Wishes of a complete non-programmer

[OberonK]

Hi everyone,

I am not a programmer, or a web designer like a lot of you very helpful people, so maybe my ideas are a bit of a moot point to a lot of people, who actually know what they're soing! I've been using Actinic to build my site, and even though V9 made some big leaps, it's still a bit alien to a non-designer like me. I have a lot of 'dead space', like next to my logo and I want to use it to display adword ads/my own offers but I can't work out how to get stuff there, because it's all in tech-speak. The bits at the 'back' of your products are very confusing, and I've basically had to spend months messing about with it to work out what they all do.

My wishes are that some feaures become a bit more point-n-click'ish' - the bit where you design the look of your site is still a bit technical, and I've found I'm having a problem with the currency - I'd like to show prices in dollars, but input 'invisibly' in GBP so I can make adjustments to exchange rate without having to re-enter every single price all over again.

I'd also like a postal rate import that will allow you to easily import postal rates - as a nwbie I spent 2 days sorting this bit out. Google checkout as an option would be nice - lets face it - offer all the payment methods and you're bound to hit the spot!

All in all it's a very good program, but it would be nice to make it a bit more idiot friendly!

From a self confessed idiot

[leehack]

Hi Oberon, i think you are right in places, it could certainly benefit from a bit more intuition and interactivity, but there are always so many things that need to be done, it becomes a nightmare for them to keep up with everything.

It is also very good (at times) that things like you mention are not so easy to do as a lot of people can easily make mistakes on how their site should be, without any experienced help or software standing in the way. For example, you'd be hard pressed to find a professional who would agree with your idea to have adwords next to their logo, most would consider that madness. I think a reasonable 'need for knowledge/experience' is a good thing at times, as it can stop many mistakes being made along the way.

[OberonK]

I suppose you're right on the adwords thing (having had a think about it!) but I'd still love to have a bit more control over my own site, rather than feeling like I not only have to buy the program, but then have to pay for someone else to make it work! Why not just market it as developers-only if normal people can't be 'trusted' with their own sites?

[leehack]

I think it's the general path people take to be honest, they get a basic looking site live, begin to get some faith and see the potential with their own eyes, possibly even get a bit too busy and decide to farm out the design or maintenance side. After 6-24 months, most sites that are going places have involved a professional on some level. It's one of my pet hates about the software in all honesty and not because I am a designer, but because drossy sites, achieving nowhere near their potential get released and the site owner never gets to see what it could really achieve. The difference in the grand scheme of things (the designer's charges) is often real small peanuts in the big picture.

There are exceptions of course as with all rules, but there is a huge % of sites who have only achieved the success they have by getting in the professionals at some stage. If you are successful you simply don't have enough time to be learning how to design sites correctly, amongst the umpteen other things you have to do.

One only has to look at a typical site review in the reviews forum, to see how wrong people get it, it's a genuine shame, it really is, the web would be a better place if more websites were designed by 'good' professionals IMO.

[parklifeclothes]

Lee is right, whilst many complete non-techies can get a site up and running, bringing in sales it may well pay off to employ the services of a designer, someone that actually earn their living from knowing what is what on the web. We did exactly that 6 months ago (after 2 years of 'playing' at it) and have seen a massive improvement in visitors and conversions and best of all have managed to completely drop adw**ds, in fact all advertising, saving shedloads all for a relatively small fee.

[leehack]

Although the ability to create a nice looking design is a big selling point for a designer, I think designers do have a lot of other 'never stated' positive things to offer. Little bits of advice you pick up during discussions with them, little bits they do to your site without you knowing. The experience factor is one of the big plus points but rarely factored in when looking at costs.

It's great to hear real life proof of what I say Darron, because as a designer it's hard to say what you really want to say sometimes, without attracting the cynical view 'well you would say that'. I know I speak for both myself and many other designers when I say that we don't just want to earn money, we actually have an interest in providing a great WWW for everyone.

I could easily cull 50% of websites off the WWW and the world would not notice a thing, that is what we need to change over time. I can't wait for the day when you search for a term and the first 20 results are all fantastic and that good that Google actually displays the first 20 in a random order for each search. I am tired of directory listings, crappy search results and poor looking/working websites. I think things need to change. When you can put in your company name and get a sponsored adword listing off ebay to buy your own company, that power and ability simply has to be stopped IMO, cos it is nothing short of absolute junk.

[parklifeclothes]

I, like so many others don't really like to pay someone when I feel I can do the job half as good, thing is, we're not talking about painting the kids rooms, we are talking about getting browsers to your site rather than the thousands of competitors and then getting them to trust you to deliver what they want, when they want and give you/your site their very precious credit card details and to do so involves so much.
Products
Prices
Descriptions
Images
S.E.O.
Trust
and probably 99 or more other things

The problems are that so many of us want to do things on the cheap and think by throwing some products on the web we will make it big, fact is unless you have a completely unique product or access to some pr, it probably won't happen without the knowledge you get from a designer.

Since starting with Malc everthing about the site has improved, visitors, sales, repeats and the fact that I now save thousands by not having to advertise is fantastic.

My only regret is leaving it so long to call in the professionals

[RuralWeb]

Since starting with Malc everthing about the site has improved, visitors, sales, repeats and the fact that I now save thousands by not having to advertise is fantastic.

Time to put my prices up then darren

[parklifeclothes]

Time to put my prices up then darren

oh eck, thought you had gone to the actinic knee's up!!!

[RuralWeb]

oh eck, thought you had gone to the actinic knee's up!!!

No - looks like Ive just made a few extra pound for xmas though

[parklifeclothes]

No - looks like Ive just made a few extra pound for xmas though

Quickly places company into administration

[RuralWeb]

Quickly places company into administration

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