Advantages of using a Template Designed by a Pro

[GAViN™©]

I work for a electrical distribution company that sells Philips products, we are looking to sell these electrical products online together with the accessories for these products.

I am at the start of basically presenting my findings to my manager, having looked at other e-commerce software, the possibility of a bespoke system, and so on.

I have knowledge of HTML and very basic javascript (nothing to boast about), but having spent 3-4 days on Actinic, having no previous knowledge before hand, and what my boss requires from our online site I am honestly finding it very difficult to get the grasp of the software, in terms of modifying the HTML templates to customise how we want them to be.

I have done some research into other actinic sites, to see what a good designed website can look like with a good template design, I have also contacted the owner of Steelcube.com and after several email communications, have taken on board what he has told me, where they hired a webdesign company to create them a professional looking template.
He felt it was the best thing they did.

I am drafting together a report which I can give to my boss to explain this would be the best way to go, and need some good points I can document to say why getting a template design would be the way to go on this project.

The scenario of our site there will be a few hundred products to begin with, majority of these products having accessories that will go with them. This type of market is very competitive and I have already drafted how important it is to keep up with the technology and have an attractive site with easy navigation for the user.

We are looking also to import a lot of information directly into actinic from our access database as there is too many products to manual edit into the software, although I am entirely aware that nothing can be fully automated and my boss needs to realise that too.

He is not that computer literate, and is not aware of the "back-end" of a website, etc.

I can't say for sure, but I think my boss had the idea of me creating this site on my own using Actinic, and Dreamweaver with no training etc on the Actinic software, and not much lea way on time to train myself up!

It all boils down to what his budget is for the site, and what he will get for the cash he is prepared to pay.

I've in the meantime contacted a company who are an Actinic partner (Pro Site who were recommended to me by Steelcube), and have been given a rough estimate price for a template design, with in-house training on the template design & Actinic.

I looked at Actinic themselves for training and see there are three courses available, but they are only half day courses for approx 4 hours, I mean what can you learn in 4 hours?!? I wouldn't say it would be a great deal.

Anyway, I am rabbling on here, so really I need some professional advice from serious actinic designers on here, as to why we should go with a professionally designed template.

Thanks for any help and advice in advance!

[jont]

Getting to grips with the way Actinic works does take some time - often by just playing around with the templates to see what they do. Despite there being a list of which each does it does unfortunately come down to experience with the Actinic product and especially the templates and the way they nest and integrate.

Getting a design done by a pro is well worth the investment in the long run especially if you want to portray a professional image and to match the existing company branding etc. The standard themes are fine for most users they can statr to feel the same after a while - although with a little effort they can be easily changed to create a great site - www.the perfectpad.co.uk is a great example of basic theme with great use of colour and mods.

A pro design will also move you away from the generic Actinic feel of a site - not necessarily a bad thing but again if you want to portray a bespoke website to suit your company image this may be necessary.

The cost of a pro template will be quickly off-set by the amount of time and hair-pulling if you were to design your own templates in-house.. this would themn give you the time to add products, work on seo and site marketing etc and not trying to get some obscure HTML code to work correctly.

If you go with a pro make sure they are able to offer the template design up for live site testing on a server as inevitably it will go pear-shaped as soon as you import and upload.

hth

[jont]

my boss had the idea of me creating this site on my own using Actinic, and Dreamweaver with no training etc on the Actinic software, and not much lea way on time to train myself up!

This is standard practice

[GAViN™©]

Thanks for your comments Jont, much appreciated, and I agree with what you say, judging by reading some of your posts on this forum in the past couple of weeks, I can see you have good knowledge of Actinic, template modifying, etc and it is good to hear a "Pro" stating these facts as well.

As regards to common practise, yes i believe so, or possibly its the cheapest alternative!!

I cannot say for sure, if my boss is aware of the costs involved in creating a pro site which is what he wants, or the work involved.
I mean if you want a "pro" site, then it comes at a cost.

I doubt his budget will allow for a bespoke system, am sure he will fall off his chair when he reads the price i was quoted for one!

[jont]

Bespoke systems can be frightening.

I looked at various options (including bespoke) and other carts and Actinic is by far the best solution for small to medium sized companies and even some larger companies depending on what you wish to do with it. Its ability to work out of the box and be hacked to suit your design is a great plus point - I have worked with some other carts and they are a nuisance.

If you go down the pro route with Actinic at least you will be able to modify design aspects down the line in-house and not have to out-source again so you can save money in the long term and grow your site as required.

[GAViN™©]

If you go down the pro route with Actinic at least you will be able to modify design aspects down the line in-house and not have to out-source again so you can save money in the long term and grow your site as required.

Another plus point there jont