New Website - Buy or DIY?

[smitch6]

awwwwwww thats horrid
well i would like to think you all know me well
and if anyone wasn't happy with what i have done you'd tell me
we all make mistakes and do things which aren't up to other ppl's standards but thats the name of the game
if we were all the same it'd be a boring world

i did embroider something for someone on here the other month
and it was the 1st time i'd done this item and tbh it was a nightmare
twas really thick and i struggled to do it on my little machine
and i wasn't happy with the result but sent it anyway and did email them and explain i wasn't happy
they weren't happy either which i din't blame them and gave them a full refund including the special delivery charge i paid to get it to them next day

but thats the name of the game
i did it wrong and it cost me

i hope i can still be friends with the person involved we have still swapped emails etc, i don't like loosing friends i'm such a happy chap

which is why i offer ppl the 1st month free on the hosting that way if they don't like it they aren't out of pocket
but hopefully the service i give them and the experience of working with me they will decide to stay on board

ok been waffling loads now hehe

[smitch6]

Many thanks Steve although I haven't received your Pm as yet. No worries though mate as I'm already loosing the will to live...............lol.

it might of been because my box files were full lol
I think Justin has made them bigger for me (that sounds so painful) lol
i'll send it again ian

[JSR]

As mentioned on another thread, I used to use ZenCart. It has a load of features built in as standard, but the back-end is very disorganised. If anything, it has too many features so you can't easily find what you want. The out-of-the-box template is very old-hat, too, so you'd need to look into a decent template straight away. Also, the next version of ZenCart will (whenever it's release) be a major upgrade from the current version - so any work you do now will be wasted in the long term.

Since the beginning of the year, I've switched to OpenCart. The back-end is much simpler, and the out-of-the-box template looks nice and modern. However, it's not bug-free. I've had to wade through several bugs - some answers found on the forum, others I had to figure out for myself. There's a huge bug-fix thread going on on their forum so I imagine there'll be a new release very soon with the bugs all fixed.

It's like everything else - if you go free, don't expect a bug-free experience. And, if you pay for it... don't expect a bug-free experience (but at least you'll have someone to shout at!).

[JSR]

Many thanks Steve although I haven't received your Pm as yet. No worries though mate as I'm already loosing the will to live...............lol.
I was working with someone else last year who could design, build & host websites but, turned out he just wanted to find out how to print mugs himself & took away a lot of my business. I even finished up loosing my domain name because of him. I suppose it all seemed to good to be true with all he promised me. Just wish he was a good guy like you Steve.

This is one reason why I always recommend registering your domain name with someone other that the host - so you're in control at all times.

[smitch6]

i always recommend 123reg for domains
i have links on most of my sites

they have always been good and are 1 of the cheapest i've found for domains

[Mattie]

I use opencart for my website and can't fault it, some of the extensions you can get are great and if there is not one available for what you need there is plenty of people on the opencart forum who will build it for you.

[Justin]

Opencart downloaded and installed, site is live! lol. OK, got to make it look like my store now by getting rid of default images etc.

[smitch6]

thats easy
esp when you remove all the images etc before uploading it lol
looking at that theme you sent me
tomorrow (if i get time)
i'm going to have a play with the default them and change the colours etc and try and adapt it so someone like barry who doesn't know about coding can just add this theme and it'll work straight away

[cardman]

bit offtrack i know but look at this store

http://www.spreadshirt.co.uk/create-your-own-C59/product/20033812/designSearch/uk

@justin

Opencart downloaded and installed, site is live! lol. OK, got to make it look like my store now by getting rid of default images etc.

Buy one of them templates they sell,look really good then.

[smitch6]

looks good but i reckon it's complicated to set up
and it wouldn't let me scroll down the page :~

i've asked on the OC forum if anyone knows of anything similar