Anything I should be aware of if I buy a Template?

[cossmaner]

Hi guys,

I'm a little green around the ears. My goal is to be able to put together a finished site. I know there are plenty of programs that allow you to do that, but I've been so busy that having the time to learn has been a challenge....

I didn't realize there were any template type programs that might make the whole thing a lot easier. I found one revolutiontheme it's a dot com site. Then I started to do some searches and realized there are others....that one is 59 dollars...... can anyone give me any pointers on what I might need to look out for if I purchase one?

I use powerhost which has jummla drupula lot's of others inside their control panel available for use, some free, and some for a fee....anything I need to beware of or watchout for?

any info would be welcomed...!

[onemilliondollar]

check the seller if they provide customization service and to what extend their support available.

if the seller have a forum, read what other people say about their service and what common problems raised by those customers.

[cossmaner]

thank you Million.....

any other criteria that I need to watch out for? like specifications so when uploaded to my host I will have no problem, or the least likelihood of trouble?

do they need to work with CMS?

[felgall]

If you are using a CMS you will need a template that works with that CMS.

There are a huge number of garbage templates out there written by people who don't have a clue what semantic HTML means and so they use any old garbage tags in their template. If you are going to pay for one you will need to make sure that it is written properly using valid HTML.

[cossmaner]

Thanks felgall,


I am new to the point that I do not know if I would need a CMS if I purchase
a template to upload to my host...I mention Cms because my host

I noticed you mentioned "semantic html" I understand this is an important point in determining a good template source

any suggestions on reliable or credible sources of such templates, without spending too much?

thanks...............!

[Dr John]

The Revolution theme site is for wordpress templates, which is a CMS for blogging. So you'll need wordpress.

Here is a link to a big list of free templates.
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2007...ign-templates/

Those links (labelled open source (below) are usually semantic html - tableless designs

www.OpenSourceTemplates.org

Open Source Web Design - www.oswd.org

Open Web Design - www.openwebdesign.org

[cossmaner]

Thanks Doc,

That was some really good info and in fact worked...

appreciate it.....!

[cossmaner]

Thanks I downloaded it to my host and it looks good....

I have another hurdle, I don't know how to change any of the info within the template?

any ideas?

[felgall]

The best solution for updating your template to create web pages is to use a WYSIWYG web page editor. DreamWeaver is the best of those you can buy and KompoZer is one of the best of the free ones but there are hundreds of others to choose from.

[cossmaner]

Hey Felgall,

thank you very much for the tip. I'm going to download KompoZer and give it a whirl. I felt kind of like Redford in the Candidate. Ok I've got the template, now what do I do?......but you've addressed the question, so I will download the program,a dn see now things go...thank you again...!

[cossmaner]

Felgall,

I am so thankful for your help. If I may ask you two questions, if possible.......?

One was about KompoZer version, and the other about "landing page templates"

I was about to download KompoZer. It sounds very functional and a program that allows me to see the unpublished result(if that's the correct term) so that I can view or alter what I'm editing as I go. Fantastic! (how nice!)

where I was confused was the different types offered for download...?

I don't know what is more common, so as to download the correct verison? I see they have; windows, linux, source code (and binary versions. I don't need mac)....I have a windows based pc, but when I recently tried to upload content to Powerhost, I found out I had to switch to a linux platform on the host CP......seems the term "windows" can be duplicitous in meaning..(lol) I admit it throws me off a little....

Second question; I am signed with clickbank and was also hoping to do some affiliate work. I see per their terms, one must have a landing or sales page as an affiliate. Do you know how I might locate one?

I have been able to locate traditional blog or website templates(I'm sooooo thankful for that!), However I don't see any geared for single page landing or sales pages....?

so in summary 2 Q's; landing page template, and version of KompoZer

any info would be much appreciated, if you are not able to respond, I won't be offended....thanks you very much for your time..

[livetech]

I think the whole windows/linux thing may be confusing. From what I'm reading, you appear to have a windows based PC & a Linux server. Most servers are Linux based, because they're a lot cheaper and allow certain popular scripts (such as PHP/MySQL). You've probably bought a Linux server, don't worry about it though - most software & html documents work perfectly fine on a Linux server, even if they are written on a Windows PC.

Can't really help you with the landing pages, not my forte. Though I think a lot of clickbank products do provide some sort of templates - check the affiliate section or email the clickbank promoter directly. Edit them completely (either by yourself, or pay a copywriter) to avoid google duplicate content penalty, and for goodness sakes get rid of the "pink text" people forget to remove/update (the pink text usually says "Please replace this text with such & such blah blah blah")

[Dr John]

The version of Kompozer you download has to match the operating system YOU use. This has no effect on what your web host uses (unless you are building something using ASP or the dreaded frontpage and its extensions (shock horror), in which case your host has to be using a windows server.

Be aware that kompozer's ftp feature (called its publishing feature) is known to be a bit flakey and most users on the kompozer forum - http://wysifauthoring.informe.com/forum/index.php - recommend using a stand alone ftp program instead.

[Nadia P]

so in summary 2 Q's; landing page template,

A landing page is only a html page that you create, so that when a person clicks on an affiliate link it will take them to that page... it could be a page containing thumbnails of the products being sold, or links to other products, a contact form etc etc.,

If you can't create this yourself, you may want to consider holding a contest over at 99designs.com

and version of KompoZer

Not aware of this software so can't help here (I use Dreamweaver :-)
You will need to be careful if you are going to be using a full WYSIWYG program, it can certainly mess up the code if you are not careful.
I'm not too sure of your skill level with html/css, but it may be an idea to take a crash course in html/css, so that you know how to code, least the minimum to get you by :-)

As for the hosting service, it doesn't matter whether it is a windows or a linux server, your static html/css web pages will reside on either. However, if you are going to go dynamic (meaning if you will using a database or programming like php), then you will need to make sure that the language is supported on the server... however, I believe this is probably not what you are after right now anyway :-)

Good Luck

Nadia