Company Website, Expression Studio 3?

kmb

Hi all,

Will Microsoft Expression Studio 3 website building software do both database and catalogue type websites?
Is it easy to use for a novice or what software would you recommend for a database type website?
The company i work for is thinking of doing a database website but are getting quotes of 5k with hosting cost approx €300 would this be good value?


Thanks in advance,

Regards,

Kieran

cormee

kmb wrote: »

Hi all,

Hi,

Will Microsoft Expression Studio 3 website building software do both database and catalogue type websites?
Is it easy to use for a novice or what software would you recommend for a database type website?
The company i work for is thinking of doing a database website but are getting quotes of 5k with hosting cost approx €300 would this be good value?


Thanks in advance,

Regards,

Kieran

If you're a novice I'd suggest you stay away from the company website. Customers (and search engines) expect a certain level of professionalism. A level you probably won't be able to deliver on if you have no experience in the field and a bad site will do more harm to your company's reputation than good.

Expression Web is fine, there's nothing remarkably good or bad about it, if you're using Microsoft technology to power your site you'll find the Expression Web handles it very well, and its WYSIWYG editor makes the best attempt at rendering CSS based designs of any editor I've used (avoid using it as anything other than a visual reference though). Yes it will build a database-based and a catalogue site.

€5k is quite expensive for a 1 page site but reasonably good for a 10,000 page site. It's impossible to say if the quote you got is good or bad without knowing the specifics of the site.

kmb

Hi cormee,
I suppose there would be approx 50 pages.

He told us that we would have to add specific items and pictures ourselves if we wanted to go down the database route.
Obviously you build websites from your knowledge,what would fair price be for this work?
Say 50 pages database with us to fill in extra items and pictures ourselves after that and any links to our suppliers product information listings.
Also is the hosting cost expensive @ €300?

If the above doesnt make sense,i apologise.No knowledge in this area.

Sorry for all the questions.

Regards,

Kimb

cormee

kmb wrote: »

Hi cormee,
I suppose there would be approx 50 pages.

He told us that we would have to add specific items and pictures ourselves if we wanted to go down the database route.
Obviously you build websites from your knowledge,what would fair price be for this work?
Say 50 pages database with us to fill in extra items and pictures ourselves after that and any links to our suppliers product information listings.
Also is the hosting cost expensive @ €300?

If the above doesnt make sense,i apologise.No knowledge in this area.

Sorry for all the questions.

Regards,

Kimb

He's probably asked you to take responsibility for the content because he wants to be able to hand the project over as soon as the design and coding is done - wise move on his part.

The price would depend on the quality of his work - is it good? Does his work compare well against other professionally designed sites you've seen? If so it's probably a good price, if he's an amateur trying sell himself as a professional it's probably not such a good price.

Have someone who knows about web design look over his portfolio, you'll be able to tell fairly quickly from the design and the code which category he falls into.

The price for hosting depends on the level of support he'll give you and the technology powering the site. €300 isn't awful, it's within the realm of what you might expect to pay for good, professional web hosting with support to match.

blue4ever

Enterprise hosting - it's about that price.

Its impossible to say about €5k without getting into the nuts and bolts of the site. You can get off the shelf ecomm stuff - if that's the 'database' type thing you're looking for.

But I think that 5k is a bit on the large side for a basic site. If you have a spec for the site (a full one) you should try elance or odesk and the likes of those sites - you'll get multiple and competitive quotes and you can either use them or keep them as a yardstick for home grown quotes.

pm me if you need any more info on that.

Pixelcraft

blue4ever wrote: »

But I think that 5k is a bit on the large side for a basic site.

It's unfair to say that without knowing far more details, defining a 'basic site' and the quality of the work proposed. Plus, who says it's a basic site?

blue4ever

an assumption - i suppose.

And if you think that a ball park of 5 large for a 50 page site is 'ok' then roll on odesk and elance - they level the playing surface nicely.

cormee

blue4ever wrote: »

an assumption - i suppose.

And if you think that a ball park of 5 large for a 50 page site is 'ok' then roll on odesk and elance - they level the playing surface nicely.

The problem with odesk or elance is the person doing the work for you is probably going to be located on the other side of the world - you have no legal recourse if it all goes pear-shaped. It's a gamble.

I've had some great experiences using elance but I've also had some bad experiences and it's that risk that would put me off using it for a larger project like this. You might save 2.5k if it works out but you might also lose 2.5k if it doesn't. And nine times out of ten elance *will* release your escrowed funds regardless of your emails of protestation.

blue4ever

Likewise - I've had a bad one there as well. You have to sit on it and make sure that the milestones are met. The escrow worked for me on more than one occasion.

But it's work throwing the project up and see what's the "going rate" - fair enough there are a few chancers there, but were not without our own chancers in this parish either!