[Lucy101]

Hi All,

I hope someone will be able to point me in the right direction. I have to apologise in advance if this post isn't too clear, I will try my best to explain my dilemma/problem.

I was recently approached by a friend to help her out... a few months ago she commisioned a designer/programmer to develop a Dating Site for her. the original developer bought an off the shelf template for a few hundred dollars and charged her a ridiculous price for it and handed it straight to her and took the money and ran. The template came with no support unless you paid the dating template company a monthy support fee. (she has done this but the support is very basic and frustrating for her as they are never able to help her)

She then took the template to another web design firm and they made the template front end look a bit better, but as soon as a user logs in/on they are taken to the old style template backend user area. It's the back end that she wants redeveloped to make it easier for the singletons to navigate around better. there are a few niggles with it that she wants sorted out. Her curent company she is working with have told her that they have tried to fiddle with the PHP but they cant really help her and she will have to persist with the original template company. Her current compnay are now just doing her SEO.

She is now so fustrated and is too far down the line to turn back, she just wants to redevelop her backend user area so thats its working as it should. She has 400+ members on her site currently. It is a completely free dating site. The admin area is ok for her so that could be left as it is.

My question is I am currently learning PHP programming (very slowly!) but am originally a designer, although have been out of the game for a while! I am looking at designing her back end user area and was hoping someone could point me in the right direction as to what the next steps should be. I was looking to put up a detailed post in the looking to hire section but I am not yet able to as I only have a few posts.

I believe I would need to work with a PHP/database programmer to make the transition from old user area to new a relatively easy process? is it possible that the current code could be kept and modified to fit in with the new design or is that not how it works?

Sorry for the complete newbie questions but I really dont know where to start! Thanks all in advance for any suggestions you can give!

Lucy

This post has been edited by Lucy101: 02 November 2011 - 09:36 PM

[webdesigner93]

Lucy101, on 02 November 2011 - 09:35 PM, said:

Hi All,

I hope someone will be able to point me in the right direction. I have to apologise in advance if this post isn't too clear, I will try my best to explain my dilemma/problem.

I was recently approached by a friend to help her out... a few months ago she commisioned a designer/programmer to develop a Dating Site for her. the original developer bought an off the shelf template for a few hundred dollars and charged her a ridiculous price for it and handed it straight to her and took the money and ran. The template came with no support unless you paid the dating template company a monthy support fee. (she has done this but the support is very basic and frustrating for her as they are never able to help her)

She then took the template to another web design firm and they made the template front end look a bit better, but as soon as a user logs in/on they are taken to the old style template backend user area. It's the back end that she wants redeveloped to make it easier for the singletons to navigate around better. there are a few niggles with it that she wants sorted out. Her curent company she is working with have told her that they have tried to fiddle with the PHP but they cant really help her and she will have to persist with the original template company. Her current compnay are now just doing her SEO.

She is now so fustrated and is too far down the line to turn back, she just wants to redevelop her backend user area so thats its working as it should. She has 400+ members on her site currently. It is a completely free dating site. The admin area is ok for her so that could be left as it is.

My question is I am currently learning PHP programming (very slowly!) but am originally a designer, although have been out of the game for a while! I am looking at designing her back end user area and was hoping someone could point me in the right direction as to what the next steps should be. I was looking to put up a detailed post in the looking to hire section but I am not yet able to as I only have a few posts.

I believe I would need to work with a PHP/database programmer to make the transition from old user area to new a relatively easy process? is it possible that the current code could be kept and modified to fit in with the new design or is that not how it works?

Sorry for the complete newbie questions but I really dont know where to start! Thanks all in advance for any suggestions you can give!

Lucy

Message me for my skype and i'll try to help you out with this some

[Lucy101]

webdesigner93, on 02 November 2011 - 09:38 PM, said:

Message me for my skype and i'll try to help you out with this some

Hi thanks for helping me out, I cant PM you as not enough posts..have sent an email to you with my Skype!

[brightonmike]

Lucy, are you not able to identify the id's and classes used on the elements using Firebug/Devtools? As this would mean you could then change them in the CSS.

Just an idea.

[Lucy101]

brightonmike, on 02 November 2011 - 10:09 PM, said:

Lucy, are you not able to identify the id's and classes used on the elements using Firebug/Devtools? As this would mean you could then change them in the CSS.

Just an idea.

Hi Brighton Mike!

I can honestly say I have no idea! I do have Firebug and can just about understand what you have said but actually putting it into practice... I am an uber newbie for that just now!

[webdesigner93]

Lucy101, on 02 November 2011 - 09:56 PM, said:

Hi thanks for helping me out, I cant PM you as not enough posts..have sent an email to you with my Skype!

hey my email has changed its webdeveloper93@hotmail.com so email it there

[Lucy101]

webdesigner93, on 02 November 2011 - 10:31 PM, said:

hey my email has changed its webdeveloper93@hotmail.com so email it there

Done!!

[SniderDK]

yo steve, if you need a hand bro... gimmie a shout

[webdesigner93]

SniderDK, on 02 November 2011 - 11:07 PM, said:

yo steve, if you need a hand bro... gimmie a shout

Will do thank you!

[MikeChipshop]

I thought the point of this forum was to give others help while benefiting the wider audience?
When I read this thread this morning I thought I'd stumbled in to the WDF dating site. Lol.

What Brightonmike said above is exactlly what you'd have to do.
If you can't identify the classes and ID's used and manipulate them with CSS, which is the easiest route, then you're going to have a lot more trouble with the PHP.

If you have a link then we can help a lot more.

[brightonmike]

Lucy101, on 02 November 2011 - 10:16 PM, said:

Hi Brighton Mike!

I can honestly say I have no idea! I do have Firebug and can just about understand what you have said but actually putting it into practice... I am an uber newbie for that just now!

Right-click the element who's styling you want to look at and click "Inspect Element". But as Mike says to be honest.

[Lucy101]

brightonmike, on 03 November 2011 - 08:54 AM, said:

Right-click the element who's styling you want to look at and click "Inspect Element". But as Mike says to be honest.

Thank you all for your help, I am working on this at the moment with Steve (WebDeveloper93) who has been most helpful, I do use firebug and have inspected the css, I just was confused on how it links altogether, in that I would be developing new backend pages in photoshop, converting them (trying my best to slowly!) to xhtml and css and hopefully hiring someone to do the php coding to make it all seemlessly work.

Thanks for your comments though everyone, I will keep you updated in how my abhorrent php skill are getting on!