General advice please!

[Richard Haskell]

Hello everyone,

Sorry if I've posted this on the wrong forum but this is the version I am using.

The problem is that we had our site designed out of house. It has been adequate up to a point but we now wish to redesign it and market it to a fuller potential. Currently the site is framed which we have been advised by several companies is not search friendly so we are looking to move over to tables within templates.

I have a very basic understanding of HTML and also have Macromedia studio 4 available but am only in the very early stages of using it.

Is it a realistic for a near beginner like me to be able to change the site within a reasonable time scale (say three months max) or should we seek professional assistance. To put the timescale into perspective I could probably only devote 30% of my time on a daily basis (9 - 5) within the three month period purely to the website. This would also include the learning the code and software.

I appreciate this is extremely vague but would appreciate any advice.

Thanks in advance.

Sodabunny

[pinbrook]

The easiest way to convert from frames to tables is to change the theme.

All actinic themes are labelled whether they are framed or not. So choose a non framed theme closest to your end design.

As for whether you could design the site yourself it really depends on your will to learn both templates and html quickly. But remember it is a well designed site that will get sales especially if you are in a competitive market.

Look at your competitors sites decide which ones you would buy from and why....then decide if you could create a site which is as good if not better

[fleetwood]

Hi Richard
I started out with Actinic (and html) from a cold start about 18 months ago. Providing you are willing to put the time in, and are happy learning new programming tools, I would say that 3 months is a reasonable goal to tackle your objectives. It is certainly more satisfying when you get to the end result, to know that you did it yourself, but the real bonus is in knowing that you can fine tune your site as you wish, without having to call in a third party everytime you wish to make minor changes.
I found that the best way to learn was to pull apart as many sites as possible - as already suggested, find sites that you think look good and more importantly, work well, and then take a look at the code behind them and try and see how they achieved it.
There is also a wealth of self help sites out there (I learned my first html from www.htmlgoodies.com), and of course this forum is just alive with knowledgeable folk more than willing to offer help.
May I wish you the best of luck with your redesign.

[Richard Haskell]

Thanks

Many thanks for your replies and advice. Hopefully in three months I'll be able to come back with the redesigned site and display my wares for all to see (I'll probably be in touch with this site a fair bit between now and then). I'll be a happy bunny then.

Sodabunny