Hi There

 

I am looking for a website designer, preferably based in the UK.

 

I am starting a new project. Its called Afrobyte.co.uk. A site for books written for Black women (of all shades). later on I want to expand into other parts of womens lives and then takle the kids and mens sections.

 

I have the website with 123-reg and purchased the Business Package for a year.

 

I need help with:

 

Setting up WordPress or Joomla. I have not yet made up my mind which one and would appreciate a discussion which would be more suitable for me. I am confused by all the themes out there but would appreciate a layout similar to this website: http://www.clutchmagonline.com/ I need to be able to expand and update the site myself.

 

It needs to be searchable!!!! The more books I add the more data and therefore needs to be searchable.

Needs the tags thingies as well, to aid searchability.

I would also like a page for each author and then link to each page of their books. Very similar to Goodreads.

Needs to link with Twitter and Facebook and Goodreads.

It needs a database where members can log on and post messages (That's why WordPress is currently tops because I may not need a database as long as people can leave messages?) I don't want to be bogged down with database password issues, etc.

 

I don't really want to be bogged down with the setup of the site as I still have to write the content. But It needs to be flexible to support advertising and links to Amazon and other publishers sites with codes to receive credit.

 

I would prefer CSS (WordPress or Joomla?).

 

It would also be good if it was suitable for tablets and androids but this is not the most important feature right now. But I hope that wordpress or Joomla can support this.

 

Plus the best news I will pay for this service, within reason of course. I need to see your own website and portfolio.

 

I would like this to be done quickly in early January 2013.

 

Please message me.

 

Merry Christmas

 

Daniela

Hi Daniela,

 

I'd be happy to offer our services, initially you'll have to elaborate a bit more on few things regarding the project.

 

Setting up WordPress or Joomla. I have not yet made up my mind which one and would appreciate a discussion which would be more suitable for me. I am confused by all the themes out there but would appreciate a layout similar to this website: http://www.clutchmagonline.com/ I need to be able to expand and update the site myself.

 

Wordpress currently is the leading open source content management system with a very stable functional core and an enourmous base of users and developers. On the other hand, Joomla is famous with its not so user-friendly interface and cluttered code. So I would definitely recomend Wordpress. Also if you plan on creating a magazine type site, I would suggest Wordpress again since Wordpress is very good at handling publishing sites such as blogs and magazine. One thing I don't understand now is if you'd like to use a premade template or you are looking into someone to develope a bespoke design for you?

 

 

It needs to be searchable!!!! The more books I add the more data and therefore needs to be searchable.

 

What type are the books? Are they published online, are they downloaed as PDF or else?

 

 

Needs to link with Twitter and Facebook and Goodreads.

 

What the linking to social network involves, what exactly do you want to link?

 

 

It needs a database where members can log on and post messages (That's why WordPress is currently tops because I may not need a database as long as people can leave messages?) I don't want to be bogged down with database password issues, etc.

 

What is the form of posting messages? Is it like comments section underneath books, a message board/community platform or something else? You shouldn't be concerned with anything database related, since Wordpress handles that for you in the server side.

 

 

It would also be good if it was suitable for tablets and androids but this is not the most important feature right now. But I hope that wordpress or Joomla can support this.

 

This depends on the template. Some templates support mobile versions, others don't. If we are creating a new template from scratch this means that we'll have to dedicate time to create the mobile version.

 

 

Plus the best news I will pay for this service, within reason of course. I need to see your own website and portfolio.

 

It's good to let us know if you have allocated a budget for the project already, thus we can let you know what we can do within it. If you prefer I'd suggest discussing this on PMs or via email, as long as any other things.

 

Just to let you know a bit about us. I'm the founder and designer at Enblaze.co.uk We are a small award-winning digital team based in Kent, UK. You can view some of our recent work online. We prefer working exclusively with Wordpress and we are quite proficient and flexible with it. If you feel interested you can get in touch with me at kalo@enblaze.co.uk

 

Good luck with the project!

Edited December 25, 201213 yr by Kalo

Consultation,brief, research, design phase, beta phase, test phase,deployment,,, in a few weeks?

Thank you very much for your responses.

 

I have been playing around with WordPress and have noted some limitations. I have tried a number of templates. I have also looked at some to pay for templates, but none of them do a number of things I want them to do.

 

The site is a book review site with links pointing to mainly Amazon UK, regarding the books. I am not going to be selling books and there will be none available for download. I will just be pointing people into the right direction so to speak.

 

As WordPress is a blogger site I noted that my idea is not working in the way I want it to, but then has other very good features.

 

What I need are some static pages, i.e author pages. A page for each author which the authors picture and writing history/bio. I need an overall page that nestles all the authors under that general author page in alphabetical order. Under each individual author page I want links to all the books on my site from that author.

 

I also want static pages for each genre of book with its picture and then add the books again with the book cover (about 3 to 4 books per row), when clicked upon I want to go to the review page and from there is the link to Amazon to buy the book.

 

If someone searches for an author I would like for the static author page to be always at the top of the search and all the titles underneath. So the visitor has an option to either click on the author or go right to the desired book title.

