major website makeover

[robertobaggio2k]

Hi guys!

Happy new year to all!

I'm starting on a new project at work, "website makeover", and based on what is requested from the company i thought what better way to ask a community like Neowin what they would change and improve.

Here's the website click here

Basically the company is asking me incorporate:

• multiple shipping
  
• have a "create your own basket" section
  
• gift cards section
  
• corporate link should require login info for clients to access it (how can i do that?)
  
• add ups tracking system
  
• update website visually
  

Thats what the company would like to see, but i know the website needs a major makeover because it is poorly designed with tables and so on, i'm almost thinking to change the entire design completely and start fresh, but I'm wondering whether doing that will cause any complications with the current store on it...

Anyways any opinions would be appreciated, as well as anything you would personally add to improve the site and have it more user friendly.

Thx in advanced!

[the better twin]

Did you build the previous site?

From my (limited) experience if someone else built the previous site it would probably be best to start over as trying to do such a major overhaul of someone elses site throws up no end of complications.

Plus there is the fact its built with asp.net, you planning on using that or something different like php?

[ILikeTobacco]

Hi guys!

Happy new year to all!

I'm starting on a new project at work, "website makeover", and based on what is requested from the company i thought what better way to ask a community like Neowin what they would change and improve.

Here's the website click here

Basically the company is asking me incorporate:

• multiple shipping
  
• have a "create your own basket" section
  
• gift cards section
  
• corporate link should require login info for clients to access it (how can i do that?)
  
• add ups tracking system
  
• update website visually
  

Thats what the company would like to see, but i know the website needs a major makeover because it is poorly designed with tables and so on, i'm almost thinking to change the entire design completely and start fresh, but I'm wondering whether doing that will cause any complications with the current store on it...

Anyways any opinions would be appreciated, as well as anything you would personally add to improve the site and have it more user friendly.

Thx in advanced!

pink against white background hurts the eyes. just say no!

[robertobaggio2k]

no i didn't build the current site. Yes i noticed it's build on asp.net which im kind of familiar with i mean i've been working on this making minimal change and i get how asp.net works... but i was just thinking of using html and css... unless i have no choice but use php or asp.net?

I'm not very familiar with php tbh...

is php better then asp.net?

[ILikeTobacco]

no i didn't build the current site. Yes i noticed it's build on asp.net which im kind of familiar with i mean i've been working on this making minimal change and i get how asp.net works... but i was just thinking of using html and css... unless i have no choice but use php or asp.net?

I'm not very familiar with php tbh...

is php better then asp.net?

Not necessarily better but it is certainly easier. Though either way its a personal opinion and comes down to the programming. It may be running using ASP because its a Windows host and doesn't have PHP installed. May want to check what is on the host.

[robertobaggio2k]

excuse my dumb question lol but how do i check whether its a window host and if php is installed?

[Calum Veteran]

no i didn't build the current site. Yes i noticed it's build on asp.net which im kind of familiar with i mean i've been working on this making minimal change and i get how asp.net works... but i was just thinking of using html and css... unless i have no choice but use php or asp.net?

I'm not very familiar with php tbh...

is php better then asp.net?

To include login functions and other such things, you'll need to use a language like PHP or ASP.NET.

Personally, I prefer ASP.NET because I love the .NET Framework, but I found PHP really easy to understand and learn.

If I were you, I'd start from scratch; completely redesign it and develop it in the language you're comfortable using (unless the company has a requirement for language). I'd also develop the shopping basket and other functions from scratch; they're not very complicated, so it's likely you won't have a problem, but research first to ensure you can do it :)

[the better twin]

no i didn't build the current site. Yes i noticed it's build on asp.net which im kind of familiar with i mean i've been working on this making minimal change and i get how asp.net works... but i was just thinking of using html and css... unless i have no choice but use php or asp.net?

I'm not very familiar with php tbh...

is php better then asp.net?

Personal preference really.

Im currently learning (or trying to :p) PHP because i build with wordpress.

You need a server side language like php or asp to handle requests (login ins, contact forms, shopping baskets etc) to serve the client (person on the site).

excuse my dumb question lol but how do i check whether its a window host and if php is installed?

Find out who they host with and ask them.

[BGM]

err.. it looks like classic ASP to me, defo start over

[robertobaggio2k]

so would you guys say that for someone who has never done a website in php or asp.net, but has a very basic understanding of asp.net... is this like an impossible task? i wouldn't want to start something that i cannot finish and look stupid in the end...

I'm kinda feeling overwhelmed and scared to do this even tho i really want to take on the challenge

[jakem1]

err.. it looks like classic ASP to me, defo start over

Yep, it's definitely not ASP.NET. I'd second the calls to start over with something more modern.

[ILikeTobacco]

so would you guys say that for someone who has never done a website in php or asp.net, but has a very basic understanding of asp.net... is this like an impossible task? i wouldn't want to start something that i cannot finish and look stupid in the end...

I'm kinda feeling overwhelmed and scared to do this even tho i really want to take on the challenge

Not to discourage you but e commerce sites are not the best way to start off with when first learning how to do PHP and ASP. Of course if you pull it off, you will have no issues making any kind of site in the future as e commerce is the hardest it gets when it comes to making websites. Unless you will be doing everything from maintenance to updating/add/deleting products once the site is done, you will also need to learn how to make a database driven site which means learning SQL.

Regardless of all that, the first step you need to take is find out what the host has. No reason to choose between PHP and ASP if all you can use is ASP anyway.

