CricketMX.com

Wordpress is a user friendly way to build your site.
"WordPress admin interface is one of the friendliest around."
Looking for Wordpress themes? Then go to their Theme Viewer:
http://themes.wordpress.net/

WordPress is a state-of-the-art semantic personal publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability. What a mouthful. WordPress is both free and priceless at the same time.

More simply, WordPress is what you use when you want to work with your blogging software, not fight it.

To get started with WordPress, set it up on a web host for the most flexibility or get a free blog on WordPress.com.
http://wordpress.org/

The only thing I really know about Wordpress is that it tends to fail under high loads, like when your website gets tons of traffic. As long as you don't don't make the front page of Digg or Slashdot, you're probably ok.

The failure isn't really Wordpress's fault. Wordpress often finds itself installed on a shared webhost with an overloaded mysql server. That tends to be the bottleneck.

Another useful link for building websites:

TypePad is the premier blogging service for professionals, hosting many of the world most popular blogs and small business websites. TypePad ease of use enables you to create a blog in minutes.
http://www.typepad.com/

Dezignus.com
Well laid out & categorised - free design tools.
It's that time of year, so plenty of Christmas clipart & icons available for you to use on your site.
Many other categories to choose from, make it worth a visit.

Dezignus surf the web to give you the best design source links! Icons, brushes and shapes, tutorials and books, vector and other stuff.
http://dezignus.com/

moongirl wrote:Wordpress is a user friendly way to build your site.
"WordPress admin interface is one of the friendliest around."

I've never seen or used the Wordpress admin interface before (besides demos on TV) but from what I understand you can easily add and edit pages on your website with it.

It was the inspiration for one of the features on the new CMX website, which is getting closer to release, day-by-day

Wordpress is a user friendly way to build your site.
"WordPress admin interface is one of the friendliest around."
Looking for Wordpress themes? Then go to their Theme Viewer:
http://themes.wordpress.net/

http://forums.cricketmx.com/viewtopic.p ... 717#p79717



Backing-Up Your Wordpress Database

Backup your database regularly, and always before an upgrade.
Your WordPress database contains every post, every comment and every link you have on your blog. If your database gets erased or corrupted, you stand to lose everything you have written. There are many reasons why this could happen and not all are things you can control. But what you can do is backup your data. After all, it is important. Right?

Step-by-step backup instructions are available below, and support will be provided online in the WordPress Support Forum to help you through the process.

Making backups is essential because problems inevitably occur and you need to be in a position to take action when disaster strikes. Spending a few minutes to make an easy, convenient backup of your database will allow you to spend even more time being creative and productive with your website.
http://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Backups

I've looked at several website builders over the past couple of years but my downfall was not getting to grips with the software first because of little time I have. I'm a "deep end" person (more fool me) and still resort to Notepad+

My wife kindly "volunteered" me to do a website for a community group 2 years ago even though I had no knowledge of HTML, CSS... anything! The original website consisted of just a couple of pages with mainly text and a couple of images against a lovely dark green plain background. Trouble is I thought where the hell do I start?! Bought books then found out lots of free information on the 'net. Tried website builders but didn't like the results. So I used Notepad+ and it took me three months to finish the website. Hardest part was fiddling with bits because of layout problems between browsers. Got right peed off with that. Never had that problem when programming on the Amiga 1200!!

Anyhow, although it's a little out of date (the "diary dates" page especially) Here it is.. I'm in the process of "revamping" it. Cosmetic changes really - bigger text, more information, etc. After that website, I did another for a friend, again, basic but easy on the eye without being over the top. Only thing with this one is that since getting a new PC with wide screen monitor - the web pages look lost! That one is here. My pet hate is websites with way too many links (and adverts) and being too cluttered.

By the way, I'm open to all criticism of the websites I've done. Also, if part of this post should be in a new topic, by all means move it.

On Windows I used to code with Notepad++, I really liked it. I always used it for PHP, HTML and occasionally CSS. I started out with Frontpage back in 2003, and I remember Grinch used Dreamweaver for a while. In fact, when CMX started the homepage was built using these programs. There are some really good tutorials here in the forum about the various programs. alex1* wrote a wonderful Frontpage tutorial a few years ago which you might want to look at if you ever get back into Frontpage.

To be honest though, I think it is better to use ordinary text editors like Notepad++ because you learn more about the code and how things work.

Quickly commenting on the two sites you linked to because I only have a couple of minutes, http://www.cliftonpark.org.uk/welcome.htm looks nice. Two suggestions would be to add a fade out to the bottom and right of the logo in the top left, and perhaps raising the "Please select below:" menu a bit.

For http://www.greensjoinery.co.uk/ it looks like you are using frames. Most sites have phased out or are in the process of phasing out frames, so if you redevelop that site bear it in mind. Like with the other site, I think the navigation menu could be raised a bit or even added as a horizontal menu under the logo.

Overall, the usability of both websites is good which is the most important thing.

Thanks for your feedback battye. Much appreciated.

You are right with the greensjoinery website - it uses frames. Something I wanted to do with friendsofcliftonpark website first but as you say, frames are less commonplace now and I will probably, at some stage, do away with that. Only so much information you can put in a site like that (greensjoinery) but my friend is elated, which is a relief for me lol. My biggest problem is that I'm never satisfied with anything I do and always fiddling / altering something. I really need to give myself a cut-off and leave things alone!

You mentioned Frontpage - another one I've never used although I will probably need to do so at some stage as my eldest son has put me forward to redo the Junior schools website which uses Frontpage. How very generous of him...