Websites
Moderator: Brad Walker
Websites
Has anyone ever built their own website using Tumbler or Word Press. How hard is it?
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Valerie Adams
- Posts: 587
- Joined: Mon Apr 19, 2004 2:49 pm
- Location: Santa Rosa, California
- Contact:
Re: Websites
I'm in the process of reworking my site using a premium theme and Wordpress. I took a class with Susan Lomuto, who's also know as Daily Art Muse. She teaches a great online class for artists. Your site can be as simple or involved as you want. You can use pre-determined themes with Wordpress and probably have a simple portfolio site up in a few hours. Because I'm wanting to finally have a shopping cart feature on my site, it's more involved with a steeper learning curve. But for the most part, my lack of dedicated time is what's slowing me down.
http://www.diyartistwebsites.com/
http://www.diyartistwebsites.com/
Re: Websites
WordPress is what I use for most of the sites I build/manage, and it's the tool of choice for user-managed parts of our websites at work. If you can post, add images and add links on this website (warmglass.com) you have 90% of the skills you need to do a basic WordPress site.
Note that I said "basic." The real power of WordPress is its versatility, i.e., the enormous number of features you can add to a site. There's a WordPress plug-in (a function you add to your WordPress installation), for just about anything you can do online. You can build a portfolio site that includes private, wholesaler-only sections, run a craigslist-like classifieds section, manages your mailing list, lets users view and buy your work, post questions on a forum, subscribe to site updates, and so on. Your site can be "responsive" (reconfigures itself automatically to fit screensize for smartphones, tablets, really big TVs, etc), parallax (where your site floats and moves around above images in a kind of one-page, 3D effect), etc., etc.
WP also allows you to "reskin" your site, i.e., change its look, color palette and even functions, by simply activating a "theme," which controls all those things. There are some truly amazing themes out there, paid and free.
Versatility can make WordPress much more complicated to use. The more functions and features you add, the harder it gets to manage and upgrade the site, because the people who build these things don't always put stuff where you expect. The paid plug-ins and themes usually have better documentation and some kind of support setup that lets you ask questions and get help (but not always). The free stuff (and there's a LOT) usually works well but may not be as well-supported.
So..I'd suggest you try WordPress for free, to see if it works for you. Go to WordPress.com and sign up for a free blog--takes about 10 minutes. You'll have the option of choosing one of several free portfolio-based themes; pick one, take the free training, and start posting. If you like it, you can upgrade your free site with your own domain name (a URL that reflects your business), email addresses, etc., for a yearly fee that's usually $75 or less. The nice thing about WordPress.com is that all the technical stuff is managed for you so that all you really need to focus on is choosing your theme and publishing content.
WordPress.com features are more limited, however, so if you really get into Wordpress, you'll eventually want to sign on with a web hosting service and install a standalone version of WordPress. That radically increases the number of plug-ins and themes you can use...but you also become your own technical support.
Training-wise, WordPress.com (the hosted service) and WordPress.org (for standalone) have some excellent free training. You can also sign up for a couple months of Lynda.com subscriptions ($25/month) and study their WordPress classes.
Note that I said "basic." The real power of WordPress is its versatility, i.e., the enormous number of features you can add to a site. There's a WordPress plug-in (a function you add to your WordPress installation), for just about anything you can do online. You can build a portfolio site that includes private, wholesaler-only sections, run a craigslist-like classifieds section, manages your mailing list, lets users view and buy your work, post questions on a forum, subscribe to site updates, and so on. Your site can be "responsive" (reconfigures itself automatically to fit screensize for smartphones, tablets, really big TVs, etc), parallax (where your site floats and moves around above images in a kind of one-page, 3D effect), etc., etc.
WP also allows you to "reskin" your site, i.e., change its look, color palette and even functions, by simply activating a "theme," which controls all those things. There are some truly amazing themes out there, paid and free.
Versatility can make WordPress much more complicated to use. The more functions and features you add, the harder it gets to manage and upgrade the site, because the people who build these things don't always put stuff where you expect. The paid plug-ins and themes usually have better documentation and some kind of support setup that lets you ask questions and get help (but not always). The free stuff (and there's a LOT) usually works well but may not be as well-supported.
So..I'd suggest you try WordPress for free, to see if it works for you. Go to WordPress.com and sign up for a free blog--takes about 10 minutes. You'll have the option of choosing one of several free portfolio-based themes; pick one, take the free training, and start posting. If you like it, you can upgrade your free site with your own domain name (a URL that reflects your business), email addresses, etc., for a yearly fee that's usually $75 or less. The nice thing about WordPress.com is that all the technical stuff is managed for you so that all you really need to focus on is choosing your theme and publishing content.
WordPress.com features are more limited, however, so if you really get into Wordpress, you'll eventually want to sign on with a web hosting service and install a standalone version of WordPress. That radically increases the number of plug-ins and themes you can use...but you also become your own technical support.
Training-wise, WordPress.com (the hosted service) and WordPress.org (for standalone) have some excellent free training. You can also sign up for a couple months of Lynda.com subscriptions ($25/month) and study their WordPress classes.
Cynthia Morgan
Marketeer, Webbist, Glassist
http://www.morganica.com/bloggery
http://www.cynthiamorgan.com
"I wrote, therefore I was." (me)
Marketeer, Webbist, Glassist
http://www.morganica.com/bloggery
http://www.cynthiamorgan.com
"I wrote, therefore I was." (me)
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JestersBaubles
- Posts: 705
- Joined: Fri Feb 25, 2011 12:01 am
- Location: North Logan, UT
- Contact:
Re: Websites
I use blogspot for my Blog and use CoffeCup HTML editor for my web site (which they host on their S-drive for $5/month).
Blogspot is easy to use. CoffeeCup is a little more involved (helps if you know a little HTML, but you don't have to), but they make transferring your files over a piece of cake (I guess to go with the cup of coffee
). And... Etsy for my on-line shop. It's kind of a disjointed solution, but it works for me.
Dana W.
Blogspot is easy to use. CoffeeCup is a little more involved (helps if you know a little HTML, but you don't have to), but they make transferring your files over a piece of cake (I guess to go with the cup of coffee
). And... Etsy for my on-line shop. It's kind of a disjointed solution, but it works for me.Dana W.
Re: Websites
Thanks so much for all of the great information. I think I'll try Word press and see how it goes. if I get stuck I'll definitely take the class.