Just want a simple website… Any advice?

I recently received this email via my freelance website question/comment submission page and I thought I would share my response, as I get this alot.

Hi-FrontPage is frustrating me. Just want a simple website for my new business. I hate to waste my software, but can’t take any more time. I already have hosting & domain elsewhere. Any suggestions? Thanks!

My response:

Suggestions? Well that’s easy. I would recommend letting a professional handle your simple website for your new business.

Many small business owners today highly underestimate both the advantages of a well-constructed web presence and the difficulties involved in its creation. I believe this is because of a simple lack of precedent. What I mean is that leaving web development to professionals has not made it into the realm of “common knowledge.” In contrast, take something like construction. Rarely does a business owner decide that they need a small patio behind their building of business and immediately set off to home depot to buy concrete, a trough, 2×4’s and plywood for framing, etc. and then head back to attempt to pour the patio on their own. No, most business owners would hire a contractor for this job, as they do not have the necessary expertise to do the job themselves. This seems like good common sense.

For whatever reason, people seem to think that building websites is easy. It is not. Sure, you can get some words to show up on a screen. But then, I can simply pour a bunch of concrete on the dirt and call it a patio as well. That does not make it a good idea.

To put it mildly, FrontPage sucks. I quit using that software as a web development tool nearly a decade ago (I have been building websites since 1995).

I think it is good that you have decided not to waste any more of your time. Now, like you would with the patio job, you need to figure out what your requirements are and what the budget for the project is. I can build a $1200 site in a night or two. I have also been contracted out in the past for 6 month jobs – where the full payment was equivalent to some people’s annual salary. So you need to figure out what you are willing to spend on your web presence. Then I would get bids from several contractors and/or web development companies based on your requirements and your expected costs.

If all of this seems too heavy for your business, then it is probably a VERY small business, which is okay. I would just try to find a cousin or a nephew that perhaps has some skills in building web pages and have them do it for you. Or put an ad on craigslist to try and find a student who is learning to build websites. They are often eager to work on small projects for little money.

Hopefully some of this advice has been useful. Good luck!

Danyell

Awesome Pickup Line: “So, what’s your favorite version control methodology?”

Talk branching to me… Yeah you’re a nerdy girl aren’t ya?

But seriously… I am involved in the development of some rather large projects that involve extensive code tracking and maintenance, and I am curious as to what others are doing out there. I have heard passionate discussions in regards to several of these super sexy topics that all involve multiple developers working on a common codebase:

• Types of version control
  • SVN
  • Subversion
• Code branching
• Managing code across several environments
• Support vs new development
• Merging strategies

It seems to me that these things have already been discussed at length by some assortment of really nerdy developers / software architects and that there is probably a best practice. Where do you find this knowledge? As a programmer working in the industry, as well as being an architect of my own software, I think this would be invaluable.

I have thought about going back to school, but who teaches that? The most complicated stuff I saw in college, as far as web-based development, was ColdFusion. Wow.

In reading this, sometimes it seems like my blogs are more about asking for information rather than sharing it. Is that okay? Hmm…

If any girl reads this I will be highly surprised. If any girl actually likes that pickup line, pinch me.

Configure Your Machine to Develop Web Applications

Apparently I forgot that I have a blog and decided to just ignore it for months. So in an offering of peace, I bring to you my list of tools that I consider to be my daily essentials:

Programmers Have Bad Posture

I spend an average of 10 – 12 hours daily in front of the computer hacking away at code or living my virtual life. I am a snowboarder and I play in a basketball league so I get regular exercise and am not too worried about the development of Dunlap’s disease. However, I do regularly catch myself slumping in my chair. I think that when I get engulfed in figuring out some problem, I lean in to get a closer look at the code.

I am fairly concerned about this posture issue, but am not sure what is the most effective method of battling the degeneration of my spinal cord. I have a nice chair with a headrest and multiple adjustments for the height of the chair and angle of the back and I have tried many combinations. I have even considered getting some sort of device that ties me to the chair, but it seems like this would be rather uncomfortable.

Any suggestions?

Using Flyspray to Track Bugs

I have implemented Flyspray 0.9.9.5.1 as my bug tracking software.  I used this software on a previous contract job and really liked it.  I did look around briefly before installing on my own server and didn’t see anything better.

Flyspray has a few key features you should note.  First, you can manage multiple projects, which is essential for me.  You can assign rights of users to different projects, allowing you to support multiple end-users without allowing them to see each other.  You can easily view tasks for all projects to which you have access or view each project’s task list individually.

The notification system allows you to be updated when a task changes or is closed via email or Jabber.  You can also create custom categories for your tasks, which allows you to add things like “Feature Request” or “Code Cleanup” to a task, allowing you to prioritize your work easily.

I don’t know why the version is not even version 1 yet, as this seems to be pretty robust software. If anyone knows of more good bug tracking software, I’d like to hear about it!

Downgrade to Zend Studio for Eclipse

I loaded the Zend Studio for Eclipse and worked within it for about a week. That was as long as I needed to know that I had to switch back to the stand-alone 5.5 version.

I found at least as many of the same issues with the software as Eran Galperin did. I experienced the issues with the build and had to kill the task several times. And I too hate the “dreaded queue.”

Futhermore, I was disappointed in many other seemingly small changes in usability. For example,

Tennessee.org Up for Grabs on eBay

After my lasting post, I received several inquiries from parties interested in the Tennessee.org domain.  Several people expressed that they were interested in only that domain and did not have enough money or resources to buy into the entire portfolio and put it to work for them.  So, I decided to pull it out of the portfolio and see how it fares as a stand-alone offering.

I placed Tennessee.org on ebay today with no reserve and a modest starting bid price.  The auction is only 24 hours, so the time has come to show and prove.  My guess is that some bidder will walk away with a steal of a deal…

Go directly to the auction here

Buy These Domains and Fund My Software Development

Over the last year, I have been working on a unique package of custom software that was initially a simple contract for hire. As development continued, it became evident that this software would likely be marketable. So I’m going to try and take it to the market! Sounds exciting right? It is…

However, in order to complete development and give the software my full attention, pre- and post-release, I find myself in need of funding. Therefore, in an effort to raise capital for this project, an impressive domain portfolio is being offered.

HumansAreGood.com – Only The Good News

I just launched a sort of social experiment, HumansAreGood.com, a news posting site for only “good” news. My hope is to have a place to collect stories that are positive and uplifting.

Too often these days, people watch the news and feel depressed afterwards. Not a surprise given the regular barrage of bad news about corrupt politicians, war and violent crimes rampant here and ashore, robberies, natural disasters… And they are reporting all the worst of it!

Check it out and submit an article or two that might brighten somebody’s day…

Interested in being an admin and helping me weed out the “bad” news? Leave me a note in the comments and I’ll get in touch with you!

Missing Features in Zend Development Environment are Efficiency Killers

I requested the addition of the following two features for Zend Studio that I believe are really killing efficency in my programming (and likely yours if you are using it!)

1. Code folding for arbitrary code blocks. While we CAN fold functions in classes, we appear unable to simply highlight arbitrary code blocks for folding. This wastes a lot of time scrolling.
2. CSS code completion support (context dropdowns).

The email I got back said that they had opened a feature request for the code folding (SWEET!), but that they already had CSS code completion and to send them a scenario that they could reproduce. Did I miss something? I certainly have not seen any CSS code completion, so this is what i sent back: