Turning your ideas into a website.

So you have some ideas of what you’d like your website to achieve, some of the functions it needs to perform, and some ideas about how you’d like it to look once finished. When it comes to turning your website ideas into reality your first decision is whether to do it yourself or to find a good web designer.

Make your own website.

If you’re going to make your own website your next choice is whether to learn the web design coding the professionals use or to use a template system that uses a wysiwyg (what you see is what you get) editor.

Making your own website – the hardest way.

If you have plenty of time then learning to code websites using html, css, php, mysql, javascript etc., is extremely rewarding. Once you’ve setup a suitable working environment and gained enough experience and skills you’ll gain complete control over every aspect of the way your website looks and functions. You’ll be able to include all kinds of features that are only limited by your imagination.

Making your own website – an easier way.

Using a pre-built open source system will get your own DIY website off to a flying start. Most of the hard work will already have been done. And being open source means you’ll have access to the source code – and with some understanding of html, css, php etc. you’ll be able to adapt and change things to match your own websites requirements. Have a look at finished websites that are built using the same system to get an understanding of what can be achieved.

Making your own website – the easy way.

Using a free or paid for service that includes hosting and uses a wysiwyg editor makes it very easy to get a website started. Before you start building your own website be sure to check that the system you choose includes the features you’d like your website to have. Have a look at their example websites to get an idea of what’s possible using their system.

Due to the nature of templated website they do suffer from all looking very similar – but with clever use of graphics, images and typography there’s still some opportunities to make a templated website look unique.

Hire a web designer.

For professional businesses you can’t beat having a website built by people who understand how the web works. A good web designer will work with you to gain an understanding of your business, your objectives and your customers. You’ll benefit from their experience and knowledge and end up with a website that’s designed perfectly for your business and your potential customers. Your web designer will take care of organizing domain name registration, finding a suitable host for your new website along with setting up your website email accounts etc.

Read Part 1 of I want a website – But I don’t know where to start.

We offer a very competitve web design service to businesses in and around Chichester, Bognor Regis, Portsmouth and right across West Sussex, Hampshire and Surrey.
Contact GDS Web design us on 07857643387 or send an email to gary@gdswebdesign.co.uk to find out more about how we can help with your website design project.