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Thread: Websites - how to look professional cheaply

  1. #71
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    I've been using Mrsite since 2006 for my online shop and have recently moved away to Actinic as mrsite
    Actinic - don't get me started on Actinic now! I bought an Actinic licence about 5 years ago, it cost just under £1,000 - ooh yeah! lots of features - I dismissed it after about 3 months when I decided that if I was going to offer my jewellery trade customers a website building service, then this package would definitely be one to keep away from.

    I got to grips with it ok but it is too complicated for a lot of people to use and adding products was really time consuming - I would have spent 5 times longer just training them to use it as it would be to build a site.

  2. #72
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    You see.... i havent got the now how, time or money for a whizz bang sight and Mr site for the money does what it says on the box and if you are wanting to build a website cheaply have insufficient funds and little money cos you are spending it all on tools and materials it does the job amen x

  3. #73
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    Oct 2009
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    Emerald, that is so true. It really is a very good product for the price and I think it's ideally suited to people in the jewellery trade.



    Quote Originally Posted by geti-titanium View Post
    Actinic - don't get me started on Actinic now! I bought an Actinic licence about 5 years ago, it cost just under £1,000 - ooh yeah! lots of features - I dismissed it after about 3 months when I decided that if I was going to offer my jewellery trade customers a website building service, then this package would definitely be one to keep away from.

    I got to grips with it ok but it is too complicated for a lot of people to use and adding products was really time consuming - I would have spent 5 times longer just training them to use it as it would be to build a site.
    It's interesting you should say that because I love how easy it is to add products. I do think it's gone through quite a few changes in 5 years, though. I'm on version 9.0.5 and I can add 20 products in about 5 minutes, even using an SPP layout where each product is in it's own section.

    It might help that I'm an Oracle developer so have experience in making sense of mystifying software LOL but seriously, it's super easy these days.

    Actinic is definitely worth a second look...

  4. #74
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    Oct 2009
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    Quote Originally Posted by crystal-rings View Post
    I am looking to build a website and have been struggling with a mrsite-site now for some time. Should I have spent a bit more money and got someone to do it for me? I have no technical knowhow and it is taking up a lot of time that I don't have. A friend also suggested that perhaps if I got in touch with a local college that a student might help me out for the credos of doing it. Any advice on that anyone? in fact, any pointers at all would be very much appreciated!!

    Oh, and I'd be very happy to give you a hand setting it up

  5. #75
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    Aug 2009
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    East Lancashire
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    Quote Originally Posted by jetlag View Post
    Emerald, that is so true. It really is a very good product for the price and I think it's ideally suited to people in the jewellery trade.
    As with our craft, it's always a case of the best tool for the job. If Mr Site is the best tool for a particular user - and I'm not disputing its ease of use and validity at all - then it's the best the best tool for the job.

    My comments only started when I outlined why it wasn't the best tool for me and why I personally didn't like it and therefore didn't choose it. For me, there was a more suitable tool. Not perfect certainly, but fitting my own criteria rather better - and yet still very modestly priced.

  6. #76
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    Oct 2009
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    I'm not disputing that. My point was only to say that, for £35 a year, despite it's annoying limitations, it's a great product to get you started. I've already said that it's not perfect, nor is it going to please everyone. But, what is undeniable is that it is a cheap way to get a good looking website up, especially if you have a limited number of products. There are lots of irritating things about it, though, you won't get any argument from me there. And that is exactly why I cracked out £400 to buy Actinic.

    Quite frankly, most of mrsite's really annoying traits could be pretty easily rectified (such as setting your own page sizes and making them dynamic and not fixed and naming your pages), but they don't. They choose to concentrate on other issues, probably those which they can charge more money for. But then, they're not a charity and are in business to make money, so I can't really fault them for that.

    You're not the only person that won't use mrsite. I don't anymore. You seem to think I'm having a pop at you and I'm not. I'm just trying to answer the original poster's question.
    Last edited by jetlag; 21-10-2009 at 10:09 AM.

  7. #77
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    No, I thought we were just discussing the issues.

    I sort of split the difference myself and went with Cubecart. I looked at the main freely available, popular and inexpensive pre-made carts - CubeCart, ZenCart and OSCommerce - as well as several independent ones available with particular hosts.

    I saw a particular jewellery site for an Australian company that was just the sort of combination of elegance and function that I was after and that was based on Cubecart and set me down that road. I realise now that the site I'd seen must have been heavily modded and skinned for the appearance and layout - but I do at least now have the functions that I liked on that site. At the time, it was the only one that allowed more than one photo of a product - they all do now, but not then.

    I chose a web host that had all three available to install and literally tried all three - one each in a sub-directory - which is why have a splash page on my own site - I had the old version of my site working in front of my trials and just changed over once I was happy I'd got it well enough established.

    I'll post a link below to an image file - it's a screen grab of my admin panel for adding a product - which as you can see is very simple indeed - much more so than Zen which just bamboozled me. Cubecart was different from the others in that it allows you to mod your own appearance more easily through the style sheets etc. - so skinning it myself - based heavily on a standard template - was easier for me than perhaps most might find it.

    But it depends on your particular skills - it was easy for me to change the page layout - the template was a 3 column layout and I removed the right one and put some of those elements on the left instead of ones that were there and changed colour scheme by editing the HTML and CSS and replacing the standard graphics.

    I had intended to buy a custom skin, but the people that tested my site said they liked my test version better, so I just worked it up a bit more instead. I've modded it a little, some free ones, some I've bought and there are others I'd still like too - but perhaps technically beyond me, so I'll pay the developer to install them for me. When funds allow.

    Screen grab: http://www.boo-jewellery.co.uk/image...screengrab.jpg

  8. #78
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    That's really neat Boo. I'm afraid I made a mistake and chose Fasthosts - for price more than anything, cos my OH was in the driving seat. Their wysiwyg package is pants. I have built sites before using Front Page but that was years ago and I've forgotten the stuff I learnt then. My bro is very good at flash and I had to gently tell him, no, that's not what I want.

    I'm sort of okay with my end result with the Fasthosts stuff but there is little room for personalisation. Ah, well, when funds allow and all that...
    Di x

  9. #79
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    Ha ha my brother is a Flash expert too - A Guru they call him and he was head hunted by the Flash people (in Japan I think) to be a moderator on their forum a few years ago.

    I will mention it again for those that might have missed it -

    There is a new MrSite Forum for MrSite site owners to ask questions on - both of other MrSite site owners and of the tech team. There are also handy Tips and Hints threads to help you with different aspects of running your MrSite site.

  10. #80
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    Aug 2009
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    4

    Default Mrsite

    Its taken me ages to read through all your replies and given me a lot to think about. I have made a start and actually managed to get a banner input, but yur gallery looks lovely - how did you get all the frames round your pictures (and how did you get them all the same size)? you can see my site at oliveoriginals dot co dot uk.
    So many questions, so little time.

    thanks to all

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