[the better twin]

so would you guys say that for someone who has never done a website in php or asp.net, but has a very basic understanding of asp.net... is this like an impossible task? i wouldn't want to start something that i cannot finish and look stupid in the end...

I'm kinda feeling overwhelmed and scared to do this even tho i really want to take on the challenge

Being a beginner myself i know how you feel.

For one of my first sites I was asked to create an ecommerce site just without the selling bit. (had to have thousands of products, descriptions, photos etc basically a distributors site). I was still learning css/html at the time, had no idea about php/asp or anything and was bricking it when they kept asking for different things/added to what they wanted. It was tough but i learnt so much doing it.

Tbh my advice would to be build on top of something like wordpress as you can get by without being an expert at php. (hopefully they have php)

Check out DukaPress (http://dukapress.org/) it might be exactly what you need and help to ease you in gently to CMS/e-commerce site building.

[Jose_49]

Use Drupal:

http://drupal.org

I believe it's the most powerful CMS out there. It's very easy to understand, and to apply. give it a try!

[Cupcakes]

I would ask your work first about whether you are required to utilize ASP again for their website. That way you don't get upset when you spend your time working in one language but find out you should have been in another.

The hosting environment looks like it's through a shared provider: http://www.elehost.com/web-hosting. If you look at the specs, they include ASP.NET and MS Indexing Service as well as PHP Support and MySQL support. So if work approves your own preferred language, then you'd be fine with a PHP/MySQL option.

If you were to go with PHP/MySQL, I'd defnitely recommend setting up Mangeto for the shopping cart.

Again just remember that while you might have all these awesome ideas, you should really ensure that it's actually wanted before you get too excited. If this is your work's own company, I'm sure you can talk to them about what you'd also like to do (assuming it's within their budget for the project). Otherwise if this is a client of your work, you need to discuss with the client first. Some are stubborn and are fine with their own website.

[robertobaggio2k]

is wordpress appropriate for this update? or is it to be used only for blogging?

[Cupcakes]

Well, did you speak with your work (or whomever owns the website you're making changes for) as far as the language that the site is to be done in? FWIW, WordPress, while great, doesn't need to be used for everything. Looking over the site, they need a real e-commerce solution especially with some of the functionality they want you to add. Given your amateur experience with a programming language, something that has more functionality out-of-the-box might be more beneficial to you right now. WordPress would require a quick learning curve as some of the functionality you have on your to-do list is not stock with any e-commerce plugin or theme. You'd have to code it yourself.

[ericnkatz]

Magento can do everything you've described. But the learning curve can be tricky.

(some people call it mangeto.)

But yeah, if this is your first ecommerce project I would recommend either doing it for very low price or starting off with a few practice projects before making adjustments to someone else's business site.

[robertobaggio2k]

yea i talked to them they dont care what i do as long as it functions properly with the changes they asked for

the store they currently use is storefront... and i was looking at the settings and features available and it seems very outdated

[ericnkatz]

yea i talked to them they dont care what i do as long as it functions properly with the changes they asked for

the store they currently use is storefront... and i was looking at the settings and features available and it seems very outdated

Magento has loads of features and great search engine optimization built into it, but the resource load may be to intense for a generic shared hosting plan - so moving to this option may require an upgrade in hosting costs to keep site load time minimal.

Other shopping cart platforms may require hosting to be moved elsewhere entirely such as Shopify and Volusion.

[robertobaggio2k]

so if we were to buy magento everything already comes coded ofcourse... so all i would have to do is embed the shopping cart on the newly created website... is that correct?

[ericnkatz]

so if we were to buy magento everything already comes coded ofcourse... so all i would have to do is embed the shopping cart on the newly created website... is that correct?

I have been talking about the community edition which is free. And while you can run it in conjunction with Wordpress if you so wish to, I would recommend just creating a standalone website on magento by itself, it should be robust enough to create any additional pages you would want within the root of the website. Can later install wordpress into a sub-directory as a separate standalone system and just post html/styling into a custom theme to fit your website as a 'news/blog' section type of thing.

[robertobaggio2k]

could anyone tell me if adding a little bit of flash to the website would be a good idea or not. What i mean by that is that on the homepage i want to have a box in the main content with a flash video of like the catalogue or just pics in generally... i hear flash is a thing of the past, so before i add it i would like to know whether its worth it or just pointless

thx!

[ILikeTobacco]

could anyone tell me if adding a little bit of flash to the website would be a good idea or not. What i mean by that is that on the homepage i want to have a box in the main content with a flash video of like the catalogue or just pics in generally... i hear flash is a thing of the past, so before i add it i would like to know whether its worth it or just pointless

thx!

That fact that you are asking means it was not specifically asked for. If it is not required, don't use it. If it just displays various images, use javascript.

[robertobaggio2k]

yes its not required i just thought that it may be neat... but nvm lol... is it easy to use javascript to display various images?

[thechronic]

so would you guys say that for someone who has never done a website in php or asp.net, but has a very basic understanding of asp.net... is this like an impossible task? i wouldn't want to start something that i cannot finish and look stupid in the end...

I'm kinda feeling overwhelmed and scared to do this even tho i really want to take on the challenge

Don't give up at the first hurdle. Tell them you are going to look into it. That way you can do some research without as much pressure to conform to a deadline. Good luck.

could anyone tell me if adding a little bit of flash to the website would be a good idea or not. What i mean by that is that on the homepage i want to have a box in the main content with a flash video of like the catalogue or just pics in generally... i hear flash is a thing of the past, so before i add it i would like to know whether its worth it or just pointless

thx!

there are free javascript news sliders like the one we used on www.winxperts.net