I need advise from brainy web design people! :)

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kungfurockchick
kungfurockchick Posts: 30
in Chit-Chat
I'm trying to create an online store for a new business venture. I have a registered domain name and a host, so all I need is a really good wysiwyg web design program and a decent shopping cart system. We've tried Zencart, but found the site design too restrictive and way too complicated. Can anyone recommend any good software? Free would be fantastic but I understand that you get what you pay for, unfortunately we can only pay about 50 quid lol. I've downloaded a free trail version of Xara web design 7 and it looks pretty good so far but how is it with e-commerce? Hope someone out there can help. I need to get this store live and online asap as I spent all day yesterday at a trade show networking and giving my web address to potential suppliers lol.
Thanks in advance x

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  • savvystephy
    savvystephy Posts: 4,151 Member
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    Well, you could even use paypal on your website. If done properly, paypal will have the cart managed and then they pay through paypal.

    I think amazon payments might have the same sort of thing (if not already, then I am sure coming soon).
  • webdiva1
    webdiva1 Posts: 326 Member
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    Check out Big Commerce and Volusion; both are complete ecomm tools and have loads of ready-to-go templates you can choose from. You might also look at Magento; it's opensource and free but there are lots of folks around who can code for you if you need it. Have fun! :)
  • mermx
    mermx Posts: 976
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    I use Serif web+ for our business website. It is one that you buy, not too expensive I think it was around £40

    Very easy to use, has a shopping cart, comes with lots of templates to choose from.

    You can download a free starter version,

    here is the link.

    http://www.serif.com/web-design-software/

    The one I use is linked below. It says £61.27 but I am sure I didn`t pay that much
    http://www.serif.com/webplus/
  • MelanieHodgkiss1962
    MelanieHodgkiss1962 Posts: 49
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    Try this website - www.1and1.com they have reasonable yearly rates.
  • d2footballJRC
    d2footballJRC Posts: 2,684 Member
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    If you don't have web design experience you are going to be very limited. Zen cart is one of the easier ones. You can look into these:

    Oscommerce - most popular. Zen cart is based off this
    Zen cart
    Concrete5

    Online commerce sites are much more complicated then reg websites. Especially if you don't like any of the prebuilt templates they offer. Can you describe what you are selling? If it's only like a couple products you could just use wordpress with a plugin.
  • kungfurockchick
    kungfurockchick Posts: 30
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    I have webplus 10 already, and thats what I've been using up until now. I make all my own graphics, backgrounds etc with Serif drawplus but when I export them, they lose a lot of quality. A search around forums tells me that this is a common problem. I don't really want to use ready made templates as I have a very clear idea of the look we are after. We are going to be an online gift/homewares/ shop. Without wanting to plug our site but, just to give an idea of what we do, our tagline is "Groovy gorgeous gifts for gorgeous, groovy people". We have plenty of lines to go into our store, and we also plan to run a market stall and get a trade stand at custom bike shows & festivals. We cater to pagans, goths, bikers, hippies etc, selling clothes, gifts, homewares, beauty products, jewellery and anything 'mad' that we can find, that would appeal to people who love something a little different.
    I built a site some years ago with Geocities and its that kind of speed and simplicity that I was looking for. My partner does have some web design experience and can do html so we aren't complete novices, but we're far from expert too. Listening to all your tips and advise, and checking the sites you've told me about, I think the best way to go would be to stick with Webplus or Xara, make my graphics in Photoshop and use paypal as a shopping cart, at least until we are more established. Thanks for all the posts. This really is a lovely place to hang out during the day lol
  • d2footballJRC
    d2footballJRC Posts: 2,684 Member
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    I have webplus 10 already, and thats what I've been using up until now. I make all my own graphics, backgrounds etc with Serif drawplus but when I export them, they lose a lot of quality. A search around forums tells me that this is a common problem. I don't really want to use ready made templates as I have a very clear idea of the look we are after. We are going to be an online gift/homewares/ shop. Without wanting to plug our site but, just to give an idea of what we do, our tagline is "Groovy gorgeous gifts for gorgeous, groovy people". We have plenty of lines to go into our store, and we also plan to run a market stall and get a trade stand at custom bike shows & festivals. We cater to pagans, goths, bikers, hippies etc, selling clothes, gifts, homewares, beauty products, jewellery and anything 'mad' that we can find, that would appeal to people who love something a little different.
    I built a site some years ago with Geocities and its that kind of speed and simplicity that I was looking for. My partner does have some web design experience and can do html so we aren't complete novices, but we're far from expert too. Listening to all your tips and advise, and checking the sites you've told me about, I think the best way to go would be to stick with Webplus or Xara, make my graphics in Photoshop and use paypal as a shopping cart, at least until we are more established. Thanks for all the posts. This really is a lovely place to hang out during the day lol

    If you want to keep graphic quality make the items that are losing quality .pngs that keep a higher quality but make the images a bit larger but with broadband today that isn't an issue. It's a minimal size increase which is worth it for a higher quality image.
  • kungfurockchick
    kungfurockchick Posts: 30
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    Thanks for the tip......I've had a good mess about with the Xara free trial this afternoon, and the pro version looks great, and not too many £'s over what I can afford. I'm fine with the artistic side, but the techy side gives me proper headaches, so your advice is much appreciated lol :)
    If you want to keep graphic quality make the items that are losing quality .pngs that keep a higher quality but make the images a bit larger but with broadband today that isn't an issue. It's a minimal size increase which is worth it for a higher quality image.

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