what is best way to build a simple static pages website (about 5 or so pages)
March 2, 2011 11:20 AM Subscribe
what is best way to build a simple static pages website? about 5 pages or so. would like pleasing template to choose from. would want to use an existing logo.
We need to build a simple website for a small business. Very little content to begin with on the website.
All we want is a clean and elegant look. Some elegant colors to make it lively, not flashy. Ideally a template that we can choose and build on. We will need to put our existing logo on the template.
We do want an email form and a call us link (using google talk).
Ideally, the website should be very easy to make and very easy to edit as well.
Some options I have considered:
- Wordpress - appears to be only for blogs
- concrete5 - interesting and not sure if there is a large enough community of developers (i guess we will need startup help at least)
- joomla, drupal - too complicated for our needs
- intuit websites - no decent template :(
- iweb - can be edited only from mac computers
Is my assessment wrong for the above options? Any other choices that I should consider? Online platform would be ideal.
Thank you!
We need to build a simple website for a small business. Very little content to begin with on the website.
All we want is a clean and elegant look. Some elegant colors to make it lively, not flashy. Ideally a template that we can choose and build on. We will need to put our existing logo on the template.
We do want an email form and a call us link (using google talk).
Ideally, the website should be very easy to make and very easy to edit as well.
Some options I have considered:
- Wordpress - appears to be only for blogs
- concrete5 - interesting and not sure if there is a large enough community of developers (i guess we will need startup help at least)
- joomla, drupal - too complicated for our needs
- intuit websites - no decent template :(
- iweb - can be edited only from mac computers
Is my assessment wrong for the above options? Any other choices that I should consider? Online platform would be ideal.
Thank you!
create a WordPress website
posted by FLAG (BASTARD WATER.) (Acorus Adulterinus.) at 11:29 AM on March 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by FLAG (BASTARD WATER.) (Acorus Adulterinus.) at 11:29 AM on March 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Squarespace might interest you.
Personally, Wordpress would be my choice. Wordpress is definitely not only for blogs, and there are enough themes available that you're bound to find something you can tweak to your liking. Here are a couple of Wordpress theme sites to get you started:
Studiopress
Woo Themes
Themeforest
There are plenty of other themes out there too.
posted by backwards guitar at 11:32 AM on March 2, 2011
Personally, Wordpress would be my choice. Wordpress is definitely not only for blogs, and there are enough themes available that you're bound to find something you can tweak to your liking. Here are a couple of Wordpress theme sites to get you started:
Studiopress
Woo Themes
Themeforest
There are plenty of other themes out there too.
posted by backwards guitar at 11:32 AM on March 2, 2011
Response by poster: I just visited the Wordpress link that you provided.
That still feels is quite complicated to create a static page and have posts (which we will not have) go to a "hidden" page.
We will definitely need a developer to help us.
So I will keep that as one option.
Any other option - like a really simple CMS?
Or even a non-CMS?
Frankly we do not need a CMS at this stage.
Why create complexity for the first year where we do not expect to have any need for CMS capabilities.
Ideas?
posted by shalam at 11:36 AM on March 2, 2011
That still feels is quite complicated to create a static page and have posts (which we will not have) go to a "hidden" page.
We will definitely need a developer to help us.
So I will keep that as one option.
Any other option - like a really simple CMS?
Or even a non-CMS?
Frankly we do not need a CMS at this stage.
Why create complexity for the first year where we do not expect to have any need for CMS capabilities.
Ideas?
posted by shalam at 11:36 AM on March 2, 2011
Google Sites? Pretty simple, stripped-down, lots of ready page templates.
posted by davemee at 11:39 AM on March 2, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by davemee at 11:39 AM on March 2, 2011 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: I will look at options shared by @backwards guitar.
meanwhile, I did look at squarespace. it appears that with squarespace, i will need to host with them. with wordpress, i intend to host with nearlyfreespeech - which should be very economical for my low traffic site.
posted by shalam at 11:40 AM on March 2, 2011
meanwhile, I did look at squarespace. it appears that with squarespace, i will need to host with them. with wordpress, i intend to host with nearlyfreespeech - which should be very economical for my low traffic site.
posted by shalam at 11:40 AM on March 2, 2011
Response by poster: @jgirl - just looked at the open-source web design page. once you download the templates, in what software if any do you make the site? the last thing i can do, is try and code HTML. that wil not fly :(
@backwards guitar - the Studiopress themes and others linked above, really do look quite good.
just not sure how to determine whether a theme is static page friendly...
posted by shalam at 11:49 AM on March 2, 2011
@backwards guitar - the Studiopress themes and others linked above, really do look quite good.
just not sure how to determine whether a theme is static page friendly...
posted by shalam at 11:49 AM on March 2, 2011
I will defer to the experience of other Mefites as to what a good lightweight CMS might be, but I wanted answer this question:
Do you have a hosting account yet? A lot of hosts provide point-and-click installations of more popular packages like Wordpress, so you wouldn't necessarily have to deal with the setup process. Good luck!
posted by usonian at 12:05 PM on March 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
Frankly we do not need a CMS at this stage.At this stage a CMS may seem like overkill for only a few pages. However, in a year's time when you want to change your template or add a page with a menu item, you'll realize that doing so will require that you go back and update all the pages. Maintenance of a static site can be a real bear, and gets worse with each new page that you add. If you start with a CMS, even for just a few simple pages, you're doing your future self a big favor. Using a CMS is no guarantee that you'll keep your site fresh and up to date, but it removes a lot of the grunt work that used to be involved in doing so.
Why create complexity for the first year where we do not expect to have any need for CMS capabilities.
