OT: Web design and development recommendations?

[ravdg316]

Hi all,

I'm working on launching an online education company. Do any of you have any references for clean, minimalist web designers? I'm from an SEO and writing background but I know very little about actual webpage design. I have one page up on Wordpress right now but all the sitemap planning stuff is giving me a headache. Thanks!

PS -- I may have some good stuff for sale to fund this project ;).

[fkelly]

I run a personal web site; on software (a content management system) known as Drupal. I previously ran a bike club web site on a different CMS with some modules I wrote myself. Wordpress is another CMS and is very popular. Less complicated than Drupal by far. But still complicated.

Rather than run your own software you might want to consider what they call Software as a Service (SAAS) (everything has to be an acronym in this field). Squarespace and Wix are examples. If you are going to be selling stuff, even services, you will need to look at the E-Commerce capabilities of what you are considering.

If you "host" (which is to say manage and update) your own software using a CMS you are going to have constantly manage updates and be aware of security risks. You'll hit times when you have to update your software quickly to mitigate new security exposures. In a SAAS situation the vendor manages and updates the software.

If you are going to deal with vendors and consultants: check them references and check them again. Get a written schedule and figure out how you are going to enforce it.

[Dude]

Depending on what your needs are, they can be accomplished with squarespace/wix/wordpress/instapage/shopify. It would be helpful to know your immediate and short term goals.

If you are looking for a simple landing page, that can also be accomplished very easily. It doesn't need to be fancy or cost money - take this one for example...http://milc.co/.

I don't work in web design, I'm in usability which overlaps a lot with design. I'm happy to speak about it - PM me if interested.

[Climb01742]

I’ve personally found SquareSpace to be both intuitive and a very clean design option.

[gavingould]

used to do mine the old fashioned way in html via a text editor, but now use Squarespace.