April 18, 2011 at 12:45 pm
Hey folks. Last time I worked with doing anything remotely web-ish was about 9-10 years ago as a MS Frontpage support technician. I know I'm in over my head but I'm debating on an experiment and want to see where I can take it... so I can't really afford a web designer for a one off. Besides that, I'd like to be able to attempt to maintain the site myself.
So, with that in mind, and because I'm afraid of asking elsewhere and ending up hip-boot deep in a technical discussion, I'm looking for a (preferably free) web designer for morons. My intent is to make content available both for free, an area requiring a subscription, as well as an 18+ only area. No, it's not porn.
However, I really only know basic HTML. For those of you who have cross-trained, if you were going to attempt something like this, where would you start if you had to do it from scratch again? Remember, I'm a SQL Dude.
Last point: Yes, if it takes off I'll get a professional involved. I just don't want to start there for an unknown ROI experiment.
Never stop learning, even if it hurts. Ego bruises are practically mandatory as you learn unless you've never risked enough to make a mistake.
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April 18, 2011 at 12:56 pm
Craig Farrell (4/18/2011)
Hey folks. Last time I worked with doing anything remotely web-ish was about 9-10 years ago as a MS Frontpage support technician. I know I'm in over my head but I'm debating on an experiment and want to see where I can take it... so I can't really afford a web designer for a one off. Besides that, I'd like to be able to attempt to maintain the site myself.So, with that in mind, and because I'm afraid of asking elsewhere and ending up hip-boot deep in a technical discussion, I'm looking for a (preferably free) web designer for morons. My intent is to make content available both for free, an area requiring a subscription, as well as an 18+ only area. No, it's not porn.
However, I really only know basic HTML. For those of you who have cross-trained, if you were going to attempt something like this, where would you start if you had to do it from scratch again? Remember, I'm a SQL Dude.
Last point: Yes, if it takes off I'll get a professional involved. I just don't want to start there for an unknown ROI experiment.
While I like ASP.Net, I'm a VB programmer when it comes to non-SQL Server things and there's no free compiler that I know of. However, I do believe there are free C# compilers out there that work with ASP.Net. I'll look into it and let you know if I find anything.
I'd stick with ASP.Net as it is in the Microsoft space and I'd think that as a SQL guy, that's what you're familiar with. There are other systems out there if you want to venture into other OS worlds and I can give you some suggestions there too if that's what you'd like. Just remember that running any of those on a Microsoft platform requires an additional level of supporting software, like running PHP on IIS instead of just going straight against IIS.
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When you encounter a problem, if the solution isn't readily evident go back to the start and check your assumptions.
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It’s unpleasantly like being drunk.
What’s so unpleasant about being drunk?
You ask a glass of water. -- Douglas Adams
April 18, 2011 at 1:09 pm
Visual studio express is free and has most of the things that you need to create a prototype. There is also 'lightswitch'. This is very new and is possibly Microsoft tilt at a new rad platform. However I haven't read enough about it to give a. Educated opinion. There are plenty of free templates available for asp though.
April 18, 2011 at 1:37 pm
Dwayne Dibley (4/18/2011)
Visual studio express is free and has most of the things that you need to create a prototype. There is also 'lightswitch'. This is very new and is possibly Microsoft tilt at a new rad platform. However I haven't read enough about it to give a. Educated opinion. There are plenty of free templates available for asp though.
Good point! I keep forgetting about Express because I personally want to get the full version. Sorry about that. Express is perfect for "figuring things out" in most cases. The only catch is the hefty price tag when you want to go live.
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When you encounter a problem, if the solution isn't readily evident go back to the start and check your assumptions.
--------------------------------------
It’s unpleasantly like being drunk.
What’s so unpleasant about being drunk?
You ask a glass of water. -- Douglas Adams
April 18, 2011 at 2:00 pm
I should mention this is going to be a live prototype, not just a proof of concept. I am the CEO of this little endeavour. 😉
Someone mentioned to me .NET Nuke. Anyone familiar with it?
Never stop learning, even if it hurts. Ego bruises are practically mandatory as you learn unless you've never risked enough to make a mistake.
For better assistance in answering your questions[/url] | Forum Netiquette
For index/tuning help, follow these directions.[/url] |Tally Tables[/url]
Twitter: @AnyWayDBA
April 18, 2011 at 2:16 pm
Craig Farrell (4/18/2011)
I should mention this is going to be a live prototype, not just a proof of concept. I am the CEO of this little endeavour. 😉Someone mentioned to me .NET Nuke. Anyone familiar with it?
