordpress/joomla/drupal...etc) and find a good looking template to use.

You can find many free ones that work well. Building a static HTML website is a bad idea anyway, as you're going to have to manually change code whenever you wanna make a change instead of your site making dynamic changes on the fly.

Good luck!

--------------------
My Facebook and Twitter pages

Your best bet is to use wordpress and pick a good theme, you can find many themes for free but for a really professional job you might as well purchase a premium theme.

Use wordpress and in a matter of days you could be up and running with ZERO HTML/CSS/PHP knowledge!

Trust me

Quote AmyFreelove:

---

Your best bet is to use wordpress and pick a good theme, you can find many themes for free but for a really professional job you might as well purchase a premium theme.

Use wordpress and in a matter of days you could be up and running with ZERO HTML/CSS/PHP knowledge!

Trust me

---

Only problem with Wordpress is its open to a lot of hackers.... ie Wordpress sites are easier to hack

--------------------
PA Hire Surrey
Lighting Hire Surrey

Hi all, I wrote an article on this lately on my blog:

http://www.filmandgamecomposers.com/guides/how-to-build-a-composer-website

Hopefully you'll find it helpful

--------------------
http://www.vstbuzz.com

I wonder if my Word Press site has been hacked? I can no longer upload anything from my media library, nor can I upload new files to my site. I keep getting the rather unhelpful message HTTP Error with no further detail than that. Clearing the browser cache makes no difference and posting the issue on the Word Press forums seems to have invited a lot of smart Alec answers from folk who clearly know a lot about computer programming but sweet f.a. about how to communicate in a simple and direct fashion. My Word Press site expires in twelve months' time. I shan't be going back.

Quote SwingKing:

---

I wonder if my Word Press site has been hacked? I can no longer upload anything from my media library, nor can I upload new files to my site. I keep getting the rather unhelpful message HTTP Error with no further detail than that. Clearing the browser cache makes no difference and posting the issue on the Word Press forums seems to have invited a lot of smart Alec answers from folk who clearly know a lot about computer programming but sweet f.a. about how to communicate in a simple and direct fashion. My Word Press site expires in twelve months' time. I shan't be going back.

---

There's plenty if you Google "wordpress http error". I'm afraid it CAN get a bit tecchie, but that's the nature of the beast. Hope you get it sorted out.

I know nada about WordPress but queries like this seem to get replies like: "Upgrade to the latest version, upgrade your plugins, upgrade your theme". Does this mean anything to you?

Thank you, chaps. I've spent the past week giving myself a headache over this so I'm going to leave it for tonight and get the recording studio fired up, do something constructive instead.

Advice I've seen so far goes along the lines of "the latest update is what's causing it", "delete everything from your site and start again from scratch" and "deactivate all your plug-ins" - seems to me some of these clowns just make it up as they go along.

I'll try that Google search tomorrow, Exalted Wombat, and cross my fingers for a simple solution

Quote SwingKing:

---

I'll try that Google search tomorrow, Exalted Wombat, and cross my fingers for a simple solution

---

The official WordPress forums tend to be condescending to non-tecchies with problems. Like the Microsoft ones. Remember this old story: :-)


A helicopter was flying around above Seattle when an electrical malfunction disabled all of the aircraft's electronic navigation and communications qquipment. Due to the clouds and haze, the pilot could not determine the helicopter's position and course to fly to the airport. The pilot saw a tall building, flew toward it, circled, drew a handwritten sign, and held it in the helicopter's window. The pilot's sign said "WHERE AM I?" in large letters.

People in the tall building quickly responded to the aircraft, drew a large sign and held it in a building window. Their sign read: "YOU ARE IN A HELICOPTER." The pilot smiled, waved, looked at her map, determined the course to steer to SEATAC airport, and landed safely.

After they were on the ground, the co-pilot asked the pilot how the "YOU ARE IN A HELICOPTER" sign helped determine their position. The pilot responded "I knew that had to be the Microsoft building because, like their technical support, online help and product documentation, the response they gave me was technically correct, but completely useless.

My three webistes are currenly flash : using SiteMaker hosted by www.cheapdomainnames.co.uk
My upcoming webiste will be Non flash.
Just this morning been looking into non flash : (i will have to double check)
afailk adobe muse, bonline, cubender, godaddy, soholaunch (hostpapa uses Soholaunch), wordpress are non flash.

Quote SwingKing:

---

I wonder if my Word Press site has been hacked? I can no longer upload anything from my media library, nor can I upload new files to my site. I keep getting the rather unhelpful message HTTP Error with no further detail than that. Clearing the browser cache makes no difference and posting the issue on the Word Press forums seems to have invited a lot of smart Alec answers from folk who clearly know a lot about computer programming but sweet f.a. about how to communicate in a simple and direct fashion. My Word Press site expires in twelve months' time. I shan't be going back.

---

Is this a Wordpress.com site? Are you paying, or is it a free one? If the former, is there not a support centre that can sort things for you? If not, then I'd be pretty upset. I've had Word Press hacks on my sites, and I just ask my hosting providors (vexx.com) to sort it for me, and they do.

Quote Rob C:

---

Before you do anything with software draw what you want on a big bit of paper... or several. Screens with arrows between them and the things you want on them. This is your design.

If you're going to have any text... draft it before you start coding. Get a look at what you're making. You don't need any software to do that and it will save you buckets of time later.

Then you can look at coding. I'd avoid Flash unless you're building a very graphic/multimedia site. If HTML will do the job (my site is HTML) look up the beginners stuff on the web and you're away.

---

That is excellent advice, though often ignored. To get some readies I taught a few times in colleges and coming from a programming background placed much emphasis on sketching out an algorithm, what the finished article should look like and do, and program flow as well (flow charts).

But did students take any notice, nope, they follow the logic of the British Library Experiment - if you bang away randomly and relentlessy at the keyboard, then in theory you might, by happenstance re-produce the works of Shakespeare.

But when I suggested an hour or so with a pencil and pad, the creative bit, students looked at me as if I'd just dropped out my tree, incredulous that a programmer should suggest starting with pencil and paper, it was a ludicrous concept according to the 'kidz' we instantly grab our intellectual comfort blanket, the mouse, and think that'll do all the work for us.

Hi Justin

If you have photoshop skills then there is a simple alternative to all the above - Sitegrinder

http://www.medialab.com/sitegrinder3/featuretour.php

It runs as a plugin in photoshop. You do the designing and planning in photoshop and then run the plugin which compiles the site for you without any techno mumbo jumbo to waste your life on.

There is a full explanation and site examples on the medialab website. I created a site optimised to be viewed on iPADs using Sitegrinder with no previous web experience by following the getting started guide.


Regards
Simon

Edited by Bogmusic (06/04/13 10:22 AM)

[Wrong post, sorry]

Edited by Scramble (06/04/13 10:23 AM)