Website templates questions

[Rob Harlan]

I notice quite a few regulars here have purchased website templates from the likes of Blu Domain etc - indeed there are some nice ones to suit weddings.

Just wondering about a few basic things many of these website users will probably instantly know the answer to:-

- Have you gone with hosting by Blu Domain as well, or simply purchased the site template and used another host? Any reasons for doing one or the other?

- You presumably receive a file containing all the relevant stuff by download once you choose a template. Supposing you don't choose hosting by the template provider (where I assume the site will be easily made 'up and running'), how does one go about getting the website published and operable? I'm not versed in how websites work, and don't quite understand how I would turn a design which I have made/modified on my computer into a visitable website on the web.

- Are there any special software requirements for editing these sites? It looks like straightforward text and picture editing, and the option to add links to videos etc. So if I have, say, Notepad, Photoshop and a Vimeo account I would be good to go?

[Jim Snow]

Here are a couple of other options to consider as well.

Free To Be Me | Showit

Free Website Builder | Create a Flash Website at Wix.com

[Louis Maddalena]

I have a blu domain site and the way they do it after you purchase your site is a little annoying. You buy the site but they don't send you a template file, you send them the username and password to your hosting provider and they install the site for you.. Then all the changes you make are through their little back end editing program (you really can't customize the design, just the colors, and content, but locations of objects, and custom lay outs are a no go) then when you are done you put in a support request to go live, and they log back into your account and they put your site live. I think you could probably do this yourself, but I didn't want to get in trouble and let them move the folders for me.

As you can probably already tell, I did go with hosting elsewhere. My main reason for this was I already had a webhost, and the way that it works from my particular host is that every week that you are a customer you get more bandwidth, so I already have a ton of weekly bandwidth allowance for my loyalty, and I already have a great amount of online storage space as well as paying very little a year for it.. its also the most reliable web host I've ever had.

Also, I chose to stick with my current web host because I also host my blog, and a few other sites from my hosting account and figured It would just be easier to do it this way (and also way cheaper) than if I had to add another hosting plan with another company (blu domain).

[Chris Davis]

Originally Posted by Rob Harlan

- Have you gone with hosting by Blu Domain as well, or simply purchased the site template and used another host? Any reasons for doing one or the other?

We use our own host, primarily because we are already paying for it. No sense paying twice.

- You presumably receive a file containing all the relevant stuff by download once you choose a template. Supposing you don't choose hosting by the template provider (where I assume the site will be easily made 'up and running'), how does one go about getting the website published and operable? I'm not versed in how websites work, and don't quite understand how I would turn a design which I have made/modified on my computer into a visitable website on the web.

If you want to deviate outside of the template provider's established hosting options, you need to read up and understand website publishing and hosting. All of the information is freely available but can be daunting at first. It's second nature to me, but I've been steeped in this since the mid-90s.

- Are there any special software requirements for editing these sites? It looks like straightforward text and picture editing, and the option to add links to videos etc. So if I have, say, Notepad, Photoshop and a Vimeo account I would be good to go?

If the template provider is giving you PSD files, you need Photoshop. If it's a Flash template, you need Adobe Flash Professional, if it's a SWiSH template, you need SWiSH. If they're providing a Wordpress theme, you need to have a host with Wordpress installed. Likewise if it's a Joomla theme, or a Drupal theme, or PhpBB, PHP-Nuke, etc.

I don't know anything about Blu Domain, but sometimes you're just buying a set of PSD files. You're expected to have the technical knowledge to take those graphics and code the HTML.