I looked into it when I was having trouble with getting my blog set up on my provider. I didn't end up using it because I switched providers. It seems like a good platform with a lot of plug-ins. It has been around awhile and has a solid community with a good stability record for most of the established system and plug-ins. As always, depends on what you want to do with it.
Do you have your own servers or is this through a provider? You have to make sure, with this or any other option, that the machine your provider is hosting your site on can handle the system you want to use. Even if they are Windows based, some won't handle .NET Nuke.
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When you encounter a problem, if the solution isn't readily evident go back to the start and check your assumptions.
--------------------------------------
It’s unpleasantly like being drunk.
What’s so unpleasant about being drunk?
You ask a glass of water. -- Douglas Adams
April 18, 2011 at 3:35 pm
Stefan Krzywicki (4/18/2011)
I looked into it when I was having trouble with getting my blog set up on my provider. I didn't end up using it because I switched providers. It seems like a good platform with a lot of plug-ins. It has been around awhile and has a solid community with a good stability record for most of the established system and plug-ins. As always, depends on what you want to do with it.
Heh, good question. Sailboat in a storm trying to find north at the moment. 🙂 I'll be taking a poke at it sometime this week.
Do you have your own servers or is this through a provider? You have to make sure, with this or any other option, that the machine your provider is hosting your site on can handle the system you want to use. Even if they are Windows based, some won't handle .NET Nuke.
I'll probably start with a GoDaddy hosting then move on from there.
Never stop learning, even if it hurts. Ego bruises are practically mandatory as you learn unless you've never risked enough to make a mistake.
For better assistance in answering your questions[/url] | Forum Netiquette
For index/tuning help, follow these directions.[/url] |Tally Tables[/url]
Twitter: @AnyWayDBA
April 18, 2011 at 8:01 pm
Craig Farrell (4/18/2011)
Stefan Krzywicki (4/18/2011)
I looked into it when I was having trouble with getting my blog set up on my provider. I didn't end up using it because I switched providers. It seems like a good platform with a lot of plug-ins. It has been around awhile and has a solid community with a good stability record for most of the established system and plug-ins. As always, depends on what you want to do with it.Heh, good question. Sailboat in a storm trying to find north at the moment. 🙂 I'll be taking a poke at it sometime this week.
Do you have your own servers or is this through a provider? You have to make sure, with this or any other option, that the machine your provider is hosting your site on can handle the system you want to use. Even if they are Windows based, some won't handle .NET Nuke.
I'll probably start with a GoDaddy hosting then move on from there.
If I may, I really hate GoDaddy. I'd suggest Arvixe. They're a good service and they support most things. I believe they support .NET Nuke.
Also, If you're going to check out .NET Nuke, be sure to look at Snowcovered. That's where you'll find a lot of add-ons for .NET Nuke.
--------------------------------------
When you encounter a problem, if the solution isn't readily evident go back to the start and check your assumptions.
--------------------------------------
It’s unpleasantly like being drunk.
What’s so unpleasant about being drunk?
You ask a glass of water. -- Douglas Adams
April 19, 2011 at 7:32 am
I'm not a .NET Nuke expert, but PASS uses .NET nuke for the chapter sites and I hate it.
I'm pretty sure that you can do VB.net in a text editor now and use the .NET compiler just like you can with C#.
I'm not a WordPress expert, but you might be able to do something with that as well.
I bet you'd be able to do all you want with VS Express. If you're going to get a professional involved later you might as well start there.
Jack Corbett
Consultant - Straight Path Solutions
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April 19, 2011 at 7:36 am
Check the quotes there. Anything really basic is under, well under 500$. Cheaper than even 1 day of consulting. then you can always maintain.
The great thing there is that you can have 10-100 propositions and pick the one(s) you like for the final product.
April 19, 2011 at 5:47 pm
Stefan Krzywicki (4/18/2011)
While I like ASP.Net, I'm a VB programmer when it comes to non-SQL Server things and there's no free compiler that I know of.
Personally I hate VB anyway, so I always used JavaScript (or JScript if you prefer to call the MS version that) which has always come for free from MS (and every other platform provider I've used) when I was in that game.
But with any of VB, JS, and C# the most difficult thing is getting to know all the standard functions that you need and their interfaces (starting I guess with ADO.NET, so that you can talk to SQL; I started with ADO, but no-one should now).
Tom
April 19, 2011 at 5:53 pm
Tom.Thomson (4/19/2011)
Stefan Krzywicki (4/18/2011)
While I like ASP.Net, I'm a VB programmer when it comes to non-SQL Server things and there's no free compiler that I know of.Personally I hate VB anyway, so I always used JavaScript (or JScript if you prefer to call the MS version that) which has always come for free from MS (and every other platform provider I've used) when I was in that game.
