I have a website Joysofglass.co.uk. I can list it here as I don’t sell from it, just use it as a shopfront to my shop here.
I made it in 2012 without much of a clue what I was doing but using software build technology I could understand as I’d made a couple of basic websites before for my family tree stuff. I used to be a very technical IT person but never on such modern stuff as website so though I am extremely competent I’ve never taken the time to get technical in this area and I’m not starting now.
My current website is a bit of a mess as it became almost unmaintainable several years ago when my hosts (Justhosts) removed all support for whatever it was I used to maintain it. Can only actually edit it if I use Firefox and often have to go into the HMTL to get it to do what I want. Not ideal.
Only option was a redesign using one of the supported JustHost other options but they are sooooo complicated I just can’t be bothered.
So… I’m moving to Create. Have already asked for my domain to be transferred from Fasthosts and will leave my old site on Justhosts until my new one is ready then I’ll Kill it.
With me so far ?
What I’m hoping for is that some of you who have lovely sites on Create will point me to them so I can, not copy obviously, but get some idea of what I want from my new site, what I want it to look like.
Also I’ve always made my own avatar / banners but am wondering if someone who is skilled in that area could make me one like my current but to a much higher resolution. I do of course expect to pay !
Hope you don;t mind my asking but I have spare time on my hands this summer as our normal month at a time motorhome trips are OFF the agenda until Bob has been fixed so thought a project would be in order…
Joy xx
Hi Joy Have you joined the Create FB group? Lots of ideas there and always people to ask questions to etc. Bonita Moaby did my banner - she used to be on Folksy but I think she does artwork now rather than graphics. Shout if you need a link to the FB group.
Thanks. I just applied to join the group. I 've been chatting to one of the Create support people as I had to get my domain transferred and had an old account with Create which I couldn’t access as it had my old freeserve email still. She’s suggested I take a look round other Create sites to get myself an idea of how I want mine to look and that sounds like good advice.
I quite admired some Wix sites but couldn’t find any easy way to actually ‘speak’ to anyone in support and I needed to. Lots of Q and A but no actual person behind them hence decision to use Create.
Thanks James. I am going with Create, I’ve already transferred the domain and paid for a first level upgrade and now have to choose a template which is why I’m wanting to look at other Create sites to get some idea of how they look.
saying that , things have moved on since I first created my site. They have regigged the templates to make them mobile friendly so I’m in the middle of changing things myself. I did have a side bar that displayed on all pages , even my blogs , which has now annoyingly disappeared, so having to rethink how I want it to work.
All I can say Joy is start with the basics, good photos and text. Decide what pages you want ( ie a home page, shop page , events page , blog) and go from there. Mine I’m constantly changing.
Thanks Sandra
Started to read the advice on the site last night and have already decided I need to smarten up my rainbow avatar, banners and am onto that right away and I have a pad of paper at the ready to start listing component parts, structure… can’t be too hard for goodness sake …I was 25+ years a technical IT Analyst, designer …and a good one at that…just need to switch that set of brain cells on again.
Must admit I do like a same format ‘menu’ to appear on all my pages …gives a smart appearance to the site and makes it easy and obvious to negotiate. Will add that to my ‘must have’ list.
Thanks for responding. I’ve applied to join the Create members group but they have either rejected me or more likely they are having a long weekend.
sounds like you were in the same sort of job I was in, so you will find it easy really. Just knuckle down to it. The hardest part for me was getting my photos to a stage where I didn’t go yuch!
Gosh! You’re close to me! I’m in Stone Staffordshire! I’ve just done my website with create and also use Folksy for my sales! www.unearthedbylynn.com So far, I’ve found the combination works well!
Have you joined the Create FB group? Lots of ideas there and always people to ask questions to etc. Bonita Moaby did my banner - she used to be on Folksy but I think she does artwork now rather than graphics. Shout if you need a link to the FB group.
or more likely they are having a long weekend.