Website Design

[andrebsd]

I'm starting up a company and basically am wondering what people find more attractive, a website where CMS (something like Joomla) is being used or a flash website (something like Aston Martin's website or Rolls Royce broadband site).

The purpose initially would be to sell artwork, though I'd like to expand into tech support since I can do that pretty well and perhaps make some sort of online magazine. (think: windingroad) I personally think a website like Rolls Royce's would look better, but I'm under the assumtion that you can't easily update the site. I've never worked with flash website development.

Joomla is rather easy to install and runs out of the box, but IMHO it doesn't look all that good, I won't be able to completely customize the website... it'll just look like most other CMS websites out there.

[BlaRo]

Flash-only web sites are irritating. For one, not everybody might be able to support it, like if they're on a school computer. With Flash, it's tempting to build a flashy website that's irritating and hard to navigate, and nobody's going to visit as a result. A bit of Flash is helpful, but a site that's entirely made of the stuff can get tedious quick.

Content management can't be replaced by Flash because they're two separate things; you use CMS to manage the pages you have and you use Flash to present them (unless there's things that you can do with Flash, I don't have much experience with it so I don't know).

I've never heard of Joomla, but it looks interesting. I'm sure there's a way you can use CSS to improve your site's design, you won't have to resort to Flash.

Keep us posted. 8)

[jeffy777]

Yeah, as a web designer myself, I would stay away from a pre-made CMS site unless you're trying to create some type of community feel (forums, login system, etc), which doesn't really work well for most business sites.

However, if the business is looking to have admin privileges to maintain the site themselves, then some type of content management system is required. Usually what I do is open up photoshop and make them a design from scratch that they like and then make the text, menus, etc. editable from an admin section (with php/MySQL) using my own custom administration scripts. That way, I'm not tied into or limited by a pre-made system that only supports a certain layout, but I can take any design and make a "content management system" out of it, but it doesn't have the same tacky-3-column-php-nuke-stucture that most CMS sites have.

And I agree with BlaRo: a bit of flash is a nice touch (such as a logo for instance), but making the entire site one big flash file isn't usually the best way to go. Yeah, it looks cool, but it's not as easy to navigate (right click functions and the Back browser button usually don't work for example) and they aren't as search engine friendly either.

[NecroJoe]

I just hate flash sites because I want to use the forward and back buttons on my mouse, and if I accidentally bump one, I don't want to ahev to start my visit over again...I won't bother.

[cvrefugee]

Be a man, write that sh*t all in Notepad.

[Xeon SX]

Originally Posted by cvg

Be a man, write that sh*t all in Notepad.

That would be more like 50 year old man who's never heard of proper text editors

[andrebsd]

Originally Posted by cvg

Be a man, write that sh*t all in Notepad.

lol, I'm not that good. But yeah I guess I have to go with a combination of html and flash or something, as I was going trough flash only websites and that's not going to work as it's tacky and I don't see any way of adding a shopping cart to flash.

[BlaRo]

Originally Posted by cvg

Be a man, write that sh*t all in Notepad.

That's right! Dreamweaver is for pussies. Meticulous, hand-typed, compact, and efficient code is a thing of beauty.

Notepad, Textedit, Ultraedit, whatever, as long as it's anything but Frontpage. If you need help, here's an excellent place to start.

[FATMOUSE]

Originally Posted by andrebsd

I'm starting up a company and basically am wondering what people find more attractive, a website where CMS (something like Joomla) is being used or a flash website (something like Aston Martin's website or Rolls Royce broadband site).

The purpose initially would be to sell artwork, though I'd like to expand into tech support since I can do that pretty well and perhaps make some sort of online magazine. (think: windingroad) I personally think a website like Rolls Royce's would look better, but I'm under the assumtion that you can't easily update the site. I've never worked with flash website development.

Joomla is rather easy to install and runs out of the box, but IMHO it doesn't look all that good, I won't be able to completely customize the website... it'll just look like most other CMS websites out there.

Flash websites suck horribly large donkey balls.
They're too, well, flash. Moving things, noisy things, shiny things, distracting things.

The best sites are relatively static but well laid out and clear. Without excessively harsh colors.

I used to like the old somethingawful.com layout a lot. Even if the content was very suspect.

Originally Posted by BlaRo

That's right! Dreamweaver is for pussies. Meticulous, hand-typed, compact, and efficient code is a thing of beauty.

Notepad, Textedit, Ultraedit, whatever, as long as it's anything but Frontpage. If you need help, here's an excellent place to start.

You failed to mention vi and emacs. Please leave your nerd card at the front door on the way out.

[Cobol74]

CICS for me!

[bone]

Originally Posted by cvg

Be a man, write that sh*t all in Notepad.

textpad is acceptable as well, to have at least some features

[Adunaphel]

Originally Posted by cvg

Be a man, write that sh*t all in Notepad.

I prefer Vim, it has a few nifty features to make it a little bit easier, such as syntax highlight, variable tab width, etc.