But with any of VB, JS, and C# the most difficult thing is getting to know all the standard functions that you need and their interfaces (starting I guess with ADO.NET, so that you can talk to SQL; I started with ADO, but no-one should now).
What do you hate about VB? It has always been my language family of choice. I've never been able to stand JavaScript myself, but that stems from its early limitations on the web back in the mid-90s.
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When you encounter a problem, if the solution isn't readily evident go back to the start and check your assumptions.
--------------------------------------
It’s unpleasantly like being drunk.
What’s so unpleasant about being drunk?
You ask a glass of water. -- Douglas Adams
April 20, 2011 at 4:25 am
Craig Farrell (4/18/2011)
I should mention this is going to be a live prototype, not just a proof of concept. I am the CEO of this little endeavour. 😉Someone mentioned to me .NET Nuke. Anyone familiar with it?
Hi Craig,
I am very familiar with DotNetNuke - have built a few production applications using this framework, and I will tell you it is a complete joy to work with. From everything you want to do with your membership site, they have built in role-based security that makes that sort of thing very easy/intuitive to setup.
I give DotNetNuke a Huge recommendation. They have a community (open source) version, which is free - but you will still need to host it somewhere. I've also tried WordPress, which is 'very pretty' (also free) - but is much more complex/less intuitive than DotNetNuke.
It comes down to which you would be more comfortable with - if PHP/MySql - then I'd say learn WordPress...If .NET (VB.NET or C#) - then I'd recommend DotNetNuke.
If you have any specific questions about the platform, let me know - I'd be happy to answer them.
Here are a few applications I've built that are currently running on DotNetNuke. I used the base install, and then created custom modules for specific functionality I needed in VB.NET / SQL...and I did it ALL with the FREE version of VS Express (I didn't even need to buy the full-blown version, you can compile right within the Express if needed).
http://reiauctions.com[/url%5D
[url=http://admakertool.com]http://admakertool.com">
http://reiauctions.com[/url%5D
Based on the high-level description of your requirements - I definitely think DotNetNuke would get you there!
April 20, 2011 at 7:33 am
kevinw1970 (4/20/2011)
Craig Farrell (4/18/2011)
I should mention this is going to be a live prototype, not just a proof of concept. I am the CEO of this little endeavour. 😉Someone mentioned to me .NET Nuke. Anyone familiar with it?
Hi Craig,
I am very familiar with DotNetNuke - have built a few production applications using this framework, and I will tell you it is a complete joy to work with. From everything you want to do with your membership site, they have built in role-based security that makes that sort of thing very easy/intuitive to setup.
I give DotNetNuke a Huge recommendation. They have a community (open source) version, which is free - but you will still need to host it somewhere. I've also tried WordPress, which is 'very pretty' (also free) - but is much more complex/less intuitive than DotNetNuke.
It comes down to which you would be more comfortable with - if PHP/MySql - then I'd say learn WordPress...If .NET (VB.NET or C#) - then I'd recommend DotNetNuke.
If you have any specific questions about the platform, let me know - I'd be happy to answer them.
Here are a few applications I've built that are currently running on DotNetNuke. I used the base install, and then created custom modules for specific functionality I needed in VB.NET / SQL...and I did it ALL with the FREE version of VS Express (I didn't even need to buy the full-blown version, you can compile right within the Express if needed).
http://reiauctions.com[/url%5D
[url=http://admakertool.com]http://admakertool.com">
http://reiauctions.com[/url%5D
Based on the high-level description of your requirements - I definitely think DotNetNuke would get you there!
While you can compile with VS Express, doesn't the licensing require that you buy the full version if you release anything/make it public?
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When you encounter a problem, if the solution isn't readily evident go back to the start and check your assumptions.
--------------------------------------
It’s unpleasantly like being drunk.
What’s so unpleasant about being drunk?
You ask a glass of water. -- Douglas Adams
April 20, 2011 at 7:42 am
I don't know the licensing details of VS Express - to be honest.
However, I also am using Microsoft BizSpark - which is an incredible incubator program WHICH allows a startup software/technology company to use basically ALL their software (including full blown Visual Studio) for a period of 3 years - so that brings up a great point, if you are actually an established company doing this - I would highly recommend checking out BizSpark!
This is how I could see a progression:
1. For just testing out a web-app concept, use Visual Studio Express (free).
2. If concept is moving to a true business, establish your business as a startup organization and get into the Microsoft BizSpark program - the all the software you need for your startup - for 3 years.
3. If after 3 years, you should have made it - re-invest your profits for the real licenses you need.
Basically - with Visual Studio Express and BizSpark, you should be able to get going with little to no software costs for the first 3 years.
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