Hello!
A friend of mine has asked me to set up her new blog site for her. After a lot of research, we decided that ExpressionEngine would suit her needs the best (in particular, she was interested in the Personal Package). My question is, how do we go about setting this up? I need the program to design the blog, etc., and obviously she will need it to post. Do we both need to download EE? Do we have to pay twice?

I apologize but I am utterly clueless!

Thanks in advance!

Carly

EE runs on the server where folks will access it- unlike Dreamweaver or something where you install it on your local machine.  (Well- you can install a development copy on your local machine, but you need a LAMP setup and such and I don’t recommend it for this.)

Are you up on html and css- cool with the design aspects and really just looking for someone to handle data management for you?  Something that will easily allow her to add and edit the content without worrying about the code?  If so- sounds like EE would be a good choice.

Do you have a host and domain name setup already?  Once you do- you just need the one install of EE- you’ll install on the host as per the docs (you’ll need ftp access and you’ll need an existing mysql database).  When you do- it creates a user login- likely yours, since you’re setting it up.  Then you just go in and create a new user login for her- and you can both login and add content, design templates, etc- from anywhere you have access to the web.

That make sense?  If you want to try before you buy to make sure EE’s a good fit- there are several options available.  You might try installing Core on your server, just to get a feel for how it works.

Anyhoo- that help a bit?

EDIT - You can ignore me as you probably have a much better read above mine - was beaten to the punch!

Hi Carly,

The EllisLab admin will be able to answer this better than me but from my knowledge of how it works :

Either you or your friend can purchase ExpressionEngine. If it is the case of your friend then they can download the files and then either give you their login so that you can download the files or they can send the files on to you. Alternatively if they know how to upload the files then they can do this and they will be on the server ready for you to work with.

I think that as long as you (if you are not the paying customer) don’t use the files anywhere else as the files are literally a one site one licence affair then you should be okay. As you are friends as well this makes it even easier, you could do this from their home if that is an option.

As the designer / developer on the site though I believe I am right in saying that if you (or your friend in this case) have purchased the software and are obviously entitled to support in the forums then you (or better your friend) can e-mail sales directly and get you a forum log-in so that you can post any questions you have in the paid technical support forums.

As I said before I’m sure that the admins will answer this better than I can but this is the way I understand it to be. I’m prepared to be corrected though.

Hope that helps and hope it is correct! Also welcome to the wonderful world of ExpressionEngine. You are going to love it.

Best wishes,

Mark

Thanks so much to both of you! You’ve been a great help!!

Well Robin definitely knows more than me on that kind of thing but hopefully some of mine was good and correct too.

Don’t forget to let us all know the link to the site when it is finished so we can take a peek and any help you need along the way don’t hesitate to ask as there are loads of great helpful users in the forums here who can help you out with whatever you need to get you on your way.

Best wishes,

Mark