 

I believe if the book is tagged i.e. fantasy and the link is called fantasy I want all the books tagged fantasy to be listed on the fantasy page. That is how its done in WordPress right now. However they are shown in a blog format with the date posted showing. This is not what I want. I want them listed showing with a book cover and the book title underneath as a link pointing to the page of that book. 3 to 4 books per row with about 36 books per page showing. If there are more than 36 books I want it to generate more books on following pages.

 

I also require a page that just displays all the tags created. I want the tags to be sizable, i.e. the more often that tag is created, for instance "multiracial romance" it becomes larger. If the tag is clicked I want all the books to be displayed that carry that particular tag. Its an alternative search function.

 

The other little tweaks I would like is that the site has a header about 1 - 1 1/2 inches on the screen. Below the header I would like the links in a drop-down format and below that I would like 3 columns, with the middle one being the broadest. On the left side I would like to have links and adverts and on the right side little areas for info text and adverts.

 

I need a footer with links to static pages for T&C's, Privacy, Contact, etc.

 

I have someone in mind to create a logo for me but it being Christmas....

 

I would like to get visitors to also complete surveys on the site. Some surveys will be small and some will be quite extensive. I need something that will generate surveys for me where people get to click yes/no/maybe or have free flow boxes for them to complete by writing text. I probably could use Surveymonkey but why always pay them, when the site could do it for me for free and I can tweak the surveys to my requirements.

 

I would like for the site to be linked to the Facebook page I made and to the Goodreads group I have created and to the twitter account I have created for the site. Probably just a banner/button/link.

 

I also require people to sign up to the monthly newsletter. So need something on the site to catch that data.

 

Because all I need are tweaks and some add-ons on the existing WordPress and I am sure its not rocket science and these add-ons may already exist out there I believe will be a quick job for someone to do. Therefore I do not expect to have to pay too much. We are not building a site from scratch. I am sure someone can do this in one afternoon ;-)

 

I think this gives you a very good idea of what I want. These are just add ons to the existing WordPress.

 

It is imperative that I can update and move stuff around by myself!!! I want to be able to still change font, colour, add pages etc as before.

 

I don't really want to show my hand as to my budget. I prefer if you tell me how much you want for the job.

 

Please message me.

 

Daniela

 

PS: I hope I actually posted in the correct section.

Because all I need are tweaks and some add-ons on the existing WordPress and I am sure its not rocket science and these add-ons may already exist out there I believe will be a quick job for someone to do. Therefore I do not expect to have to pay too much. We are not building a site from scratch. I am sure someone can do this in one afternoon ;-)

so, you want a custom theme developed, with massive customization, research and development, yet you don't want to pay much for it and want it done in an afternoon?

Kree8or: So what do you think it will take? I have posted what I would like and what I think it might take. I am open to be informed that I am completely wrong and that it takes more than what I believe it takes. So maybe you can actually give me a heads up instead of your comments ending in a question?

I am the customer, not a coding expert.

What you're asking for is custom theme developed in the first instance. This alone will take a few weeks at least as there is a process to go through: initial consultation, design brief, mock up, any revisions made at your request, then eventually your sign off on the design. Then the design will have to be turned into a web page, then into a wordpress theme. That's just the look of the site taken care of. This time will be cut if you want to purchase a ready made template, but this will probably still need a certain degree of customization and tweaking to fit your needs. Plus if you go down this route, Do you really want your site to look like someone elses or if you get a free template that has no exclusivity, looks like many sites?

 

Then there is the sites functionality you require (which with reviews, surveys, voting, social networking integration, linking in with amazon etc - this part in itself could prove problematic as you'd want this linking to happen automatically not manually every time you add a book). this also will take time - and a skilled wordpress developer. Yes, there are plug-ins etc you can use, but these will probably need modifying and/or customising to work the way you want and fit in with the look and feel of your site.

 

You could cut down on development time for your site by hiring a number of people to do this job (or one agency) as its multi-disciplnery (you'd need a designer and a developer who is proficient with wordpress and its plug-ins at the very least - maybe some custom php/MySQL database work) .

It's definitely NOT a "afternoons work" and would take (as a rough estimate) between 6 weeks and 2 months (maybe longer) to complete and that's two guys working full time. It would take longer if you hire one guy who can do both as they would have to work on the design then the development separately. As for cost, it will be in the thousands , rather than hundreds of pounds.

Some web agencies around the world will say "yes we can do the work for you in a week and it will only cost you £200" but the job will be shoddy and you might have to then hire someone to put right what they've done wrong!

So, get it right in the first place, invest some decent time and money into the project and you'll get a good, solid website that will serve you well.

I won't be quoting for this job as its beyond my level, but I hope I have pointed you in the right direction.

Hi,Daniela .gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=':seas8:' /> I can recommand you to contact my friend Daniel Talmacel.He works as a web designer and seeing his work,i know that he would able to fulfill all your needs,he is a proffesional in WordPress. His site is not ready yet but you can make an overall idea looking here http://www.alfascelta.com/ at some of his domeins of activity.The AlfaScelta team will do its best for you to have the website of your dreams,and yes,we will create you a version for mobile phones and tablets,as you can see on the Services page of our website.Plus,we are affordable For more details,contact me,or my friend Daniel on the website. Happy holidays!

And,the AflaScelta team also has a graphic designer that will create you a nice logo for your business.

Check your PMs Daniela. Glad that kree8or is confirming my opinion as well.

Edited December 27, 201213 yr by Kalo