I'm looking for recommendations for fairly powerful and intuitive professional site software to replace the mishmash of inexpensive things I'm using now. In other words, I want good and fast but I'm ready to give up on cheap.
I currently use the following in my Web Stew:
Photofolio for my public galleries, built into hand-coded HTML, like this.
JAlbum for my client proof pages, since it's so easy to drop a folder of images and crank out proofs, even though it's not as nice as Photofolio, like this.
Exposure Manager for quick-turnaround sales after event/booth shoots, like this.
It's not part of my business site, but I also use Wordpress for the family blog (like this), and I would like to incorporate a blog into the business site too.
I'm extremely comfortable with HTML, CSS, and XML. I'm competent with modifying existing Flash, JavaScript, and PHP. But I really don't have time for any of it anyway. What I'd like is some kind of robust platform that lets me create and then easily modify public galleries and private client proof pages, other content pages, and blog entries; some kind of ecommerce functionality would be great, even if I process the transactions offline.
I use iWeb, which comes with any Apple computer for my main web site, and link it with Photocart (www.picturespro.com) for posting proofs and handling sales myself, so there are no commission fees. Neither system requires any knowledge of code, both are very flexible, and very easy to use. iWeb has built in blogs, podcasting, etc.
If you do not have Apple computers, you could try using www.squarespace.com for your main site. I think the most important part is what handles the sales, it has to be pro.
JOOMLA... Its the only thing I'll use anymore. One of the best CMS out there right now and makes site updates 10 times easier and quicker. I use to do it all myself with dreamweaver and I used SMF (Forum software) for a long time, but anymore my needs required easy and quick updating. Joomla has a crazy amount of extensions from galleries to ecommerce. I have to sites right now which use Joomla if your interested:
It takes a little to learn how the work flow goes with it but if you're good with HTML , PHP and such it shouldn't be hard for you. The sports site I sell prints so I use smugmug on it the other site I don't sell prints so I use a Joomla Gallery extension
I like Joomla and have used it on a couple of sites, but even with a custom template it is still not perfect IMO, especially if you have multiple different content formats and a complex site (I can spot a Joomla site a mile off ). If you just want to use it for photos and general info, it is very powerful and learning how to create your own template is possible in one weekend.
However, if you just want a simple photo-based site, there are better and far less complex options. For example, I designed a portfolio site based around Wordpress (no longer up). You might think a blog-focused CMS is not very flexible, but with a bit of imagination and some coding experience you can actually do a heck of a lot with it so it ends up not looking like a wordpress site at all. Same with any CMS really.
I just use wordpress. Customied the basic template called veryplaintxt (which is so basic that you can modify it in any direction without much hassle) and used a plugin to integrate it with flickr.
Check out Squarespace. I run my sites on them. Corporate: www.visualavenue.com Blog: www.digitalmediabiz.com. If you decide to use Squarespace, use coupon DMBIZ for 10% off
More examples:
www.foryourimagination.com
www.zioprocourses.com
This is a new website builder.. very nice... fullscreen view. It's very easy to use. It have a admin tool where you can change everything without any coding knowledge.
Go to: http://www.portfolist.com
axe9 wrote:
Hire a professional to design and maintain, or use something like wordpress or photobiz. I currently use wordpress on my sites, and love it
I agree! Have a professional design the initial site.
Google wordpress as cms / wordpress as website. With all the new plugins and updates, you can run a pretty solid website on just wordpress. Joomla is also pretty cool, but a bit more complex the wordpress. You might hire out the initial design, template, logos, and config, then you should be able to maintain it pretty well on your own.
). If you just want to use it for photos and general info, it is very powerful and learning how to create your own template is possible in one weekend.