Do you have a hosting account yet? A lot of hosts provide point-and-click installations of more popular packages like Wordpress, so you wouldn't necessarily have to deal with the setup process. Good luck!
posted by usonian at 12:05 PM on March 2, 2011 [1 favorite]
You can view demos of the themes on the sites I mentioned. Usually the About page will be a page, as opposed to a list of posts. It's easy to add images, etc. Being a developer certainly makes it easier, but there are a lot of sites out there that have Wordpress tutorials.
posted by backwards guitar at 12:15 PM on March 2, 2011
posted by backwards guitar at 12:15 PM on March 2, 2011
Response by poster: @usonian - that is great commentary on why use a CMS. i think you have me sold on that one. so now the question can be framed as - what is a good CMS? Is there a solution out there that is even simpler than Wordpress.
@dbiedny - I will check out Weebly.com as well. Thanks,
@backwards guitar - it is a cool idea to the about page - to avoid posts. The issues is that in the one theme that i played with, even the about page seemed to have room to leave comments. And i could not find a way to switch off the comments on that page. anyhow, i know that it can be done.
So may be I need to engage a developer who can get us started with a template that we choose - at this point it looks like we are only going to like one of the paid templates. :(
posted by shalam at 12:21 PM on March 2, 2011
@dbiedny - I will check out Weebly.com as well. Thanks,
@backwards guitar - it is a cool idea to the about page - to avoid posts. The issues is that in the one theme that i played with, even the about page seemed to have room to leave comments. And i could not find a way to switch off the comments on that page. anyhow, i know that it can be done.
So may be I need to engage a developer who can get us started with a template that we choose - at this point it looks like we are only going to like one of the paid templates. :(
posted by shalam at 12:21 PM on March 2, 2011
Disabling comments on a page is pretty easy. Two ways:
1)To turn it off site-wide in the Admin go to:
Settings -> Discussion Settings
and uncheck "Allow people to post comments on new articles"
2) To turn it off on a per post/page setting, edit the post/page in the admin:
Uncheck "Allow comments" under the Discussion section.
If you don't see Discussion section you can try clicking on Screen Options at the top right of the Edit Post screen and make sure Discussion is checked.
posted by backwards guitar at 12:35 PM on March 2, 2011
1)To turn it off site-wide in the Admin go to:
Settings -> Discussion Settings
and uncheck "Allow people to post comments on new articles"
2) To turn it off on a per post/page setting, edit the post/page in the admin:
Uncheck "Allow comments" under the Discussion section.
If you don't see Discussion section you can try clicking on Screen Options at the top right of the Edit Post screen and make sure Discussion is checked.
posted by backwards guitar at 12:35 PM on March 2, 2011
Response by poster: cool. i think i did the option #1 above - but will try it again.
it looks like our solution will be wordpress eventually - given the variety of themes, and given that we should be able to get support to get started.
posted by shalam at 12:41 PM on March 2, 2011
it looks like our solution will be wordpress eventually - given the variety of themes, and given that we should be able to get support to get started.
posted by shalam at 12:41 PM on March 2, 2011
I think Wordpress retains comments if they existed before you did step 1, so you may have to go into the individual post and uncheck the item there too.
posted by backwards guitar at 12:50 PM on March 2, 2011
posted by backwards guitar at 12:50 PM on March 2, 2011
Response by poster: @kirkaracha - mojomotor is interesting. the video seemed a little like concrete5 CMS system.
1. I could not tell if there are themes available or not? Would you know?
2. If I need help from a developer, does mojomotor have a developer community that I can tap into? I agree at the outset that mojomotor may do away with developer requirement, but still to start up and create a site that flows, i will likely need somebody.
Wordpress appears to be very theme rich. Although my ideal solution will be a platform like Wordpress, but with the ease of use of mojomotor.
posted by shalam at 1:05 PM on March 2, 2011
1. I could not tell if there are themes available or not? Would you know?
2. If I need help from a developer, does mojomotor have a developer community that I can tap into? I agree at the outset that mojomotor may do away with developer requirement, but still to start up and create a site that flows, i will likely need somebody.
Wordpress appears to be very theme rich. Although my ideal solution will be a platform like Wordpress, but with the ease of use of mojomotor.
posted by shalam at 1:05 PM on March 2, 2011
I've used the Studiopress themes to make several simple, non-blog websites for myself & my clients. I think it's pretty easy to use.
posted by belladonna at 3:46 PM on March 2, 2011
posted by belladonna at 3:46 PM on March 2, 2011
Response by poster: thank you all!
between studiopress and woothemes - is there any structural reason to prefer one vs the other?
or should just one go with the theme that looks good?
posted by shalam at 6:16 PM on March 2, 2011
between studiopress and woothemes - is there any structural reason to prefer one vs the other?
or should just one go with the theme that looks good?
posted by shalam at 6:16 PM on March 2, 2011
I've heard good things about the Genesis Framework that powers a lot of the Studiopress sites. Haven't heard much about WooFramework, but if you much prefer the look of one of their themes, I doubt you'll be disappointed going with them.
posted by backwards guitar at 7:53 PM on March 2, 2011
posted by backwards guitar at 7:53 PM on March 2, 2011
MojoMotor can be themed, and a couple of nice themes are available. There are forums on the MojoMotor site; developer help might be available in the ExpressionEngine Job Board. (MojoMotor's made by the same company that makes ExpressionEngine, and there's an upgrade path.)
posted by kirkaracha at 7:03 AM on March 3, 2011
posted by kirkaracha at 7:03 AM on March 3, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
Otherwise, I think the characterizations of the options you've considered are pretty accurate.
I think WordPress is absolutely the best choice for the website and constraints you describe.
posted by FLAG (BASTARD WATER.) (Acorus Adulterinus.) at 11:28 AM on March 2, 2011 [1 favorite]