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Learning Web Design / Costs

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  • 31-01-2011 11:56am
    #1
    kf1
    Registered Users Posts: 22 ✭


    I have no experience designing websites and am working with a friend who is hoping to get an e-commerce website off the ground. I need to get a reasonable understanding (good knowledge of basic design concepts) and am not sure which application to learn.
    My plan was to do a basic HMTL course followed by learning Dreamweaver via an e-learning platform. I also see a number of people mentioning Joomla and Wordpress.
    What would people recommend for an e-commerce novice?
    Cost is also a major factor - Dreamweaver and Joomla packages seem very expensive.Any suggestions?
    All advice is greatly appreciated.


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    #2
    Liam Byrne
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,163 ✭✭✭✭Liam Byrne


    kf1 wrote: »
    I have no experience designing websites and am working with a friend who is hoping to get an e-commerce website off the ground. I need to get a reasonable understanding (good knowledge of basic design concepts) and am not sure which application to learn.
    My plan was to do a basic HMTL course followed by learning Dreamweaver via an e-learning platform. I also see a number of people mentioning Joomla and Wordpress.
    What would people recommend for an e-commerce novice?
    Cost is also a major factor - Dreamweaver and Joomla packages seem very expensive.Any suggestions?
    All advice is greatly appreciated.

    There's a significant difference between a brochure website and an eCommerce website.

    There are two routes:
    1) Building from scratch using MySQL (database) & PHP (server-side logic)
    2) Using a platform such as Joomla or Wordpress with suitable plugins

    If you choose the 2nd option, then the basic HTML course might be some use, giving you a grounding in some of what's going on, but it won't be much good, and Dreamweaver will be useless to you in that scenario.


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    #3
    kf1
    Registered Users Posts: 22 ✭kf1


    Thanks Liam. If I were to go with the second suggestion, what would be the most cost effective way to get the required software packages?


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    #4
    Dale Parish
    Registered Users Posts: 894 ✭✭✭Dale Parish


    Most of it, if not all, is free.


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    #5
    fenderlvr
    Registered Users Posts: 27 ✭fenderlvr


    I highly suggest Wordpress. It's free and has a good eCommerce plugin.

    You will have to pay for web hosting. Then install Wordpress (for free) and the eCommerce plugin. Then you'll have a working site that you can edit easily from some behind the scenes admin pages without needing any programming or HTML knowledge.


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    #6
    fenderlvr
    Registered Users Posts: 27 ✭fenderlvr


    Here's a video showing how easy it is.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FO-Xrs6qD5U


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    #7
    Hoku
    Registered Users Posts: 213 ✭✭Hoku


    There is actually an extensive enough archive of possible platforms available to you in this section, if you were to go with Liam's second suggestion.

    Simply search for "ecommerce" in this section of the forum, and you should get quite a few relevant threads.

    Magento eCommerce is one of the platforms available - it's bulky and could be a handful to set up, but VERY powerful.


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